ACTING Prime Minister Colm Imbert said on May 16 that he now expected an improvement in policing as Commissioner of Police (CoP) Erla Harewood-Christopher takes up a second one-year extension of her service, granted by Cabinet, further to her appointment by the Police Service Commission (PSC).
The finance minister attended a post-Cabinet briefing at Whitehall, Port of Spain. He said considering all circumstances, Cabinet had little choice but to reappoint her.
Newsday posed a question several times to ask his expectations of how the crime rate would now fare under Harewood-Christopher. Imbert made no prediction on the crime rate.
He initially used the opportunity to explain that two recent court rulings had ruled Harewood-Christopher’s first extension had been lawfully done, citing the High Court and Appeal Court’s rejection of a challenge lodged by activist Ravi Balgobin-Maharaj.
Imbert recounted that Justice Ricky Rahim had said that after the PSC made an appointment, Cabinet ideally ought to consult the PSC before granting her extensions in office. He said Cabinet had consulted the PSC over Harewood-Christopher and received positive feedback of her evaluation.
Imbert said the PSC’s evaluation had rated her as “good,” on a scale of possible ratings that he surmised as likely to include “bad,” “fair,” “good,” “very good” and “excellent.”
He asked what would have happened if she had not got an extension and he spelt out the lengthy process to do a fresh recruitment.
Imbert said the PSC had begun trying to recruit a substantive CoP only since April, in an exercise he reckoned was likely to last until year-end.
While in the past, deputy CoP’s had been appointed as acting CoP, he said now the police service has three brand-new deputy CoPs who were untested and untried and “completely green” at that level. Imbert justified Harewood-Christopher’s re-selection, saying, “We felt that in all the circumstances, the best thing to do was to extend.”
“On what basis are we going to say we reject the scientific assessment by the PSC of the commissioner’s performance?”
He said if it was not Harewood-Christopher, no one knew who would be appointed now as acting CoP, even as the PSC would take many months to get a permanent CoP.
Newsday asked if “good” was good enough, rather than her being deemed “very good” or “excellent?”
He said, “It is a good recommendation. It is not a bad recommendation.”
Newsday asked if he was confident Harewood-Christopher’s extension would help to curb crime.
Imbert replied that the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce and police second division had expressed support for her extension.
“Thousands of police officers through their association – the vast majority of police officers – have come out in full support of the extension.
“Now that is a very positive sign. It means they are ready and willing to work with her.” He said there could have been a different reaction of officers rejecting her, amounting to disunity, intrigue and bacchanal within the police
