THE GOVERNMENT has missed the mark on accounting to the country in relation to its assessment of the performance of Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher and the question of whether a decision has been taken on if her term will be extended.
Ordinarily, there is no role for a cabinet in such matters.
Once parliamentarians decide, by simple majority, whom they wish to appoint to the post, it falls to the independent Police Service Commission (PSC) to assess the performance of the appointee over the duration of their term.
Such occurred in relation to the last substantive post-holder, Gary Griffith.
But Ms Harewood-Christopher has aged out of the service.
This has necessitated the invocation of section 75 of the Police Service Act, which states the President may extend the service of a police officer once considered in the national interest.
The Cabinet advised the President so to do last year, in a controversial process which was challenged in court and, on May 8, upheld by the Court of Appeal.
Nonetheless, that initial one-year extension is due to expire in the coming days and the State has said little in relation to the top cop’s status.
With the Prime Minister out of the country, there was no update from Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, on this matter when he convened a media conference on May 8.
“It would be premature for me to speak to something that Cabinet has to consider,” he said, when questioned.
Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds, briefing the press separately, also did not shed any light. He focused on the upholding of the court’s sanctioning of the extension process before quickly leaving the podium.
It could be that the Cabinet, up until this point, has remained mum in deference to the legal case.
It could also be that ministers, whose deliberations are traditionally behind closed doors, have already come to a private view in relation to Ms Harewood-Christopher’s fate.
But this office is of such utmost importance that silence until the very last minute would be unwarranted and damaging to the post-holder.
The commissioner is already weathering a crisis of confidence stemming from rampant crime as well as the fallout from her disappointing performance before a parliamentary committee in January.
Must we add uncertainty over her future? Especially in light of the long, demoralising history of acting top cops?
Ms Harewood-Christopher’s high profile in the wake of a massacre in Carenage this week sent a signal of stability and continuity.
But the PSC’s recent advertisement of her job, while not entirely unprecedented, sent a completely different message.
We should not have to guess whether she is coming or going.
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