Higher education will not produce better policemen

THE EDITOR: This letter is in response to Prof Ramesh Deosaran remarks reported in one of our newspapers in which he allegedly said; “there are too many uneducated policemen in the police service in TT”. There are a few questions that I would like to ask the learned Professor. Firstly how educated are our public servants, politicians, teachers and the populace as a whole? Has his expertise in criminology forced him to go after the police service or is this just an aberration on his part? And secondly where will he find this pool of educated people, when most of “our best and our brightest” are already securely nestled abroad; in places like the US, UK and Canada?

To my mind, the successful recruiting of suitable policemen to the police service is not predicated on higher educational standards. Are we to believe that someone with an associate degree automatically qualifies him or her as a more suitable applicant for the police service? What about the applicant’s love for the job and interest in the police motto: “to protect and serve”? We are now being led to believe that the failures being experienced in the police service has to do with the standard of education. I know teachers who are unable to count their “change” when they go out shopping. There are others who are not proficient in either maths or science. Yet what they lack in (IQ) intelligence quotient they make up with (EM) emotional quotient.

They approach the job with all the enthusiasm they can muster, which enables them to perform much more efficiently and effectively than their much better qualified counterparts. It is not what you have for the job, but what you bring to the job that is the determining factor for one’s success. Attitude not aptitude is the true barometer for success in any venture in today’s world. The emphasis placed on modern technology in addressing the existing problems facing the police service would not solve the problems any more than a raised  educational standard would. How do we address the problems of bad-work habits that are intrinsic in our society, and the low-morale and rampant corruption that have become the acceptable way of life in TT by just throwing higher education and high technology at them? We are set on treating the symptoms and not the cause.

Just to address Prof Ramesh Deosaran’s view that a better educated policeman would be in a better position to function in a high-tech police service. In today’s world when we use the word high-tech we are talking solely about computers. The learned Professor may already be well aware that the best computer-hackers in the US are high school and college drop outs. A clear indication that the computer is just an activity not rocket science, any more than policing is. The major problem facing the police service is the absence of a cohesive managerial structure. The police service continues to fight against a psychological mound, thrown by ants and termites in digging their nests. The people in charge are relentlessly resisting change in the service. They are very content and happy with the status quo. The opposition against Rudolph Giuliani crime/police plan is a case in point.

The Rudolph Giuliani plan from what I gather goes to the root of the problem. It states in part: All senior officers should be held accountable for the controlling of crime in their divisions. Failure to do so could result in demotion, transfers or forced resignations. This type of plan would be considered too draconian for our “utopian taste” and laisser-faire lifestyle. As we speak, a few disgruntled police officers have filed injunctions in our courts with a view of blocking transfers out of where they work at present, while others are using legal technicalities in the court, for their right to promotion.

Sad to say there are more rabble-rousers than problem solvers in TT, at this point in time. The implementation of the Rudolph Giuliani plan, that was tested and proven to be successful in New York, USA and other major cities in the US, would have addressed the overriding problem of crime in TT, and the overt problem besetting the police service simultaneously. Conversely, Professor Ramesh Deosaran’s suggestion, if implemented may not go to the root of the problem affecting our police service or the spiraling crime wave in our society.

ULRIC GUY
Point Fortin