Top cop’s performance rated ‘very good’

Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste- Primus said the non-completion of a 2015 appraisal is unfair to the CoP as its absence denies him the chance to improve his performance. While the PSC looks at world benchmarks for performance, its appraisal of the CoP did not include those standards, nor any targets set beforehand by the PSC for the CoP to reach. PSC Chairman Dr Marie Therese Gomes said the CoP can’t be held to global standards as he cannot be placed in “a bubble” in isolation from the shortcomings of the Judiciary, of legislation and of a lack of resources .

Also, the PSC could not yet give the weighting that constituted each rating, nor explain the difference between a good and a satisfactory grading. Gomes replied to questions to reveal there are neither incentives nor sanctions to prod the CoP to reach any performance targets. Saying the CoP wants more realistic targets set for him, she then blamed crime on technology .

“We do look at international standards but we have to recognise that in terms of the crime situation in this country, because we have technology we have galloped in crime. We are almost a barbaric society in the nature of crime, whether it is through technology or the domestic violence crimes or murders .

“While we are a developing country we have a gap in terms of wanting to have developed country standards. We don’t have what people look at on television and solve crimes very quickly.” She said forensics and police training must be beefed up, even as she said the Police Academy syllabi must be redone, adding, “There is no magic wand.” On the recruitment of a new CoP, Gomes said the PSC has chosen a recruitment firm from the four that sent in offers .

Against the backdrop of a $2.5 million cost to recruit a CoP, Gomes suggested the PSC could recruit its own nominee, not any company. The committee listed its staff salaries ranging from $16,100 for assistant director to $7,000 for business operator .