The views expressed herein are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of One News SVG.
By Adrian Odle.
I begin by congratulating the officers recently promoted within the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, particularly Trevor “Buju” Bailey, now acting Commissioner of Police, and Junior Simmons, acting Deputy Commissioner of Police and Acting Assistant Commissioner Brenton Smith. I have interacted with both men on different bases and wish them well as they assume leadership at a very challenging time.
But alongside these promotions, there is an issue that the new leadership must confront.
Several police officers have approached me expressing deep frustration at being repeatedly overlooked for promotion. Some have served more than a decade, while others have served over 20 years, yet remain at relatively junior ranks despite having clean disciplinary records and extensive operational experience.
Their concern is not simply that others have been promoted. It is that they do not understand why they continue to be passed over.
Some believe academic qualifications are being weighted too heavily against experience. Others feel that long and competent service counts for too little. There are also perceptions among some officers that connections or political considerations may sometimes influence advancement.
I am not suggesting that these perceptions are necessarily true. But where promotion criteria are unclear, suspicion inevitably develops.
Neither am I saying that seniority alone should determine promotion. Modern policing requires education, training, leadership ability and technical competence. However, 20 years of competent policing must also mean something. Experience gained from communities, investigations, emergencies and years of practical service cannot simply be dismissed because another officer has a higher academic qualification.
SVG has experienced an alarming series of shootings in recent days. five shooting incidents between Friday and Tuesday. At a time when the country is confronting serious gun violence, we need a Police Force with exceptionally high morale.
A demoralised officer may still report for duty, but resentment and frustration can affect initiative, confidence, just to name. a few. This ultimately becomes a public-safety issue.
The new High Command therefore has an opportunity to address this longstanding concern. The Police Force should conduct a review of officers who have remained at the same rank for unusually long periods. Promotion criteria should be clear and transparent, with appropriate weight given to experience, disciplinary record, performance, qualifications, training and leadership.
Officers who are repeatedly overlooked should also be told what they need to improve. If an officer requires additional qualifications or training for promotion, that should be clearly communicated rather than leaving someone in the Force for 15 or 20 years without understanding why advancement has not come.
There should also be a fair internal mechanism through which officers can seek a review of promotion decisions without being viewed as troublesome or disloyal.
Most importantly, the system must be transparent enough to remove, as far as possible, any perception that political influence or favouritism determines advancement.
I again congratulate Mr. Trevor Bailey, Mr. Junior Simmons and Mr. Brenton Smith and the other newly promoted officers.
But leadership is not only about occupying the highest offices. It is also about maintaining confidence among the people serving below you.
We must listen to the constable who has served for 10 years.
Some complaints may be justified and others may not be. But every officer should at least believe that the system judging them is fair.
At a time when SVG is confronting serious gun violence, we cannot afford a Police Force divided between officers who feel valued and officers who feel forgotten.
END
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I am a disgruntled person outside the force due to the continuing illegal and unconstitutional crime of taking my property and refusing to return it. It is theft by the police for and on behalf of the Vincentian Government. They came to my house with a search warrant that was not allowed to be held or examined. It was presented to me at my house after I asked to see it and was held briefly in front of me in the tight clutches of a plainclothes police officer who said he was Special Branch Police. There were truckloads of police who said they were searching for firearms, ammunition, drugs, electronics and paperwork. They took my brand-new tropicalised digital Canon camera. They took my laptop, my printer, and every item in my office that was electrically or electronically operated. They took every piece of paper, including bank statements, birth certificate, and wreaths of papers that were all my business and property transactions in the UK. They refused to give me a copy list of what they took, no receipt, no record, despite my asking for one. I never heard from them again, except when two men in suits turned up at my house two weeks later to kill me. I escaped SVG with my back broken in two places in the great escape. They have never accused me before or since of any crime, never interviewed or questioned me. Due to some evidence I have recently acquired, I now believe they would not properly show me the search warrant because it had words added to it after it was signed by the lady JP. Why did they really come to my house, and what were they actually looking for? They were sent because it had become public knowledge that the Slave book I was writing included a reference to the fact that I was investigating whether a Portuguese man called Antonio Gonsalves, who took the first ten African slaves from the Northwest Coast of Africa, was related to Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister. They were, in fact, searching for the manuscript and all records on my laptop and flash drives. The firearms, ammunition and drugs were a red herring to enable them to obtain the search warrant illegally. I have asked for my belongings back for the past nine years; they ignore me. In April of this year, I was given four minutes to tell the story to Minister Leacock at his office in Kingstown. He left after three minutes and asked his secretary to write down the story. She said they would be in touch; not a word has been given to me on the subject since. The ULP were a dirty government with a dirty political police force. Now we have the NDP government, which I am now going to label as dirty because they have done nothing to help me and have continued ignoring me. This is a true story. Is there a human rights lawyer willing to help me? Even the police complaints department has refused to acknowledge me. There is no statute of limitations applicable because it is still a continuing constitutional and state crime by the police and the Vincentian government.