#BTSpeakingOut – What’s going on in the Force?

The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.

by -Patrick Gittens

Of the Barbados Labour Party, one of its finest sons once said that the party had lost its soul and had lost its way. Much of that verdict had to do with the current leadership and no doubt Mr. [Owen] Arthur quit the party with a heavy heart.

The present chess game with the Royal Barbados Police Force which this Government is overseeing is very much in keeping with Mr Arthur’s pronouncement.

Why Governments meddle in law enforcement agencies or try to insert “their man” in ranks of authority is left up to speculation and I will leave that to Barbadians to come up with reasons why this Government would not take its hands off the police force and let it run smoothly as it has done for decades to the best of my knowledge.

First strike on this government was to make Mr Darwin Dottin a consultant. The Police Service Commission forcibly retired him after an investigation into his management and the findings of a probe into illegal wiretapping in Barbados and evidence given by police officers who carried out those acts. The report was available on social media for all to see.

One of the main indictments in that report was that the wiretapping was mainly political and had little to do with law enforcement.

Thus, not surprisingly, the first thing this government did was to give him a job. One can quietly deduce who the wiretapping was for without even saying who one believes it was for.
But that is not the biggest strike against this government.

Having worked in and around Government from 1978 and been associated with at least two commissioners of police, I have a relatively good idea of how the process works and history is a good teacher. I do not have to go back to the very start but let’s begin at a late former neighbour of mine, Aviston Prescod. His deputy was Orville Durant.

When Mr. Prescod retired, his deputy replaced him.

Thus, Mr. Durant was commissioner and his deputy was Grantley Watson. When Durant retired Mr. Watson became commissioner and Mr. Dottin was his deputy. When Watson retired, Mr. Dottin became commissioner.

The same applied before Mr. Prescod and only changed in the Dottin era when the force basically lost both him – forcibly – and his deputy Bertie Hinds – retired. Mr. Tyrone Griffith is the present commissioner and Mr. Erwin Boyce is his deputy.

When Mr. Griffith retires – finally – one would think that the eminently qualified Mr. Boyce would become the commissioner of police. But for some reason the Government is begging two aging officers in Mr. Griffith and their appointed man deputy commissioner Oral Williams, to hold on past their retirement.

Why? Why doesn’t the Government allow the process that has served this country before any current parliamentarian was even born, to proceed? Do they perceive Mr. Erwin Boyce as a non-BLP man and therefore he is not their desired choice? What exactly is the reason for the delay? The Government, whether wittingly or unwittingly, is undermining the force by asking Mr. Griffith and Mr. Williams to stay on. The force is manned by several capable men and women of rank with the capacity to manage the force.

Thus, to ask two individuals who have over-stayed their time to remain even longer, casts doubts on the abilities of those below them in rank in the police force.

This is unfortunate meddling in the organisation. For their part, Mr. Griffith and Mr. Williams are holding themselves up for public and internal ridicule by loitering on the doorsteps of the public service.

Their refusal to go home can be interpreted as having nothing to do with public service, national duty, answering the call, or any of those lofty, well-sounding empty phrases designed to manipulate the thinking of the gullible. This can be viewed by many as allowing themselves to be pawns.

The police force is the last place that we civilians want to see politicised, or be returned to the hands of politicians.

Let me take this pre-emptive moment to congratulate Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce [in waiting] whenever commonsense prevails and other senior officers below his rank, or other public servants, refuse to allow themselves to be caught up or be used in anyone’s political manipulations.