Approximately 122 police officers are threatening to sue their commissioner, Erla Harewood-Christopher, over her handling of the promotions of over 800 officers.
This comes after 93 police officers wrote to the Police Service Commission (PolSC) calling on it to handle the situation.
The officers are represented by attorneys Jagdeo Singh, Keston Lewis, Karina Singh, Jasmyn Sargeant and Leon Kalicharan.
In their pre-action protocol letter, the attorneys called on the Police Commissioner to cease from doing anything regarding the promotion of officers until their concerns are addressed.
This also comes as 34 police officers were promoted last week, after acting DCP Ramnarine Samaroo said at the end of an internal investigation, it was found that 29 officers were promoted erroneously due to a “glitch” in the process.
Samaroo said the executive was seeking advice on how to address the promoted officers who benefitted from the glitch. He said after the matter was resolved, a new merit list was produced correcting the errors from the first one and identifying those promoted wrongfully and those who need to be promoted.
The attorneys said they wanted a complete account for when it was detected, the root cause, the corrective measures taken to prevent further glitches, the diagnostic measures used to verify the issue and those involved in composing the merit list of officers to be promoted.
“We further consider that such purported corrective action is misplaced and the movement of officers without any explanation or justification for such movement is a patent and fatal breach of our clients’ rights and entitlement and by extension, all participants of the promotion process,” the attorneys said.
“The clear failure to adopt a logical and legitimate process following the discovery of the tainted merit list can only be perceived as irrational, unreasonable, an abuse of one’s constitutional power and ultimately a sinister attempt to conceal the illegitimate actions of those involved in the promotion process.”
In their letter, the attorneys said some officers were already contacted and notified of the possibility of being stripped of their promotion. The lawyers demanded a reason for this decision and the merit lists, along with the comparative points for each officer on the merit list.
The attorneys said some of their clients were penalised for taking sick leave associated with pregnancies, in contravention of the Maternity Act.
One of their clients was not promoted because he was on injury leave, in a disregard of industrial relations policies.
“There is also the inconsistent application of those on vacation leave and pre-retirement leave, who received promotion without qualification or corresponding requirement to report on duty. This is the epitome of what is arbitrary and irrational. Certainly, no policy exists, nor can any written policy be taken to have such interpretation and application,” the attorneys wrote.
“Our clients have certainly been impacted by the longstanding failure to convene the PAB pursuant to section 19(1) for over a decade, however, at present, the failure to adopt a procedurally fair and sound process producing timely and accurate assessments is now at the forefront for urgent attention.”
In response to the attorneys, the PolSC said it will table a discussion on whether to discipline the top cop at the next sitting of its executive, scheduled for February 8.