The controversy regarding the erroneous promotion exercise, which saw 93 officers taking action against the TTPS leadership, by writing the Police Service Commission over the bundling of promotion of scores of officers, took one step closer to resolution. Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher has since apologised for the issue, with the serious issue being described as a glitch in the system. Aggrieved officers insisted the glitch that caused underserving officers to be promoted was a manmade glitch.
One officer, who was originally placed at 951, was revised to 363. Another officer, who was at 1,020, was placed at 393. Another, who was ranked at 681, was revised and is now ranked at 915, while one officer first ranked at 359 is now 943.
Officers who were interviewed over a six-month period were rescheduling their interviews and when they finally did, the final tally had some of their names repeated. This caused the spreadsheet to reflect some 2,500 entries when only 2,232 officers were interviewed. Officers, who were on the merit list from as far back as 2009, were up in arms after their colleagues who scored less than they were promoted ahead of them.
After a three-month wait for their individual scores and the merit list, officers were given their scores last Wednesday and realised, when comparing with each other, that some officers with lower scores were part of the batch of 893 officers promoted.
Some officers said the entire promotion exercise has been compromised and should be scrapped and redone. In an internal memo on December 6 last year, the Police Commissioner apologised to her officers for what she described as an “anomally.”