Senior cops are moving to Court to challenge Police 2020 promotions

A further four senior Police Officers have moved to the High Court to challenge the promotion of many of their colleagues by the Police Service Commission (PSC).
Those challenging the promotions are Deputy Superintendent of Police Ravindra Stanley, Superintendent of Police Shivpersaud Bacchus, Assistant Superintendent of Police Shavon Jupiter, and Inspector Prem Narine of Police.
Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Slowe heads the PSC. According to Article 212 of the Constitution, the PSCs have the power to make appointments to any office in Guyana Police above the rank of Inspector, and are the power to exercise disciplinary control over persons holding or ‘ n acting in such positions.
These individual cases come weeks after Senior Superintendent of Police Calvin Brutus filed an application asking the court, among other things, to order the PSC to promote him to the rank of Assistant Police Commissioner. He claimed he was avoided for promotion because of a frivolous allegation of discipline against him.
It also seeks an order for Certiorari to remove, revoke and / or cancel the PSC’s decision to promote three Senior Superintendents who, along with pending disciplinary matters, to the office of Assistant Commissioner of Police. It also asks the court to disregard the PSC’s practice of not promoting officers with pending disciplinary matters.

Deny and reject

Meanwhile, Deputy Superintendent Stanley is the officer in charge of one of the investigation units in the Special Organized Crime Unit (SOCU). In court documents seen in this publication, Stanley disclosed, on November 21, 2020, that he was recommended for promotion to Superintendent of Police by the Guyana Senior Police Promotion Board.
According to him, the Senior Promotion Board identified and recommended 14 Assistant Assistant Inspectors for promotion to the office of Superintendent of Police, and is the second Deputy Superintendent serving on the list.
He said he received information on December 16, 2020, that his recommendation from the Police Commissioner for promotion had been rejected and rejected by the PSC based on a pending disciplinary issue.
He said the disciplinary issue against him remains under investigation, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise. In this regard, he argues that the alleged breaches of discipline made against him are “utterly frivolous, and devoid of any merit.”
Before 2020, he added, he had never been cited, charged, or convicted of any discipline or offense.
“Through his behavior, the [PSC] has adopted the practice and policy of not promoting Police officers with pending disciplinary complaints, regardless of the nature or seriousness of such complaints. Trivial and baseless complaints have been given the same weight as serious or serious allegations of discipline in denying the promotion to those against whom disciplinary complaints have been made. ”
The senior police officer further argues that the PSC has given up his role by the delay he has created in resolving the complaint made against him, which is still being resolved.
He argued that the PSC was under a duty to ensure that investigations were completed quickly if it intended to rely on such disciplinary allegations to deny promotion to those recommended for promotion, or otherwise entitled to get promotion.
According to him, two Deputy Superintendents of Police; namely, that Timothy Williams and Colin Henry, who had been recommended for promotion and appointed by the PSC, were deemed unsuitable and not eligible for promotion from the Senior Police Promotion Board.
Against this background, he submitted, the PSC’s decision is fundamentally unfair and unreasonable. He argues that the PSC’s failure to investigate the matter against him in a timely manner created considerable unfairness in the promotion process, and made his decision unlawful.
Through his lawyer, CV Satram, Deputy Superintendent Stanley argues that the PSC violated his fundamental rights to equal treatment and protection of the law as guaranteed under Article 149D of the Constitution when he promoted the younger to him, and who has served less time in the Force than he.
In an affidavit, he outlined that he is a holder of a Diploma in Industrial Relations and Management, a Diploma in Public Management, and a Bachelor of Social Science Degree in Public Management. He added that he also holds a Certificate in Strategic Planning Unit (SPU), and is currently reading for the Commonwealth Master’s Degree in Public Administration at the University of Guyana.
Among other things, Stanley asks the court for a Certiorari Order quashing, revoking, and / or leaving the PSC’s decision to replace and promote before him Deputy Superintendents Williams and Henry. Further, it seeks a Consequential Order directing the PSC for appointment to the office of Superintendent of Police.
The senior police officer also wants the court to award damages, benefits, costs, and whatever further and other orders may be justified. His three colleagues have listed similar grounds in their application.
In relation to the action filed by Brutus, Chief Justice Roxane George has granted a conservatory order suspending the promotions of several officers by the PSC until she pronounces on the complaints made by him.
This issue comes up for another hearing next Tuesday, January 12, 2020.