Five police sergeants have lost their bid to secure compensation for an administrative error which they claimed led to them being bypassed for elevation to the rank of inspector.
In a judgment delivered in the Port-of-Spain High Court, Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh said although the officers were affected by the error in the promotion procedure, they were not entitled to compensation because even if the error had not occurred they still would not have been eligible for promotion at that time.
“Sympathy for the officers adversely affected cannot lead the court to create remedies which cannot be justified in law or on the basis of evidence,” Boodoosingh said.
The five sergeants Sherma James, Lucian Ferguson, Arnold Lutchman, Mathew Andrews and Auldric Neptune were relying on a 2013 lawsuit brought by a group of 18 officers who had filed a similar suit.
In that case the court had ruled that the Police Service’s Promotion Advisory Board had failed to consider its own departmental order when it compiled a merit list for promotions in 2012 from which 51 officers were promoted.
The order granted prospective candidates maximum points in the examination component of the process once they had passed an English Language qualification exam and possessed sufficient CXC/GCE exam grades and/or a university degree.
No compensation was awarded in that case either; however, those affected officers were placed high on a revised list prepared following the judgment and were eventually promoted.
“Nonetheless, it is hoped that all of the interested parties appreciate better now the value of appropriate consultation and reform to ensure that a proper system of assessment is followed in the future if only to avoid the disappointment and anguish that many police officers must have felt by what took place,” Boodoosingh said.
Boodoosingh also commended acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams for the interim measures he took to alleviate the situation including granting the affected officers acting appointments and promoting them on the basis of the revised list when vacancies opened.
“It is really a matter for the Government to decide if and when an increase to the organisational structure of the police service is feasible and warranted,” Boodoosingh said, as he acknowledged that there was a limit to the officers Williams was allowed to promote each year.
The officers were represented by former Police Service Commission chairman Nizam Mohammed and attorneys Kenneth Thompson, Cedric Neptune and Khadeen Bocas. Gerald Ramdeen, Lemuel Murphy and Shankar Bidaisee represented the State.