Former national security minister Gary Griffith has described the recruitment process for Special Reserve Police (SRP) officers as backward, outdated and leaving room for criminal infiltration.
He reiterated his call for an audit on the Police Service to move the organisation forward.
Before being sacked the former minister had proposed an audit by NY police commissioner Bill Bratton.
Griffith’s comments came in wake of statements by the Police Service Social and Welfare Association that criminals were infiltrating the ranks of the Police Service, via SRPs.
Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams has directed that the recruitment of SRPs be put on hold immediately, saying the Police Service needed to intensify background checks of prospective candidates to ensure undesirables do not infiltrate the service.
The association’s secretary, Insp Michael Seales, had said the situation may have developed under then national security minister Jack Warner, when there was a move to ramp up the recruitment process of SRPs to supplement the strength of the service.
“We have criminals and drug users under the guise of SRPs. Not all SRPs fit this bill but this is the reality of the situation which is indeed a sad and pathetic state of affairs,” Seales had said.
Griffith, in an interview, said during his tenure he was aware the recruitment process was in need of revamping.
“If you have a criminal wanting to be a SRP his friends would obviously say he is an outstanding person because getting in the Police Service would be to their advantage, so the entire selection process for SRPs is long overdue [for reconsideration],” Griffith said.
Rapid Response officers mostly SRPs
One of the senior officers in charge of the SRP recruitment process was concerned the majority of officers assigned to the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) were SRPs.
He said Williams was not to be blamed for the large number of SRPs but rather those who “made hasty decisions in the political arena.”
“You need real people who need to do real policing and the quality of SRPs is just not good enough.
He said there was also discontentment among the SRPs as there have been no promotions in the last five years.