The nominees for the position of the Commissioner of Police (COP) and Deputy Commissioners were subjected to a “Grade 6” assessment before Assistant Commissioner, Leslie Albert James was appointed to the post.
This is according to Opposition Leader, Dr Bharrat Jagdeo on Thursday during his press conference with media operatives at his Church Street, Georgetown office.
Jagdeo was at the time explaining that this disclosure was made to him by President David Granger on Thursday morning, following probes from him as to the process that was undertaken to select the best possible candidate.
“… I sought to find out from him about the process… I said to the President that I’ve heard about these interviews and geography tests and compounding that he said that he wanted to find an ‘unbribable’ candidate, so I’d like to find out how all of those issues came together in the assessment of the candidates and the process you went through and how did you manage to secure these attributes in the nominees.”
“He said to me that the test was a basic test. That it was designed for Grade 6,” the Opposition Leader explained.
Moreover, he revealed that according to President Granger, the test was designed by the Education Ministry and “…that it was more [of] just an assessment of general knowledge.”
The process was conducted by the President, the Attorney General, Basil Williams and the Minister of Public Security, Khemraj Ramjattan.
Jagdeo further noted that Granger explained that the assessment was not “pitched at a level to disqualify” nominees but to gather information on their “general knowledge.”
Assistant Commissioner, Leslie James was on Thursday afternoon sworn in as the substantive Police Commissioner.
James will be supported by four Deputy Commissioners who were identified as Lyndon Alves, Maxine Graham, Nigel Hoppie and Paul Williams.
These appointments will also take immediate effect as of August 30, 2018.
President Granger has said that the four deputies will be responsible for four areas of the Force; these are Operations, Administration, Law Enforcement and Special Branch/ Intelligence.
