The Government is doing itself no favours by dragging its feet on the upcoming appointment of a Police Commissioner. Less than 30 days remain until James Philbert’s extended acting appointment as Commissioner comes to an end, yet it was only last week that Cabinet approved the $4.6 million to fund the selection search, which is being conducted by the Penn State University’s Justice and Safety Institute. Why this tardiness from an administration which seems to act with alacrity when it needs money for far less important expenditures, such as a $2 million flag or a $10 million stage for the Prime Minister’s residence?

We hope that the Government has sorted out the procedural issues which, Leader of Government Business Colm Imbert claimed last year, had resulted in an unsatisfactory pool of candidates. For it must not be that the Police Service Commission will choose a candidate only to have that individual rejected, again, by the Government. Such an outcome would surely further suspicions, raised in the previous debate on this issue, that the Government has ulterior political motives.

This is not say that Mr Philbert has not impressed citizens, for he has certainly been far more pro-active than his predecessor. Nor is it that citizens believe that a permanent and properly appointed Commissioner of Police can, on his own, bring crime in Trinidad and Tobago down to manageable proportions. After all, Mr Philbert himself, despite his energy and commitment, has not been able to do stem the rising murder rate in the year-and-a-half he has been at the helm.

At the same time, a leader who brings a new image and new ideas to the Police Service could well be the catalyst needed in that organisation. However, by treating the selection of a new CoP in such a lackadaisical manner, the Government is sending a signal, both to law-abiding citizens and to criminals, that crime-fighting is not a serious concern.

This may not be the Manning administration’s intention, but politicians should be especially aware of how perception can become reality, and surely the Government can see that such a perception plays right into the hands of criminals who are becoming ever more brazen in their transgressions, and even into the hands of police officers who, either through panic or motives more sinister, have themselves become ever more trigger-happy.

The permanent appointment of a new top cop is a necessary first step to show the echelons of the Police Service that there is a person in charge who won’t be leaving within a few short years, and who possibly could create the transformations within the service which must occur if crime in T&T is to be brought under control.