Tomorrow at least 93 of police officers will get promoted and there's no court injunction in place to stop it. The Police Association - which was seeking the injunction on the premise that many of the promotions are not merit based - informs us that it has retained attorney Anthony Sylvester. But, rather than seek an injunction, Sylvester will first write the Police a letter formally requesting that they explain the promotions. Court actions may proceed after that.
So, 55 constables will be promoted to Corporals and 38 Corporals to Sergeants effective tomorrow. The picture is not so clear with the promotions from Sergeant to Inspector because they has to go through the public services commission. But the police association has plenty of issues with those because a good number of the promoted earned abysmal scores on the examination - while some who excelled on the exam were passed over.
7news has obtained evidence of the test scores which shows at least one corporal who is being promoted without even taking the exam.
In another case, we have seen a corporal with a grade of 48 being promoted, while we've also seen constables with grades in the 80's who were passed over. We also note that two ministers body guards - who are also police are cleared for promotion. Critics - and there are many - say the promotions follow are not based on performance but appears to be a game that rewards favourites - and that's the basis for the legal challenge.
As for those being promoted, we note that one of them Corporal Solomon Mas knocked down a woman and seriously injured her 12 days ago, while another, Corporal Sheridan Lemoth was brought up on disciplinary charges today. He's the corporal who reported a 38 revolver stolen - and police are now investigating the possibility that the weapon may have been involved in the murder of a 16 year old.
That 38 is also reportedly licensed to a very senior police officer.
