Problems for the Commissioner of Police: After Gibbs goes
Inevitably Dwayne Gibbs discovers that these islands are about sun,
sand and scapegoats. As we say, his shot call but with a generous
termination Gibbs will discover that we treat mediocrity well. It is
class and excellence that we punish.
In July 2010, when the $100 million and five-year process led to Gibbs's name as the Commissioner of Police, the Partnership Government made two things clear to Parliament. First, in proposing Gibbs the Government was not suggesting that "someone from Canada is better trained, better exposed, has more university qualifications than the local". Second, the Government could not "bring a commissioner of police here and indicate to him that he has six months or a year to make a dent in crime and we have not been able to do it for ten years''. The Government did not think it could "ask a new commissioner to come and solve the problem in one year. It does not work like that. You have to give the person adequate time and resources''.
On the first point, to be proposed Gibbs must have been found to be more suitable than nationals who had applied. And on the second, far from giving Gibbs time, the inconvenient truth is that political quick-fixes and long-term crime-fighting strategy are incompatible. In politics, 20 months is too long and after a State of Emergency and curfew, firing the Commissioner is the next quick-fix.
What works for the Government is that the country has seen the inevitable result of the thinness of Gibbs's resume, which those who selected and appointed him managed to overlook. In proposing Gibbs to the Parliament, the Government used the words "involved" and "training" to describe Gibbs's experience. Absent were the words "leadership", "expertise" and "command".
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| Trinidad & Tobago's Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs |
In July 2010, when the $100 million and five-year process led to Gibbs's name as the Commissioner of Police, the Partnership Government made two things clear to Parliament. First, in proposing Gibbs the Government was not suggesting that "someone from Canada is better trained, better exposed, has more university qualifications than the local". Second, the Government could not "bring a commissioner of police here and indicate to him that he has six months or a year to make a dent in crime and we have not been able to do it for ten years''. The Government did not think it could "ask a new commissioner to come and solve the problem in one year. It does not work like that. You have to give the person adequate time and resources''.
On the first point, to be proposed Gibbs must have been found to be more suitable than nationals who had applied. And on the second, far from giving Gibbs time, the inconvenient truth is that political quick-fixes and long-term crime-fighting strategy are incompatible. In politics, 20 months is too long and after a State of Emergency and curfew, firing the Commissioner is the next quick-fix.
What works for the Government is that the country has seen the inevitable result of the thinness of Gibbs's resume, which those who selected and appointed him managed to overlook. In proposing Gibbs to the Parliament, the Government used the words "involved" and "training" to describe Gibbs's experience. Absent were the words "leadership", "expertise" and "command".
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