The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THERE is never a wrong time to promote law enforcement officers, State Minister for National Security Keith Bell said yesterday as he responded to criticism that this week’s mass promotion exercises in the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force were politically motivated.

There were also smaller promotion exercises in the RBPF last month.

Critics say the timing of the promotions was an attempt by the government to boost its support in the upcoming election among law enforcement officers who voted in yesterday’s advanced poll.

Mr Bell said given the challenges law enforcement officers face, promotions could never be “too slow” or “too fast” and “could never be coincided with any other event.”

“The officers are well deserving,” he added. “It is what it is.”

Mr Bell appeared to blame the timing of the promotions on the notion that the promotion process is cumbersome, especially for RBDF officers who are promoted by the Public Services Commission.

He reiterated his belief that there is nothing wrong with the timing of the promotions.

“Having been an officer, and you risk your life, it doesn’t matter to them or me when promotion comes when you need it and it’s merit based,” he added.

The closest he came to acknowledging the perception that surrounds mass promotion exercises that happen this close to an election was when he said he has recommended to the Christie administration that it establish a “law commission” to handle promotions for all non-police law enforcement officers.

This will make the process less cumbersome, he said.

In another move critics say was politically motivated, Prime Minister Perry Christie announced last week that his government will pay police officers money for the overtime they worked in 2013 even though his government has insisted for years that the officers won’t be paid.

Mr Bell said he never believed the matter should have ever gone before the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, which ruled in favour of the Police Staff Association (PSA) in 2015 and 2016.

“Let me make it very clear, the government has been negotiating for a number of months over this issue,” he said. “I never thought this matter should’ve gone before the courts in the first place. I expected (the decision of the Supreme Court). You cannot expect anybody and it was never the intention of the government that a person would work beyond the ordinary hours of work and not be compensated.”

Despite his statement, however, Mr Bell described the Supreme Court ruling as “hollow” in 2015.

“The issue is not whether I support or not,” he said. “They are not entitled to it.”

Mr Bell said the officers will be paid $1,500 in two tranches beginning May 29.

He was contradicted by PSA Chairman Inspector Dwight Smith, however, who suggested that during a meeting with Prime Minister Perry Christie on Tuesday, he was assured that his association’s compensation model will be applied.

Mr Bell, he said, was not in that meeting.

“We met the prime minister and Minister (Shane) Gibson from public service and also Minister (Michael) Darville from Grand Bahama yesterday,” he said. “We spoke to that issue of overtime. We told that officers should get what he or she makes per hour times that, time and a half. When we did the calculation, we did for five days over four hours for each day for 13 weeks. When you multiply those hours, that’s 260 hours so each officer makes something different based on their scale.”

The basic compensation should come out to over $4,000, Mr Smith said.

The compensation rate is not negotiable in his opinion.