The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net 

AS police officers started to receive their long-sought overtime pay yesterday, many expressed happiness and relief though there were still a few unanswered questions about the process that sprung from a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 2015.

Many officers in New Providence were satisfied and thankful that overtime payments are being made after years of wrangling over the issue. Some said the matter was at its core just about fairness and showing appreciation to those at the forefront of the crime fight.

Others said they received more money than they expected yesterday during the first of what is slated to be four instalments.

“Thanks to the current government for considering the promise by the previous government and delivering,” said a senior police officer, Leonard Ramsey, on Facebook. “We risk our lives daily for others to sleep comfortably and I trust this will be the last time we have to fight for those we protect for what’s rightfully ours.”

Officers collected their cheques from the Police Training College.

There were a few kinks in the payout process yesterday, sources familiar with the process said, adding that it went smoothly overall.

There were also several questions about how the police force determined who was eligible for pay and whether any officers in the Family Islands would receive cheques.

National Security Minister Marvin Dames told The Tribune it is up to the RBPF, under Force policies, to determine eligibility.

His statement came as an executive of the Police Staff Association (PSA) told this newspaper that PSA officials didn’t know how much officers are being paid per hour or per rank for working overtime. Since it was the PSA’s court action that spurred yesterday’s payments, officials of the association had hoped to play a more integral part in the process.

The RBPF’s May 1, 2004 Force Order required that records of officers who work overtime be maintained.

In his ruling that financial compensation can be given to police officers who work overtime, Supreme Court Justice Milton Evans noted in 2015: “The officers assigned with the responsibility of record keeping ought to be in a position to determine which officers are so entitled.”

Despite this, the PSA official who did not want to be named expressed a dim view of the RBPF’s overtime record keeping process yesterday. Since the force had never granted compensation to officers who worked overtime under orders from the police commissioner before, it was not a practice to keep clear records of who worked when and for how long, the source said.

“Records might have been kept but then after a period of time when the association placed the matter before the court, records weren’t kept in storage areas where you could retrieve them,” the source said. “And then all officers might not have signed in when they went to work. And at the end of the overtime period, officers in charge might have just thrown the register aside thinking it wasn’t necessary.”

If proper records were absent, the official said, “then the government and police force would just have to take the fault and pay everybody.”

That may have happened starting yesterday, although it’s still unclear.

The source said: “Officers are not upset about the amount they are getting. Some just want to know how they arrived at the figures. Is it a case where, because of the way they kept records, some who worked more hours than others get the same thing as those who worked less?”

Another police insider, however, said yesterday that that issue is moot.

“There is a duty detail and if you work extra hours, before you do so, the commander would go there and ID that in the book or put their signature to say you were working over time,” the second source said. “What’s supposed to happen is you sign in when this happens and then you can get some time back for doing so. But that doesn’t happen per se when you have an operation that came directly from the commissioner of police. So the only way to say if a person really came to work in that instance is if you look at the duty roster. If they didn’t come to work, either they were AWOL or on sick leave. You would have to use documents showing such to determine who was there and if you do that, it should be a very simple process to determine eligibility.”

Yesterday’s payments were given to officers in New Providence only.

The PSA official said officers on Andros, perhaps mistakenly, worked overtime along with New Providence officers and may be entitled to pay. It’s an issue the organisation intends to take up with Commissioner Greenslade.

The  Tribune understands that as many as 1,799 officers were eligible to begin receiving pay yesterday.

This does not include reservists and retirees, nor does it include officers who have since died and whose estate is entitled to collect the cheques.

People who fall into those categories will be dealt with separately.

The PSA is in the midst of a transition period. With his recent promotion to assistant superintendent, Dwight Smith has vacated the office of PSA chairman and can no longer serve as an executive in the association.

He did not discuss matters related to the overtime pay with The Tribune yesterday.

Nominations for PSA positions will be held on June 1 and an election to fill the association’s vacancies is set for June 15.