The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

A RECENT Royal Bahamas Police Force promotion board that overlooked a police constable from advancement to corporal was illegally constituted, with former Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade found to have had no business chairing the committee in question, a Supreme Court judge has ruled.

Justice Indra Charles, in an oral ruling yesterday, said Mr Greenslade “usurped” the power of his deputy commissioner, the actual chairman of the board, when he and the RBPF promotion board decided not to promote Constable Delmar Taylor following two promotion exercises in 2014 and 2017.

That fact alone clearly highlighted the “irregularity” of the promotion exercises in question, Justice Charles said, as she further noted that the RBPF’s Standing Orders were not complied with in the present case.

And in noting that the board “should have been properly constituted”, Justice Charles ordered that P/C Taylor’s application for promotion be properly considered by a properly constituted promotion board, something she stressed should have happened from the outset.

Justice Charles further ordered the Crown to pay $10,000 in legal costs for the matter. The Crown, meanwhile, has indicated its intent to appeal the decision.

Last year, The Tribune exclusively reported how P/C Taylor said in a sworn affidavit that he was overlooked twice on a promotion to corporal, while other constables he alleges did not satisfy certain requisite RBPF policies, courses or examinations went ahead of him.

The officer of 12 years claims he was snubbed on two occasions: once following a promotion exercise in 2014, and again following a police advisory for promotion vacancies three years later in 2017.

And in each instance, P/C Taylor claims the RBPF promoted “a number” of other police constables who either did not satisfy the RBPF’s policies or who had not successfully completed the RBPF’s Constable Development Course or Police Proficiency Examinations, both fundamental requirements for promotion.

This, despite him completing numerous courses as well as being the holder of an Associate’s of Arts Degree in Business Management from the University of the West Indies.

According to his affidavit, P/C Taylor enlisted in the RBPF on June 19, 2006. Since then, he has been attached to the Fire Services Unit, Tourism Police Unit, Quiet Storm, Central Police Station, among other areas.

In August 2012, he was transferred to Eleuthera and attached to the Rock Sound Police Station, where he served as the station orderly.

He further claimed he was responsible for a shift/guard and was the senior constable performing the role of a “de facto corporal” from sometime in 2013 to the present.

On October 2014, the police force conducted a proficiency exam at the police college. However, P/C Taylor said it was “widely known” and discussed throughout the RBPF at the time that the “integrity and procedural” propriety of the exams were being challenged.

That same year, P/C Taylor said the RBPF held a promotion exercise, prompting him to apply for elevation to the rank of corporal. He said he was unsuccessful in his bid.

However, he claimed it was “notoriously known” throughout the RBPF that individuals who did not sit the exams and some who weren’t successful in the tests were still elevated, which he said was “clearly in contravention of the Force’s Standing Orders.”

After the 2014 promotion exercise, P/C Taylor said he wrote to the police chief and requested an opportunity to meet and discuss with him “any reason that may have affected the decision not to elevate (him) to the rank of corporal.” However, he said he got no response.

On January 21, 2017, Const Taylor said he was transferred to the Governor’s Harbour Police Station in Eleuthera, and came under the immediate supervision of Sergeant 188 Farquharson and Inspector Nigel Rolle.

In March 2017, he said those two officers insisted on conducting another performance appraisal on him, despite his oral communications that such an appraisal was inconsistent with the RBPF’s policy on assessments and career development, which speaks to appraisals being done on six month intervals.

The officer said he also spoke to his divisional commander, Superintendent Christopher Wright, in reference to the inconsistency, and was assured by Supt Wright that he had the “final say” and that he had “firmly recommended” him to be promoted to corporal.

After speaking with Supt Wright and receiving his verbal endorsement, Const Taylor said he formed the “reasonable expectation to be elevated.”

On March 6 and 7, 2017, Const Taylor said the police proficiency examinations were conducted at the training college and some 832 officers wrote those examinations. The results of those tests were published five days later on March 11.

He submitted an application for a promotion but did not receive one.

Const Taylor said he wrote then-Commissioner Greenslade on two occasions concerning a promotion. Up to that point, however, he hadn’t received a response to either letter. And when he flew into New Providence on May 2, 2017 to meet with Mr Greenslade concerning Force Orders, he was informed that the former police chief wasn’t meeting with anyone.

P/C Taylor, through his attorney Bjorn Ferguson, consequently sued Mr Greenslade and the other members of the promotion board, namely Superintendent Gabriella Pratt, Clarence Reckley, Perry Clarke, and Patrick Johnson, seeking declarations that the entire process concerning the RBPF’s promotions during the periods in question was unfair and that the commissioner of police abused his power.

Following proceedings last week, Justice Charles ultimately sided with P/C Taylor, ruling that the board’s decision “must be quashed” in the circumstances. She noted that in doing so, she was not suggesting that the promotion board is obligated to promoted P/C Taylor, or likewise that he is “entitled” to a promotion, but rather that her decision was based on P/C Taylor’s “eligibility” and the board’s improper constitution at the time.