High Court Judge Frank Seepersad is expected to rule on a lawsuit over the promotion assessment process for the rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) on February 18.
Justice Seepersad set the deadline after hearing the cross-examination of the witnesses in the case during a hearing yesterday.
In the lawsuit, Inspector Mark Hernandez is claiming that the procedure used during the promotion exercise, last year, breached the Police Service Act and associated regulations.
Hernandez is contending that colleagues without performance appraisals were allowed to participate in the promotion exercise.
His lawyers claim that he and other officers received blanket “outstanding” ratings without their performance being critically assessed.
They suggested that the “universal mark procedure” was contrary to the T&T Police Service (TTPS) merit-based system of promotion policy.
After Hernandez and a colleague Inspector Veneta Weaver-Ali both filed similar cases over the issue, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Natasha George denied any wrongdoing in relation to the appraisals but admitted to another error in the promotion exercise.
In her affidavit, George admitted that she wrongly advised Odyssey Consultinc Limited, which was hired by the TTPS to assist with the promotion exercise, to allow all participants to advance to the second stage of the three-tiered process even if they failed to attain the pass mark in the examination stage.
She claimed that she was subsequently advised that only the “top performing candidates” could advance based on the regulations.
While being quizzed yesterday, George refused to admit that all officers were given outstanding ratings in their appraisals as claimed.
She also denied that the legislation and regulations were breached.
In his evidence, Odyssey’s chief executive Anthony Watkins admitted that his company only received the performance appraisals at the interview stage which followed the examination.
He also admitted that George and TTPS executive members suggested allowing participants in the exam to advance despite their scores during a meeting and did not provide written instructions.
“We heard the suggestion and considered it before making our independent decision to proceed,” he said.
Asked for the rationale for not only selecting the top candidates, he noted that only 12 officers of the over 100 that participated failed to attain the 50 per cent pass mark.
“The collective group received top performances. There was no significant difference between the marks received,” he said.
When it was his turn to testify, Hernandez claimed that he was familiar with the appraisal process as he performed assessments of officers under his supervision during his over two-decade-long career.
He claimed that he learned that he and his colleagues received blanket scores by asking them. He also denied that a score of “outstanding” is uncommon.
Hernandez was the head of the now-defunct Special Operations Response Team (SORT), which was established under the tenure of former CoP Gary Griffith.
However, he has been on suspension since May 2021, when he was charged with misbehaviour in public office in relation to an investigation into the treatment of the suspects held for the abduction and murder of Andrea Bharatt including two, who died while in police custody. There is no legal impediment for officers to be promoted while they have pending criminal cases.
Hernandez was represented by Gerald Ramdeen and Dayadai Harripaul. Weaver-Ali was represented by Jagdeo Singh, Karina Singh, Keston Lewis, Savitri Samaroo, and Vashisht Seepersad. Rishi Dass, SC, Coreen Findley, Akeenie Murray and Kadine Matthew represented the CoP.
