00:00High Court Judge Frank Sivisat has granted an interim injunction restraining the TTPS
00:05from continuing with its current promotion exercise to the rank of Assistant Superintendent
00:11of Police.
00:12The ruling was made on October 2 and extended on October 7.
00:17It's all rooted in Police Inspector Mark Hernandez's successful application for judicial review
00:23of the exercise of powers vested in the Commission of Police.
00:28Hernandez, who was an applicant in the promotion exercise, believes the TTPS failed to ensure
00:33it was conducted in an unbiased, reliable and legitimate manner.
00:38In his affidavit, Hernandez lists several complaints.
00:42The TTPS retained the firm Odyssey Consult Inc. to appoint persons to assessment panels.
00:48Hernandez says it was irrational, unreasonable and illegal to appoint persons who did not
00:54have the appropriate skill, expertise and qualification in policing.
01:00He also says the decision and settled practice of the TTPS to use a universal outstanding
01:07grade for each applicant is irrational, unreasonable and illegal.
01:11He is seeking the Court's order to disclose the qualifications of each member of each
01:16panel, the interview score sheets of each assessor of each panel and the rubric used
01:22in the assessment.
01:24He is also requesting a writ to quash the promotion exercise presently.
01:29In his affidavit, the inspector says he served his country for his entire professional life
01:34as an officer of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
01:38He enlisted in 1997 as a Special Reserve Police Officer.
01:43In 2002, he became a constable in the TTPS and now holds the rank of Inspector of Police.
01:51Hernandez was appointed as a member of the Special Operation Response Team and was last
01:56appraised in 2021.
01:59He remains suspended after being charged with misbehaviour in public office relative to
02:04his position with SORT and in seeking to apprehend the persons responsible for the kidnapping
02:09and murder of Andrea Barov.
02:12He was invited by the TTPS in July of this year to attend the promotional assessment
02:17briefing which was facilitated by Odyssey Consult Inc. Ltd.
02:22He says every other officer also received a grade of outstanding for the performance
02:27appraisal component.
02:29He completed the written assessment attaining a score of 41 out of 70.
02:34He claims only those who got 50% and more were to advance to the next stage of the assessment
02:41but he named two officers who did not achieve that pass mark.
02:45Hernandez told the court this quote-unquote contaminated the entire promotion exercise
02:51process.
02:52His suitability assessment took place on September 19th and he says he was left questioning how
02:58persons with no experience in policing were able to assess his performance as a highly
03:04tactical officer of the TTPS.
03:07He also says different boards with different members scored different candidates.
03:13Hernandez is being represented by attorney-at-law Gerald Ramdeen.
03:17Urvashi Tewari, Rupanarayan, TV6 News.
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