Leadership?

Do as I say

The GPF just launched another Junior Officers’ Course. CoP (ag) Leroy Brumell, fresh from his testimony before the Linden Commission of Inquiry (CoI), addressed the future police leaders. He advised they have to be “honest and professional” in all their endeavours. But Brummel has been around long enough to know by now that actions speak louder than speeches from a stage — especially to impressionable young people. What were some of Brummel’s recent pertinent actions? Well, right off the bat, we had the CoP (ag), responding to a question about Linden, mouthing off that the “shooting was unjustified”. Shouldn’t he have asserted that based on the information received, the police never fired the fatal shots? The question was therefore totally speculative? Where was the “professionalism” to inspire young officers?
The order to the commanding officer at the bridge to “coerce” the protestors off the bridge and then asserting he meant for them not to go beyond “talk”? Jeez!! But most damaging to even any remaining shred of professionalism, was Brummel’s description of one of his officers, Senior Superintendent Hicken as ‘a short man with a short temper’. Did Brummel forget he was on the stand, does he think there’s a correlation (much less causation) between height and temperament? What about waist size and intelligence? Jeez!
Since Brummel obviously thought Hicken had a short fuse, why didn’t he relieve Hicken from any oversight duties earlier? So he now develops 20/ 20 hindsight and uses it to put the heat on Hicken? What did Hicken’s temper have to do with the shootings – the subject of the inquiry?

Buck-passing?
But Brummel’s tendency to place his foot firmly in his mouth was displayed directly to the young officers. He emphasised that the training will be useful “when leaving the force”. Maybe so… but is this how we motivate better performance on the job? Or will it encourage them to work with one eye on “when they leave the job”? Amazingly, the top cop advised the future top cops: “Tell the truth where the truth must be told and you will be respected.” Really? Be truthful only “where the truth must be told”? So who decides when or where to lie or tell the truth? Isn’t this the rule that’s gotten the police into so much hot water already?

The Odyssey
We’re informed that Hamilton Green just came out with a new book: “The Odyssey and Trials of the Georgetown Mayor and Councillors 1992-2012”. With Green, more often than not traipsing off to one capital city or another as a messenger of moral reawakening (you heard that right!!), we thought we’d be getting the scoop on how the cult that sponsors his jaunts operates.
Odyssey of Ulysses and all that… get it? The “trials” part of the title suggested that something else was afoot. We perked up thinking that somewhere, sometime he might have been on trial for his role in the riots of the sixties and his subsequent strong-arm bullying for the PNC. But alas on both counts, the “tell all” is about the pain the poor mayor and his faithful band of patriots at City Hall suffered at the hands of the big, bad PPP. The fellow announcing the book – the now unemployed Freddie Kissoon, who evidently resides at the decrepit tent city established opposite Parliament – advises that we shouldn’t be concerned with who Green is, or what his past might have been.
Take his revelations as the “gospel”! This from a man who’s rejected all Naipaul’s books because the man speaks with an English accent! Rhetorical question? The AFC asks, “Is the UG student getting the best value for money?” It says “No!” and suggests the government “take politics out of policy-making and allow academia at the helm”. Really? And what about taking politics out of academia – a la pugnacious Patsy?