Saturday, August 21, 2010

T&T police, public object to salaries for foreign police chief and deputy

The Trinidad and Tobago Police Service Social and Welfare Association (TTPSSWA) is urging the government of Trinidad and Tobago to reconsider the salaries of Commissioner of Police, Dwayne Gibbs and Deputy Police commissioner Jack Ewatski. Both men are Canadian citizens.

Online comments from the public on the pay issue suggest that a majority of citizens who expressed a view also object to the high salaries.

Media reports say Gibbs will be making $132,916 a month and Ewatski's monthly salary will be $106,333 a month. They would also get paid housing and each would have a vehicle assigned to the for private use, the reports say.

By comparison the acting Police Commissioner's pay, along with allowances, is around $40,000 a month and the country's two Deputy Police Commissioners have a remuneration package amounting to about $31,000.


The Trinidad Express quoted the Canadian Human Resource and Skills Development website, which it said shows that Gibbs would have been paid an average monthly salary of Cdn $10,000 (TT$60,000). He is a retired chief superintendent of police in Alberta, Canada.

The Express quoted President of the Police Association Anand Ramesar as calling the proposed salaries "a slap in the face for members of the Police Service".


He told the paper it comes at a time when police are still negotiating salaries and are being paid 2007 salaries. Ramesar warned of "far-reaching consequences" if cabinet approves the pay packages for the two Canadians.

He reissued a call for Minister of Finance Winston Dookeran to meet with the Chief Personnel Officer to settle the salary issues and said police will withdraw support for the new commissioner.

"They are mentally disengaged from performing their duties as we speak...Give us the things that we want so that we could get some job satisfaction and we can get some internal comfort, otherwise we are not prepared to move forward with any crime plan or work with any commissioner of police that they put there, because the salary issues are primary, outstanding and urgent," he told the paper.

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Jai & Sero

Jai & Sero

Our family at home in Toronto 2008

Our family at home in Toronto 2008
Amit, Heather, Fuzz, Aj, Jiv, Shiva, Rampa, Sero, Jai