As Sierra Leone’s principal law enforcement agency, Sierra Leone Police (SLP) discloses plan to reintroduce old ranks into the force, questions about resignations or frustrations of police officers have come up.
Some police officers who would be negatively impacted by the initiative have expressed their intention to lay down tools. Those who will not leave would embark on a go-slow with low morale.
Their arguments hold the view that present ranks would be affected if the policy is implemented. Tampering with ranks of police officers is not an easy ride; it has always been the source of frustration and anger for police officers. History is repeating after nine years when ranks of police officers were disestablished under the Change Management process led by Mr Keith Biddle, former Inspector-General of Sierra Leone Police.
Mr Biddle, a British expatriate restructured the SLP according to plans laid by the Commonwealth Community Safety and Security Project (CCSSP).
Under CCSSP, Mr Biddle had to make the force fits within the framework of sound management, and to identify quality officers to succeed him. A credible source at police headquaters, George Street in Freetown, has intimated this press that the ranks of Lance Corporal, Corporal, Sergeant, Sergeant Major, Sub-Inspector, Inspector and Chief inspector among others would be brought back.
If the plan is executed, the chain of command in the police force would be lengthened, and over-bureaucracy crept in. The decision to reintroduce old ranks, according to the source, has been approved by police Executive Management Board as well as police council, the highest decision making body for the police.
It is now left with Ministry of Finance to order the go-ahead since the ranks have to go with money. The argument that the reintroduction of old police ranks would lead to the reduction of ranks of some police officers in the force is water tight although the reason remains unclear.
A great many Police officers continue to think about the shape or form the reintroduction plan would take.
But, some have also hoped that the reintroduction perhaps is to lengthen the distance between ranks so that good discipline can be maintained.
However, another police officer also explained that since the ranks are few in the police force, it is very difficult for less fortunate policemen to be promoted. He said some police officers have spent more than ten years in the police service as constables.
The move, if actualised, would ensure that most police officers would not carry the same rank for many years. The decision in respect of old ranks has generated mixed feelings in the SLP.
Some police officers especially the constabulary group are happy about the move while some police officers are sad about it. They are happy because with the reintroduction of the old ranks, a constable hopes to be promoted to either a Lance Corporal or a Corporal after a reasonable period in the police force hallmarked by good service and discipline.
The ranks proposed to be reintroduced were disestablished in 2001 by the former Inspector-General of Police, Mr Keith Biddle. Keith Biddle is a British expatriate who was contracted to restructure the police force after the civil war (1991-2002).
As a highly experienced police officer, he saw the many ranks as bottlenecks and duplication of roles and responsibilities in the institution. After careful consideration, he did away with them to make thee force a viable one.
But, the disestablishment of the ranks affected a great many police officers. Most bore resentment for the then government of President Tejan Kabbah. During the disestablishment of ranks, police officers who were Sub-Inspectors, Inspectors and Chief Inspectors were reduced to sergeants.
Those who were Lance Corporals and corporals were lowered to constables.
Only the ranks: Sergeant, Inspector, Assistant Superintendent, Superintendent, Chief Superintendent, Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Deputy Inspector-General of Police and Inspector-General of Police remained.
Despite the resentment that was held by police officers, the then Inspector-General of police thought that bureaucracy had been cut down in the police service.
But, the disestablishment plan by Keith Biddle was one that pulled down a significant number of personnel in the police force. Others told sad stories about the change management process, and the grumblings and rumblings continued to date.
A large number of those police officers have passed away, and others retired not counting those that disengaged when the new plan was announced. With the restructuring of ranks, Mr Keith Biddle believed that the business of administration in the police service would go fast.
As mentioned earlier, abolition of the ranks led to many resignations in the police force by affected police officers. In spite of whatever intention government had at that time, the initiative was seen as a complete unfairness to them.
The general feeling among police officers at that time is that their police career had been constrained, and the only remedy was to quit.
Former Chief Inspector Amadu Songu was one of the affected police officers under the restructuring project. Songu was one of those police officers who resigned following his reduction from Chief Inspector to Sergeant.
When contacted from his small village in Pujehun district, he told this press that the disestablishment of the ranks was the most hated move by police officers at the time.
“It was a complete setback especially for some of us who had served the force for a long time. I saw that I had no enough time left for me in the force and my only option was to resign,” he said.
Songu retired to his small village after he resigned, and lived the life of an upcountry gentleman. Some of the affected police officers remained in the police service, but with sunken hearts.
One of those affected police officers, Inspector Mohamed Kamara told this press that the disestablishment was a bitter pill to swallow. He said he remained in the force only because he had no option then.
“If I were a highly educated man, I would have resigned from the force at that time,” he said.
Most police officers who were affected by the disestablishment died out of frustration. Those who survived the explosion, serve the police, but with very low morale. Members of the public who visited police stations to seek police service had been on the receiving end of the anger and frustration of police officers.
Complainants, witnesses and suspects incurred the wrath of the frustrated police men on duty. The disestablishment of ranks was a policy that greatly undermined some aspects of the Change Management process in the SLP.
The prevailing argument in the police service was that those who already carried the ranks of Sub-Inspector, Inspector and Chief Inspector should have been left as inspectors (two stars).
“You cannot say you want to restructure a police agency, and you harm people along the way,” one of the officers argued.
But, a counter argument was also made by the police high command. Their argument pinpointed that in every change management process in an organisation; there are others who will be negatively or positively affected.
So be it for the affected officers. The argument was widely seen as one to pacify police officers after the implementation of the disestablishment plan.
Will the reintroduction of the disestablished ranks lead to another frustrations and grumblings in the police service?