(Trinidad Guardian) Deputy Police Commissioner in charge of Operations Jack Ewatski has refused to sign his performance appraisal conducted by Police Service Commission, citing that the process was “seriously flawed.” This was revealed in a six-page letter written by Ewatski to chairman of the Police Service Commission Professor Ramesh Deosaran.
In the letter, Ewatski stated: “My refusal to sign the appraisal was rooted in my belief that the process used to evaluate my performance was seriously flawed, rendering the results invalid.” And as the controversy into the performance of both Gibbs and Ewatski continues, Deosaran’s predecessor Nizam Mohammed and senior criminologist at the University of the West Indies in St Augustine Dr Randy Seepersad have called on Deosaran to justify whether the appraisals were fair and transparent.
Several calls to Deosaran’s home up to late Sunday went unanswered. Both Gibbs and Ewatski were graded as “fair” by the commission. Questions have also arisen as to the fairness of a selection process of junior officers who formed part of a survey conducted by the commission pertaining to the management and human resource skills of Gibbs.
In the letter, Ewatski made it clear that he could not simply “agree” or “disagree” as he was asked to do by the commission with “unsound findings.” “My refusal to sign was a refusal to validate an objectionable process,” he said. The letter, dated February 29, 2012, was copied to National Security Minister John Sandy, Director of Personnel Administration Gloria Edwards-Joseph and commission members Martin George, Jacqueline Cheesman, Kerry Parker and Addison Khan.
According to the letter, Ewatski, on February 16, 2012, attended a meeting with the commission for the purpose of discussing and signing off the performance appraisal report relating to his role as deputy commissioner. “I declined, at that time, to sign the performance appraisal which was presented to me,” he said.
