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A police sergeant who heads one of the elite tactical units in the service is one of the front-runners in the shortlist of 12 candidates vying for three vacancies of Deputy Commissioner of Police.
Sunday Newsday was able to confirm from at least three reliable sources that Sgt Mark Hernandez, who heads the Special Operations Response Team, was among the top candidates selected by a local recruitment firm hired by the Police Service Commission to identify the best officers for the job.
Hernandez, a former homicide officer who worked closely with then CoP James Philbert, is an successful businessman. He is a senior security adviser of the MH Tactical Response Group, which has several subsidiaries, including the New Order Security Services, Corporate Asset Protection, runs its own shooting range at Chaguaramas and sells guns.
Hernandez was hand-picked by Police Commissioner Gary Griffith in 2018 to lead a specialised group of officers, based at Camp Cumuto, to go after hardened gangsters, kidnappers and human traffickers.
He and his team are commonly referred to as "Gary's boys," by those both within and outside of the service.
Hernandez has a bachelor's degree from the University of Leicester in security and risk management and a master's from Anglia Ruskin University in leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation.
Another contender is the head of the legal unit, former police officer Christian Chandler, Sunday Newsday learned.
In 2015, Parliament approved an amendment which reduced the required years of experience as a law-enforcement officer from 12 to ten for candidates for deputy commissioner
[caption id="attachment_863532" align="alignnone" width="748"] Sgt Mark Hernandez, head of the Special Operations Response Team, on the ground with his team during a raid at Kathleen Warner Drive, La Horquetta earlier this year to crack down on the Drugs Sou Sou organisation. - SUREASH CHOLAI[/caption]
Over 20 applications were submitted for the three vacancies of Deputy Commissioner – Operations; Intelligence and Investigations; and Tactical, Specialised and Support Services – which included several senior officers in the ranks of assistant commissioners, senior superintendents t and superintendents when the commission issued the notice in early August.
The commission is expected to receive its final list of recommendations by the end of December before it takes steps to produce an order of merit list and submit it to President Paula-Mae Weekes according to the procedure set out in Section 123 (2) and (3) of the Constitution.
The recruitment firm, after a "rigorous assessment process," is expected to submit the names of the top five candidates to the commission. The commision then submits the name of the highest graded candidate to the President, who in turn will forward the name to Parliament for approval.
If Parliament does not approve the top-ranked candidate, it will move on to the next in line, as was done in 2018 when Griffith was appointed.
An amendment in the law provided for any officer in the second division from constable to inspector, once they satisfied the qualification and selection criteria, to apply to be CoP or a DCP.
The drive to fill the top vacancies seems to coincide with Griffith's appointment of 247 first division officers three days before Christmas.
On Tuesday, one of the largest ever promotion ceremonies for first division officers is scheduled to take place at the Police Academy, in St James.
Among those to be promoted are nine assistant commissioners, 27 senior superintendents, 40 superintendents, 39 assistant superintendents and 39 inspectors. On December 16, a batch of 91 sergeants were promoted to inspector.
The confirmation of the varying ranks, many of whom have been acting in senior positions for years, is in keeping with the restructuring of the police service which Griffith unveiled in April 2019.
In that organisational structure, there are 11 assistant commissioners. Currently there are three acting deputies – Anthony James (Operations), McDonald Jacob (Intelligence and Investigations) and Beverly Lewis (Administration).
The only officer who has been confirmed as a substantive deputy is Earla Christopher, who is on 18 months' leave. Jacob is expected to go on pre-retirement leave in January.
 
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