Deputy Prime Minister St Clair Leacock, has announced a major promotion for Brenton Smith within the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force.
During an interview on NBC radio, Leacock revealed that Smith will be making a “big jump” in the ranks, bypassing the positions of Inspector, Assistant Superintendent (ASP), and Superintendent to be directly elevated to Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP).
According to Leacock, this rapid promotion is intended to capitalize on Smith’s specific core strengths and competencies. Smith has been tapped to take charge of the police force’s human resource development department.
The Minister noted that Smith has a long history of working in areas that address the needs of police officers, specifically citing his past involvement with the police welfare committee and human resources.
In his new role as ACP, Smith will be responsible for overseeing performance appraisals, training, development, recruiting, and manpower planning. Leacock stressed that these responsibilities are crucial to ensuring the police force operates as a properly streamlined organization.
A key objective of Smith’s new appointment is to fix deeply rooted administrative and promotional disparities within the force.
Leacock highlighted the historical lack of a proper merit system, pointing out the unfairness of “cases by favor” where some individuals languish as constables for 20 to 25 years while others are quickly promoted to officer ranks.
Smith has been explicitly tasked with keeping a “good eye” on this issue to straighten out the systemic failures and establish a fairer promotional structure.