Justice and Safety Institute develops new process to assist Trinidad and Tobago in selecting its next Commissioner of Police
University Park, Pa.—The sun and sandy beaches that make the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago a vacation destination for more than 400,000 tourists annually also makes this Caribbean nation a gateway for Central American drugs and related violence. To address this challenge, Trinidad and Tobago's government is working with Penn State’s Justice and Safety Institute (JASI) and other organizations to transform its 6,500-member police force.
As part of that transformation, JASI, a unit of Outreach, and Penn State Psychology Professor Rick Jacobs have designed a new method for selecting the nation's top law enforcement leader. JASI recently conducted the review and assessment process with an international pool of applicants for commissioner of police and submitted dossiers on the top five candidates to Trinidad and Tobago’s Police Services Commission in April.
"Penn State is proud to be part of the process in selecting the next Commissioner of Police for a foreign nation," said JASI Director Donald Zettlemoyer, who is leading the project, in partnership with George Mason University. "We are not only helping the citizens of Trinidad and Tobago improve their security and safety, but we are also fulfilling our commitment as a publicly engaged university to share our knowledge and research with Pennsylvania and the world."
Like other Caribbean nations, Trinidad and Tobago is dealing with the impact of drug trafficking. A 2007 joint report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Latin America and the Caribbean Region of the World Bank found the Caribbean region has the highest murder rate in the world with 30 per 100,000 population annually, which is directly related to drug trafficking and the other crimes that result from this criminal enterprise. While violence is a concern in many parts of the world, Trinidad and Tobago, with a population of 1.3 million, has seen its murder rate quadruple from 1999 to 2005. As of May 12, police have investigated more than 164 murders so far this year.
The next commissioner of police will face serious crime challenges. As part of the assessment process, candidates’ career qualifications and job experiences will be evaluated. Those invited to the second phase of the assessment will participate in written and oral interactive exercises based on competencies required for the position. Panels of trained assessors — senior law enforcement leaders from the United States, Canada and the Caribbean — will evaluate the candidates' responses. Candidates also will receive an overview of Trinidad and Tobago and discuss what they consider to be the most important challenges confronting the next commissioner.
The new process will ensure the candidate pool will have the best people and that candidates will be evaluated objectively against the competencies for the position. More than 30 law enforcement officials from the United States, the Caribbean and Great Britain, have applied for the post.
This project is part of JASI's continuing relationship with Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. Since 2005, JASI instructors have conducted training programs on modern policing methods and supervision and leadership skills for 2,700 police officers and Police Academy trainers. In 2007, JASI developed an assessment for promotion process based on these training programs for first division police officers, resulting in an Order of Merit list for promotions.
Penn State’s Justice and Safety Institute (JASI) helps thousands of law enforcement and justice system professionals improve their work skills—something it has been doing for more than 35 years. JASI serves a broad clientele and its services extend to courts, child support enforcement and domestic relations issues, such as training for federal, state and international clients, including the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. JASI is the sole provider of mandated basic training to Pennsylvania’s deputy sheriffs and has developed and administers the Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement Training Institute. It also has conducted child support enforcement services for New Jersey and Delaware. For more information, visit http://www.jasi.outreach.psu.edu/ online. JASI, is part of Penn State Outreach, the largest unified outreach organization in American higher education. Penn State Outreach serves more than 5 million people each year, delivering more than 2,000 programs to people in all 67 Pennsylvania counties, all 50 states and 80 countries worldwide.