Degrees questioned at LNP

Police officers’ university degrees are now a subject of interrogation at the Liberian National Police or LNP in a major crackdown against officers who are claiming certain status that the Human Resource Section says it does not have evidence to confirm.

In a bulletin published on 24 October 2016, the HR Section suggests that the status of several officers purporting to have graduated from universities is reflected on the LNP payroll without any evidence in the HR Section to substantiate such documentations.

The new discovery also involves some officers who claim to be members of the Police Support Unit or PSU, which is responsible to deal with riots, protests and crowds here, without any evidence at HR.

This is the second bulletin coming out after the new Police Inspector General Col. Gregory O.W. Coleman succeeded Col. Chris C. Massaquoi recently. The first group of officers ordered to appear before the HR Section were given option to verify their ranks for which they were being paid without a corresponding evidence found in the LNP database.

“By directive of the Inspector General of Police Hon. Gregory O.W. Coleman, the below listed officers are hereby requested to proceed to the LNP Human Resource Section to verify their status as University Graduates and PSU officers, as they are currently being carried on the LNP payroll,” the police bulletin reads.

“The HR Section has no evidence in its database confirming the veracity of their status,” it says and warns that any officer who fails to adhere to this bulletin within the prescribed period of one week as of the date of the publication, the LNP Administration will be constrained to take appropriate administrative action.

A previous bulletin affecting police officers’ ranks warned that those who failed to verify their status would be considered patrol officers.

By Winston W. Parley-Editing by Jonathan Browne