By AZARD ALI Thursday, February 21 2013

Honour Sergeant Hayden Manwaring by bestowing him with an inspector’s rank and pay his family $1 million compensation for his being killed in the line of duty.

Manwaring’s attorney Subhas Panday made these demands yesterday, saying before gunmen shot the officer during a robbery investigation on Tuesday, he was first “shot down” by the very Police Service he gave his life for.

Panday said Manwaring had been denied promotion to the rank of Inspector and had begun a legal challenge before his death. Manwaring succumbed to gun shot wounds late Tuesday night.

Panday said he wanted Manwaring to visit his law chambers to sign documents for the filing of a constitutional motion against the State over his non-promotion as inspector. However, Manwaring was investigating a murder, and could not meet with him, Panday told Newsday yesterday.

He said Manwaring died a disappointed man over his long wait for promotion. Chronicling the issue, Panday said in 2010, Manwaring was promoted to the rank of sergeant and headed the South Operations Unit from the South Police Headquarters, San Fernando.

On September 8, 2010, then Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs wrote to Manwaring informing him that he had been promoted as sergeant, and would be on probation for a year from that date. Upon completion of the year, Manwaring was invited by letter, dated October 30, 2011, to appear before the Police Promotion Advisory Board to be considered for the rank of inspector.

After an interview early in December, Manwaring was sent a letter dated December 12, 2011, from then Deputy Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams which stated that, based on records, Manwaring had not completed the12-months probation. Therefore, Williams stated, the sitting of the board which considered Manwaring’s promotion to inspector was not properly constituted. On Manwaring’s behalf, Panday subsequently sent a pre-action protocol letter to Williams claiming the sergeant had completed his 12-month probation, adding there was no time limit to the life of the promotion board.

“I have written letters for Manwaring to the Commissioner, but there was no reply. He was wrongly denied promotion and that is why I say he was shot down by the Police Service,” Panday said. Panday also noted that Manwaring investigated the only anti-gang case that has “survived” in the magistrates’ court from among the 449 persons charged under the 2010 Anti-Gang Legislation during the State of Emergency.

The anti-gang case in which Manwaring charged Jason Edwards, of La Romaine, with being a member of a gang, is being heard before Senior Magistrate Rajendra Rambachan in the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court. The magistrate is currently on vacation but when he returns to court he is expected to deliver a ruling which will determine whether Manwaring acted within the meaning of the Anti-Gang Act in charging Edwards. Yesterday, attorneys and clerks of the San Fernando court remembered Manwaring as an officer who was always smiling, and whose gentle manner was a reflection of the man he was.