The latest term of the Police Service Commission (PSC) ended on New Year’s Eve, and Jamaica, we believe, ought to give the members due recognition for their service.

We don’t make the suggestion in the belief that they will not be reappointed. For they have indeed served with integrity that is beyond question. So even while we see no reason to change the membership of the commission, we feel that it is incumbent on the State to say thanks and encourage them to carry on in similar fashion.

It is the decent thing to do and it engenders confidence in commitment to public service, which is needed in these times when the issue of trust is vital to the effective running of the State.

In fact, that very issue was raised by Education Minister Mr Andrew Holness in a recent interview with this newspaper. Mr Holness, speaking in his capacity as the communications point man of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, reminded that Prime Minister Bruce Golding framed his inauguration address around building trust.

“To build trust we had to show the nation — the civil service, the consultants, the technocrats, the bureaucrats — that we are a Government that is first and foremost looking at how people perform. We want to be a performance-based Government,” Mr Holness said.

We must admit that we were impressed by that statement, and we were further encouraged when he said, “It would not be a good sign of trust building if we had come in and the first thing we try to do is to kick out everybody who did not share our view”.

Mr Holness, however, earned a few slaps from this newspaper and trade unionists when he went further to advise public servants who were “not willing to expedite the policy of Government and to fulfil the mandate given to the Government [to] do the honourable thing and leave their office instead of waiting on the Government to ask them to leave”.

The point we made at the time was that Mr Holness, by generalising his complaint, ran the risk of short-circuiting all the potential for greatness and excellent work that he has so far shown.

For if indeed there are some public servants engaged in sabotaging the programmes of the current administration, the proper thing for Mr Holness to do is provide clear evidence of their inaction and opposition to policy directives and justification for the conclusion that it has something to do with the new Government, then act through the well-established channel to deal with those public servants.

We didn’t get the impression that the Police Service Commission was in Mr Holness’ cross hairs, and given the performance of the commission, we doubt very much that it would be.

However, we believe that the administration now has an opportunity to clean up an uncomfortable arrangement whereby at least two members of the PSC are also members of the Police Civilian Oversight Authority (PCOA).

While we have no doubt that both individuals have not acted in any way to compromise either of their appointments, we hold that membership on both bodies opens the possibility for conflict in instances when the PCOA needs to refer matters to the PSC for a ruling.

It seems to us that by avoiding dual membership both bodies will ensure that their reputation for transparency and fairness will be maintained.