Five Police officers from the Caribbean have won a court battle to keep their jobs.

The men were terminated just two days before they reached ten years of service, which would have given them permanent, pensionable positions within the force.

Yesterday, they argued they had a “legitimate expectation”, based on letters from former Police Commissioner George Jackson, that they would be kept on permanently.

On that basis, they fought against a decision from new Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva not to renew their contracts. Mr. DeSilva’s decision was said to be based on concerns about the officers’ performances in their jobs.

The five in question Constable Romeo Allen, Detective Constable Emmerson Donald and Sergeant Courtney Williams, who are all from Jamaica, plus Constable Adrian George from Trinidad and Tobago and Cletus Cyris from St. Lucia <> took the matter to the Supreme Court.

During a hearing yesterday, their lawyer Richard Horseman said the service breached the officers’ legitimate expectations of a job for life when they got sent letters on March 17 telling them their contracts - due to expire on June 30 this year - would not be renewed, and they would have to leave Bermuda.

The move was part of a new policy under Commissioner Michael DeSilva, who took over the top job in December, and decided that previous disciplinary issues and negative reports should be taken into account when deciding whether to keep officers on.

However, Mr. Horseman noted that questions were only raised over the performance of two officers and these never resulted in any charges or action by way of a hearing or disciplinary tribunal.

He argued that it was wrong for unproven allegations to be taken into account when deciding upon their future employment status.

He also told the court that, in the case of Constable Donald, the officer believes he lost his job due to a lawsuit he’s launched against the Police service. Constable Donald is complaining to the courts about having to work in mould-infested Police stations.

Mr. Horseman argued it was unfair to the officers that the “goalposts changed” when Mr. DeSilva took over. He therefore asked Puisne Judge Ian Kawaley to rule that the Police should honour the original agreement to keep the officers on in permanent positions.

He also noted that the men were brought to Bermuda as part of a batch of 17 new recruits ten years ago.

The others were from England, and they have all been able to stay on in their jobs.

Government lawyer Huw Shepheard said it was possible the five officers’ performances went downhill since positive appraisals in 2008 led Mr. Jackson to offer them new contracts in 2009.

He said it was “wholly appropriate” that Mr. DeSilva should take performance issues into account when deciding not to renew the officers’ contracts. He also told the court the men did not have an automatic right or legitimate expectation in law to be kept on permanently.

When the judge quizzed Mr. Shepheard over whether he had any such negative appraisal reports to show to the court as evidence, he replied: “For reasons not evident to me, they are not here. We would have wanted to exhibit them, but we don’t have them.”

Finding in favour of the officers, Mr. Justice Kawaley quashed the decision to terminate their contracts, and said they should be allowed to continue in their jobs until they pass the ten-years-of-service mark and become permanent employees.

He said there was no evidence before the court to show their conduct or job performance since 2008 had been so deficient it justified not renewing their contracts. Neither, he said, was there any other identifiable factor to demonstrate that terminating them was in the public interest.

He awarded the officers the costs of the case, which The Royal Gazette understands are around $20,000.

In a reference to the English officers being kept on while the Caribbean officers were terminated, the judge said while there was no evidence that was motivated by discrimination: “Employers, both public and private, in a multicultural environment such as Bermuda, should be astute to shun any appearance of differential treatment. There is an obvious public interest in a unified Police force able to focus on pressing law enforcement concerns, undistracted by the different cultural elements which exist among its ranks.”

Greeting news of the ruling after the court hearing, Mr. Horseman said of the officers: “They are extremely pleased with the result, they have given a considerable amount of time to their professional careers in Bermuda, and they look forward to continuing to serve Bermuda.”

Deputy Commissioner of Police Mike Jackman and Government lawyer Mr. Shepheard declined to comment.