THE Court of Appeal ruled that a former special reserve police (SRP) sergeant was denied equal treatment and legal protection after being demoted to constable when SRPs were integrated into the regular police force after a Cabinet decision in 2020.

Justices of Appeal Mira Dean-Armorer, Malcolm Holdip and Carla Brown-Antoine overturned a 2018 High Court ruling and declared that Winston Charles’ constitutional rights had been violated before the 2000 Cabinet decision that absorbed SRPs into the police service (TTPS) at the rank of constable.

By its decision on April 1, 2000, the Cabinet agreed in principle that the members of the SRP, who had been employed on a full-time basis for a period exceeding two years, should be absorbed into the regular police service.