Police Association: Where’s the promised PPE?

Police officers, who on the frontline of the battle against COVID-19 have begun to publicly express fears about inadequate protection from the potentially lethal virus as they interact with the public daily.

President of the Police Association Mervin Grace this evening  complained that the personal protective equipment (PPE) which the force’s administration had promised remains elusive.

Grace told Barbados TODAY he was not totally satisfied with the measures put in place to protect the men and women of the constabulary.

“There are still a lot of things that are lacking that we asked for that are not in place as yet. The answer is no, we are not a hundred per cent satisfied as yet,” the police association’s leader stated.

Asked to identify some of those things which are lacking Grace responded:”Let’s say it is not everything that we asked for that we have gotten as yet.

“We have been advised that the things are coming they are not there as yet. Things that people are being told are in place are not in place.”

He went on to tell Barbados TODAY that police officers are even hearing in the media that measures were in place but they are not seeing the evidence.

Pressed to state what timelines had been given to police officers for the promised materials to be forthcoming Grace suggested there were none.

He said: “No. Some of things I am being told are financial issues, I don’t know why. But, we will wait and see how that turns out.

“And yes, the members do have some concerns. The concerns are the same as everybody else… the PPE, the protective glass… all these things that we had asked for are not in place. We are still awaiting to hear from the admin what is going on.”

Grace also noted that while the nature of the police’s job is to sometimes make physical contact with people, officers are trying to minimize that as much as possible.

“I would not go as far as telling you exactly how  we are dealing with that because persons might want to take advantage of it. We have some issues we are dealing with so we know how to deal with them,” he declared when pressed to state how law enforcers were minimizing contact with the public.

In a recent interview with Barbados TODAY,  Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith was asked a similar question.

Commissioner Griffith replied: “We try to avoid arresting suspects in simple matters wherever possible.  We will try to resolve matters amicably and where we have to arrest, we expect the average person to cooperate with us.

“We will routinely ask the questions that we should ask, but obviously if you have somebody who is now aggressive then, we have different measures to deal with that, including tasers and those things to make sure that our people are not put in harm’s way.”

While relying on social distancing as a major aspect of protection from the virus, the commissioner did not rule out the use of gloves.

Griffith said that while police officers have been using gloves in the past for special assignments, any widespread utilization would be a last resort.

The Commissioner told Barbados TODAY: “We have always made gloves available in the past. Again, the experts are telling you that in relation to COVID-19, it can be to your disadvantage. So we are just following closely what the health people suggest.

“Most of the tasks that we are asked to perform, we work with the health authorities under the Quarantine Act. We are really in support of the health authorities.

“We take action as they deem fit; and one of the things that they have said clearly to us, is that at no time are they going to put us in harm’s way. They will work with us to make sure that we are protected.”

Griffith also revealed that apart from the requirement to wash hands, the force’s administrators are also observing social distancing.

“Again, continuity is critical, so we are trying to avoid lots of meetings and those things, because the senior command team has to be available at all times. We are communicating more electronically,” the Commissioner said.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb