With the Barbados Police Service short of about 300 policemen, one officer is suggesting that higher wages could be the solution to correcting the shortage.
Acting Superintendent of Police and deputy divisional commander of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) Mark White says attracting young people to join the police ranks is a challenge.
“When you talk to young people about joining the service the first thing they ask you is how much you are paying. And when they look at remunerations, they say not for the risks. So we have been trying to see how we can promote the service and to attract the young people but it is a big challenge right now,” White said.
Speaking to the media following the closing ceremony of a court prosecutors’ course and an enhanced constables development course, held at the Regional Police Training Centre in Christ Church, White said attrition retirements have left the service struggling to deal with the shortfall.
“The young people, an [entirely] different generation, the crime climate is different and it is a big deterrent to people wanting to join our ranks,” he said. White said the CID was also short of investigators and this was putting pressure on the division.
Acting Superintendent of Police and deputy divisional commander of the Criminal Investigation Division Mark White delivering his address.
“The Criminal Investigation Division, we too are down in numbers and there is a small, small cadre of officers who have to deal with all the major crimes and it has been taking a toll on them. They go beyond the call of duty, they put in a really big effort but I am really looking to address some of the staffing needs and see if we could get more that want to come and join the division.
“Again they always talk about the long hours we work but with protracted investigations, uniformed officers are not really suited to do that because they still have to service the needs of the people and the investigators are trained to investigate crime and they are accustomed to the long hours.”
White said that he would continue searching for people with the right attitude and he was hopeful he would find new blood soon to boost the division comprising over 177 people.
However, he said that while an increase in remuneration was a policy decision it could be a solution to the shortfall.
“That is a policy decision. I think right now there is a proposal for increased allowances in the service so we are hoping that we get some favourable response to that.”
When asked if an increase in salary would generate more interest, White said: “Yes I believe so. It will definitely assist us in our recruitment drive.”
During his address, White called for the justice system to adopt contemporary practices by looking outside of mere confessions from the accused and find other supporting evidence such as forensic and digital (audio/video evidence) to strengthen cases.
He added that there also needed to be a greater synergy between prosecutor and investigators and even having the former accompany investigators to crime scenes to get a firsthand experience of the scene.
Fourteen officers, including members of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, the Royal Police Force of Antigua & Barbuda, the Barbados Defence Force and the Immigration Department graduated from the court prosecutors’ course.
Inspector Dervent Murray from the Virgin Islands had the most outstanding performance scoring 83 per cent.
Nineteen local officers graduated the constables development course with vonRad Walters top scoring with 83 per cent and Javon Ifill demonstrating the best public speaking skills.
sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb
