After 30 years of helping the Barbados Police Service deal with road accidents and oil spills, the Roving Response Team (RRT) has suspended that voluntary operational support saying it is becoming too expensive to keep up.
RRT president Jefferson Bovell disclosed on Thursday that the call-outs by the police had become “a great financial burden on the team”.
“And when you sit down and look at it, the cost to the guys is about $60 000 a year to respond and this comes out of the members’ pockets,” he told Barbados TODAY in an interview.
Bovell has already informed the administration of the Barbados Police Service in writing of the team’s decision to end the voluntary operational support.
In a September 11 letter addressed to the Office of the Commissioner of Police, the RRT president reminded its leadership that the team has been supporting the call-outs by the police operations to assist officers at the “numerous accident scenes and oil spills where our members respond and are involved in the cleanup of debris and placing sand on the oil spills”.
“Our members commit much time, energy, and provide the equipment to clear the scenes in the fastest possible time to allow the roads of Barbados to reopen quickly after an accident. However, due to the high frequency of accidents, it is no longer feasible to support the operations as our members are unable to afford the high escalating costs associated with response to these call-outs,” Bovell wrote in his correspondence.
“Therefore, with immediate effect, and with deep regret, we have no choice but to suspend the call-outs until we can find a solution that can assist the team members with the high costs being incurred,” he added.
However, Bovell disclosed that the RRT will stay committed to assisting the Department of Emergency Management (DEM) under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and will continue to support all call-outs by the DEM to mass casualty incidents where the group’s services are required
The letter by Bovell was copied to the president of the General Insurance Association of Barbados (GIAB) Randy Graham, and General Manager/Director of Consumers’ Guarantee Insurance Company Ltd (CGI) Peter Harris.
Bovell told Barbados TODAY that he received calls on Thursday from some insurance companies expressing their willingness to help.
When contacted, Harris gave his company’s full support to contribute to the financial needs of the Roving Response Team.
“Those guys provide a very valuable service to every Barbadian citizen. It is a worthwhile service and I am very happy to support it,” the CGI head assured while urging his colleagues to assist as well.
Barbados TODAY was able to confirm that Sagicor and Equity Insurance companies are also lending their support.
Graham also said the insurance sector sees the benefit the RRT brings to the country.
“The GIAB offered some contributions to the Roving Response Team earlier in the year to help out with some of the expenses, but based on the correspondence, they might need much more to fund this thing long-term, so the sector will try to help,” Graham told Barbados TODAY.
He said he was in the process of arranging a meeting with the RRT to ascertain exactly what their needs are going forward.
Acting Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce was unavailable to comment.
emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb
