President of the Barbados Police Association (BPA) Sergeant Mervin Grace says immediate action must be taken to protect the health of police personnel working out of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID).
Grace made the call Sunday following the BPA’s 62nd anniversary church service at the Church of the Nazarene in Collymore Rock.
He noted that though there are a number of challenges facing the service, one major recurring issue has been the health and environmental conditions being reported at CID Central.
“One of the major issues that I am grappling with now is the sick building syndrome, especially at the Criminal Investigations Department right now. I have a serious matter where there is a mold infestation. They attempted cleaning and it’s continually growing back at the particular location down at Redman Drive,” Grace said.
“I’ve been engaging the Commissioner’s Office on this matter, the Office of the Attorney General has also been informed and they are trying to rectify the issue.”
He added: “We are definitely looking at relocation from that point, and I do not think that I would be minded to agree with the Government of retrofitting the particular building, cleaning it, and putting the guys back in there. I cannot see that happening; the building itself is a sick building. Cleaning and going back in will not solve the issue.”
The BPA President stressed that if the matter at CID persists, officers may have no choice but to avoid working from the building entirely.
Meanwhile, he also added that the meager salary levels were contributing to the high number of vacancies within the Barbados Police Service.
“There is a lot of room there for persons, we have over 300 vacancies which need to be filled. The only thing as I would have mentioned in the church, is that one thing that is holding back persons from joining the organisation is the meager salary that is being paid to a police officer,” he said.
“I know for a fact that persons in the security firms, the [Barbados Community College], the Central Bank, the UWI … all those security guards are being paid more than a constable to enter the organisation. These things cannot be correct.”
Grace added: “If anything happens, these same security guards have to call on the same police officers to come and deal with whatever matter they have. So, I think one of the main things that needs to be addressed is the salary on entry into the organisation. I don’t exactly mind mine, but the guys that are on entry need to be topped up from the meager figure that it has been all these years.”
(SB)
