Police review

Attorney General Dale Marshall says the government is committed to making policing more attractive for prospective applicants by reviewing the pay and terms and conditions of employment.

Noting that police officers were leaving the Barbados Police Service, for what seem to be more lucrative opportunities in the area of security, Marshall said he also saw the need to change the retirement age for police officers to help make it a more attractive career choice.

“I have been told that the police force has been losing officers to go to security jobs for example, and when you dig deep sometimes it might be the level of remuneration but at other times it is the level of sacrifice that is required,” said Marshall.

“Salaries have always been an issue and continue to be an issue but we have to deal with it within the larger context of Government. Secondly, we have to look at other non-salaried items. There is going to be a regrading coming and thirdly, in the long-term we have to think about the future of this service and seriously address the fact that a police officer could well be a police constable and looking to retire at age 67,” he added. The AG pointed to the need to lower the retirement age for that segment of the law enforcement.

“That is not a matter for today, but I will remind this Chamber that members of the Barbados Defence Force will retire, if you are below a particular rank, at the age of 45,” he said.

“If you reach the higher echelons you have to go at age 55 and possibly get an extension to 60. Now, those are special arrangements put in place for the BDF and the time has come for us as a Government to look to see what other things we can do to make policing a more attractive career. For my part as Attorney General, I commit to giving them every possible training opportunity,” said Marshall.

Recalling that five years ago police officers were called back from vacation to help deal with a number of issues due to a shortage of policemen, Marshall said “very few jobs require that level of sacrifice”.

“We have known for a long time that the health profile of the average police officer is worse than the health profile of just about any other segment of the Barbadian society because they don’t get to eat regular meals … There are a number of things I would like for us to put on the table in due course and it isn’t just a question of salaries. There are other terms and conditions we have to consider,” Marshall explained.

He was responding to questions from lawmakers during the Estimates debate in the House of Assembly on Friday.

He said while there was no doubt that the “contentious” issue of low pay for police officers needed to be addressed, he explained that it was not easy to “extract” that segment of the public service and deal with it on its own when it comes to matters of salaries and wages.

“I can say that as part of the overall exercise of salary negotiations that have just concluded with a settlement, a regrading of all of the members of the public service has been promised within a year, and I anticipate that some of that will see some changes in the ranks of the police service,” he said.

“One of the things I have been mandated to consider in an effort to attract officers to the police service would be having individuals come in at a guaranteed higher level so that somebody who comes in with certain special qualifications they come in at a higher rank than just a constable. So there are a number of things that we have to look at,” he added.

Acknowledging that policing now is different from two decades ago, Marshall noted that while they were required to carry out some core functions, they were now required to also be trained in several areas of technology and cyber security.

“They have to be good at a lot of things that former police of a bygone era didn’t have to be good at … and in many respects the career of policing is a lot more attractive now in terms of opportunities than it was before. But at the end of the day, people want to be able to pay their bills so salaries are key,” said Marshall.