Ken Chaplin

In Bermuda, the basic salary of a police constable is B$56,000 (the Bermudan dollar is on par with the US dollar) or more than $3.6 million a year compared with the $430,000 a year which a constable in Jamaica receives. The basic salary of our commissioner of police at the highest point is $2.663 million which is less than what a Bermudan constable is paid. The Bermuda Police Service is now seeking recruits here and it is understood that the response has been good.

While our economy does not allow us to pay our police personnel at the level of their counterparts in Bermuda, the government would be able to do better if it eliminated waste and political patronage in order to win elections. Whether the government likes it or not, it will have to find themoney to pay police personnel a decent salary.

Meanwhile, police personnel continue to be humiliated by the dilapidated conditions of many of the stations in which they have to live and work. This has led some people in inner-city communities to show little respect for them. As one inner-city youth was quoted as saying to a policeman: "Wi nuh respeck yu. Look wey unnu live and work."

Hurricane Ivan might have blown some good on the police force as 40 stations across the island were damaged, some beyond repair, and the men and women of the force are showing considerable reluctance to reoccupy those buildings which are falling apart. New accommodation will have to be found. The government has been dragging its feet in this regard. As outlined recently by the Police Officers Association's (POA) president Senior Superintendent Leon Rose, prior to the hurricane, of the 179 police stations 58 were in an advanced state of disrepair. Of those, 42 need major repairs and 16 will have to be replaced totally.

There was every justification for the POA to condemn the appalling conditions under which police have to work and live. The force which is the first line of defence against crime and violence is undermanned, under-equipped and underpaid. Every citizen should understand that security impacts on every aspect of the national life and development which makes it the major priority in the country, something the government does not seem to appreciate fully.

The inadequacy of the financial support from government has reached alarming proportions. In the current financial year, the police force requested around $11 billion and only $8 billion was approved. Each month the money received is reduced and this significantly undermines its operational capability. Last month the money it received from the Ministry of Finance was short by more than $90 million. The mobility of the force is seriously threatened. The minimum requirement at present is 1,500 motorcars and 326 motor cycles. But it has only 1,023 motorcars with 522 being over 10 years old, while the current motor cycle fleet is 260, of which 195 are at least seven years old. The vehicles are no longer efficient as they record at least 100,000 km per year.
These are just some of the inadequacies of the force to which the public looks for a high standard of performance.

There are three other areas that need to be tackled urgently, despite what the POA says about the leadership of the force being united and committed to the cause of law enforcement and public order. One has to do with the low morale of a number of officers who have fallen out of grace with the leadership of the force because of its apparent pettiness in shunting experienced officers to areas where they cannot make any meaningful contribution to aggressive law enforcement. Many of these officers have been demoralised and have become mere passengers in the force.

The second area is the operational strategy which to some extent is outdated. While there are some good strategists, there are too many commanders in the field who lack sufficient training, skills and experience. The third area covers the inadequate undercover operations. The commissioner was quite right when he said undercover work by police is most difficult in Jamaica. However, there are others in the force who say that for the right money operatives can be developed within the gangs.

Tribute to Barry Cross

Barry Cross who rose from a constable to assistant commissioner of police has served the force with distinction, especially in the areas of information, public relations and community relations, police welfare and sports. I first met Barry in 1973 when I was assigned by the Office of the Prime Minister to the police force to establish a police information unit. We worked together for two years. In establishing the unit we had to find a suitable name for it. Someone came up with "Police Information Service" (PIS) but we could not live with that acronym, so we named it "Police Information Centre" (PIC) which functioned efficiently for many years. It kept the public up-to-date on crime and violence, and the police successful in fighting crime which was intended to make criminals realise that they should not expect to murder, for example, and get away with it "just like that". One of our golden rules was never to tell the media that we do not have the information requested, but rather assure them that we will find out and get back to them. I left PIC in 1995 and Barry and I worked together again in 1997 as part of a consultative group to the central peace council which political gang leaders had brokered in the western section of the city to preserve peace in the area.

The gang leaders wanted police passes to give them some authority in preserving the peace and preventing crime. But Barry refused this request, fearing they would use the passes to extort money from the business community under the guise of protecting them. As events turned out, Barry's insight was superb. Incidentally, except for Louise Fraser Bennett who passed away from natural causes last year, all the original gang leaders died violently in Jamaica and the United States of America. This is something the present leaders ought to think about.

Barry was a great sportsman. He served as treasurer of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association and played a key role in the development of sports in the force. One of his most significant contributions was the dramatic expansion of police youth clubs islandwide.

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