Dear Editor,

I just want to make the public be aware of the training that each police recruit is undergoing.

A lot of frustration has been going on with the recruits of batches 121 and 122. They don’t know the projection of their training. They were enlisted on February 18 and March 18, respectively, and it’s almost a year into training and no one knows when the passing-out ceremony will be held.

My guess is that they have no money to allocate for the ceremony. I guess the people in charge are waiting on the fiscal season to end and for budget to be read in order for them to graduate.

When enlisted they were told that they will be doing four months’ basic training and four months in several divisions across the island, and an additional three weeks for graduation practice, with an additional stipend payable to them.

Four months have been concluded of the basic training and they have been sent to divisions from July 2019 to date, so that’s actually six months on this phase, and they still don’t know where they stand. They have been working vigorously at the stations to which they are assigned with supervision.

They have been long overdue now to be passed out. They need their full salaries.

One wonders if the Government has run out of money to pay the officers.

It really pains my heart to see them struggling to survive on a stipend. A lot of people have been away from home, from their families, and the little day off that they get is not working out because some are separated by two or more parishes.

Now dates has been given for the trainees to go back to Twickenham Park training wing to prepare for field craft and graduation; however, they are planning to put the trainees under tents as there is no space available to house them, and that would be for a month and a half. I believe that it is not sanitary and that adds to their frustration as well.

Now batch 121 has to do over field craft, which they didn’t see coming. They did it before, so why again? It’s very unfair to them and some trainees are thinking otherwise, because they feel as though their time has been wasted. To me, everyone deserves to be treated as an adult, regardless of the circumstances. They need to be represented by someone, even if it’s the Police Federation, because this is not what they have signed up for. They need answers.

Anonymous