Police Commissioner Chester Williams has wrapped up his tour of police stations and police facilities countrywide. It took about 6 weeks. Every week the COMPOL and his Senior Command Team took on another district.
Apart from finding out about the state of the department's physical assets, the Commissioner also learned much about the morale and mindset of the officers, in the different sections, branches and headquarters.
The last stop of his tour this morning was at the country's biggest station the well-known Queen Street Headquarters, and after he was done meeting with his officers, we got a chance to speak with him.
He told us that most of the facilities are in decent conditions, but that his main take-away from the tour were the concerns from his subordinates. Here's what he had to say about those two topics:
Chester Williams - Police Commissioner
"Infrastructure wise, the police buildings are in fairly good condition. Many of them, recently underwent renovation. Yes, there are a few that we're looking at that needs to be renovated, particularly in the north and the south. And those will be looked at through our budget, to see what we have under capital projects, to be able to renovate, and we also have some of them that will be renovated through the CABEI program."
"From a personnel standpoint, we have deficiencies in the sense that we need to up our numbers to be able to meet the policing demand. And one of the complaints from the officers is that they believe that at times, they are being overworked to be able to fill the void that our autrician. And so, we'll be looking proposing a new recruit intake this year, and see if the government will be able to afford us that opportunity. And once that is done, then that should put us at a reasonable position to be able to meet our deployment demands. Welfare wise, again, the officers are concerned about their contribution to the police association funds, and are asking what will be done to ensure that their monies are being account for, used in a way it was contemplated. So, my thing to them is that the matter is before the court, and as the Commissioner, I continue to look after their interest in ensuring that accountability is obtained, and that the monies are spent the way it ought to be spent. Another issue that came up is the issue of healthcare, and we know that for the most part, police officers are not willing to contribute to an insurance scheme, and so, whenever we have officers would fall ill, getting the officers medical care is often difficult, and when I say medical care, I mean tertiary medical care."
"One of the things that I proposed to them that I'd want to work on, through the Police Association, to be able to alleviate this concern is that currently, they're paying 5 dollars monthly to the Police Association. I'm proposing to them we increase that 5 to $10 a month, and the monies collected would go into the Police Association fund, and will be used as a health insurance scheme for them."
"When we look at the lower ranks of the department that would fall into the membership category, we have close to 2,000 x 10 x 12, that gives you 240,000 dollars that they would be collecting annually from membership. That money can be used and will be sufficient to be able to assist officers in dealing with medical expenses."
"Under this proposed internal health insurance buy-in from officers, they would be able to access up to $5,000 in coverage from the Association's fund, for emergency medical costs. If their medical expenses are more than that amount, they can get the balance from the Association from a loan, with no interest."
"Another welfare-oriented proposal agreed upon by the Commissioner and his officers is that he will approach the Government to explore the possibility that parcels of land can be made available so that officers can be gifted a plot as appreciation for 10 years or more of service in the Department."
Under this proposed internal health insurance buy-in from officers, they would be able to access up to $5,000 in coverage from the Police Association's fund, for emergency medical costs. If their medical expenses are more than that figure, they can get the balance from the Association in a loan, with no interest.
Another welfare-oriented proposal agreed upon by the Commissioner and his officers is that he will approach the Government to explore the possibility that parcels of land can be made available so that officers purchase a plot at a reduced price, as appreciation for 10 years or more of service in the Department.
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