New dept. COP highlights concern of insufficient police officers
BVI News Correspondent - Monday, June 14th, 2010 at 3:00 PM
David Morris
New Deputy Police Commissioner David Morris believes the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force does not have enough officers on the front line.
Morris, who has been deputy police commissioner for under two weeks, said this is one of his concerns since taking up the position here.
“We need to make sure that we have the right police officers in the right places at the right time to deliver that service,’ he said.
He said has been getting acquainted with various persons in the community and has spoken to members of the police force to find out their concerns. Morris was sworn into office on June 1st by Magistrate Valerie Stephens in the presence of Commissioner of Police Reynell Fraser.
“I have been deputy police commissioner for 10 days now and obviously my feet haven’t touched the ground, I have been getting use to the island, meeting people, meeting your judges, magistrate and the Premier as well as meeting a lot of the officers themselves speaking to them trying to identify in terms of the policing, what type of delivery the service is for the Royal Virgin Islands Police to the community, the style of the policing and the trust and confidence the communities have in their policing service and speaking to officers of their issues and concerns they may have,” Morris said.
The Deputy Police Commissioner said his role is to support the commissioner in delivering in what he would call a community focused policing service, which means understanding the communities, understanding what their needs are from a police service and addressing those needs and that could range from quality of life issues, criminal damage, daubing on walls, anti social behavior, to crime like burglaries and vehicle theft, drug trafficking and gun crime. It’s about addressing all those issues and working in partnership with the community, the politicians, and the community leaders to try and improve the life of not just the residents of the British Virgin islands but the tourists and the business community and that’s my role is for the next three years.
Morris said when he spoke with officers of the force they expressed to him a number of concerns. “In terms of the British Virgin Islands Police Service, I think it’s a tremendous police service and has the potential of being the best police service in the Caribbean, the work that is going on here now, in terms of trying to professionalized the service, when you speak to the officers they are enthuastic and keen and want to deliver a service and its my job along with the Commissioner and the other senior managers to help them to deliver that service. They have concerns as all police officers do, about duty hours, the length of time that they work, rest days, about additional resources for policing because one of my concerns over the past 10 days, we don’t have enough police officers out there on the front line, we need to make sure that we have the right police officers in the right place at the right time to deliver that service,” he explained.
Morris is to assist the Commissioner in the administration of the Force. He is to also ensure the Force’s compliance with legal requirements and government policies and procedures and provide operational policing leadership and mentorship to divisional heads.
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2 Comments
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Well imagine he just come and already recognized this. It was most recently, I learn that the Commissioner and a man he had working with him was trying to down size the force and cut back on the ranks, now the Deputy come and recognized that the force needs more men on the front line. I wonder what the Commissioner saying about this.
well i dont know much about this deputy, but its a good start and i think he should start on bringing more local offiers. and this maybe a good start for you. why are we still losing our local police from the RVIPF. from what i understand we have lose few of our officers over the years. them either transfer to Prison, Customs, Immigration and maybe Fire Dept. Dont be a hotshot just do the job you were ask to do. Good luck.
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