Pruce: Vetting asks for social media and associations, not passwords
Governor Daniel Pruce has clarified that the vetting process for members of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) does not request personal passwords, following public concerns over the scope of the forms.
Pruce explained that the vetting is designed to strengthen trust in the police and protect national security.
“The form does not ask for personal identification numbers. It does not request any PIN numbers. The form does not ask for any passwords. It doesn’t ask for any login or access credentials,” he stated.
The governor said the forms instead cover areas such as personal details, family, associations, social media accounts, disciplinary history, and financial circumstances. Officers are also required to declare bank account and card numbers, but not access credentials.
“That information, quite rightly, is personal to the officer and is not requested at all in the vetting process,” he added.
The vetting process has been the subject of court proceedings. Pruce noted that while a draft court order has temporarily stayed enforcement measures against officers who have not completed their forms, the process itself “remains open and ongoing.”
So far, about 100 officers – more than a third of the 270-280-strong RVIPF – have submitted their forms.
“I’m grateful to them for doing so. And I think it perhaps helped address what may be a perception in some quarters that across the whole of the force there’s no engagement,” Pruce said.
The governor insisted the process is vital to ensuring public confidence.
“Vetting protects the integrity of the police force. It strengthens the trust of the public. And it helps preserve our national security. Vetting makes us all safer,” he stated.
Concerns about the process being intrusive have been raised publicly, but Pruce said such scrutiny is common in law enforcement worldwide.
“By definition, vetting is a process which asks you personal questions. I know from my own experience as a civil servant for over three decades now that vetting does probe you in areas which do feel personal,” he explained.
The RVIPF has faced close scrutiny following recommendations from the UK-led Commission of Inquiry (COI) and a Law Enforcement Review which highlighted weaknesses in the territory’s policing.
The review recommended extensive reforms to improve accountability, resources, and public trust in law enforcement. Pruce said he remained committed to conducting the process lawfully and with support from the Attorney General’s Chambers.
“We want officers of the Virgin Islands Police Force to be able to pass vetting. The whole point of the vetting process is to enable us to have awareness within the force and confidence that officers meet the standards that we all expect of them,” he stated.
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They dont need your passwords to find out what’s hidden in your social media, law enforcement for the big western countries have backdoors.
This just shows the people filling out the form can’t read.
All officers needs to deactivate all their social media accounts after scrubbing them and stay the “F” off these platforms if they don’t want to be vetted on such criteria. Back in the day of no social media platforms, corruption was not so highly anticipated or manipulated.
Gov Pruce Please/
We making big talk about independence yet we can’t even vet our police SMH.
@wtf. Who gave Britain independence? How many Brits were vetted before their independence? These are some stupid questions for real just like the one you posted. @soil boy. Ur correct. They have their nutcrackers to break into whatever they want. If you’re under investigations they should use lawful means to get their information. When a person give up their rights they’re open to continuous violations.
All persons should be vetted before joining the police and also in any position of power, this is standard practice in many places and will ensure those in these positions will act accordingly and not for their own interest.
they shouldn’t have anything to hide
Social interaction is part of the vetting process system. As the better goes through their checks and balances to see if you’ve offended some unknown persons feeling or if your learning indoctrination has been deprogrammed distorted.