DCP Morris with police Public Relations Officer (PRO) Diane Drayton take a look at the new strategic plan that will be given to the NSC in January 2012. Photo: Aneka Edwards/VINO

DCP Morris believes that more officers since the force is driven by the motto "community oriented". Photo: RVIPF

This is according to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) David Morris in an exclusive interview with Virgin Islands News Online. The RVIPF currently have 219 officers.

“Our three year plan expires at the end of this month and the new one will be given to the Governor and the National Security Council in January. We will be asking them to endorse that and obviously it would have to go through the normal Government procedures in terms of funding to support the force,” DCP Morris revealed.

If the police are given the stamp of approval, a rough estimate of $1.7M more will be needed to facilitate the increase.

Morris explained, “Ideally what we have asked for are funds up to the level of established level in the Gazette in the first instance, and in the second stage once we get to that level we will be asking for an additional increase so that the force could go up to 266 officers.”

At the moment, the budget establishment is for 221, he added.

Though some may disagree that the Force do not need to be increased, the DCP is of the view it is needed because the Territory is changing.

“The population is growing, we are about 30,000 plus. The criminality here in the BVI is changing, the society is modernising, couple that with the economic downturn and unemployment and all of that impacts the crime and the types of crime,” he pointed out.

Technology crime such as e-crime are increasing; a hike in sexual abuse reports; domestic violence, robberies, burglaries and drug trafficking are only a few crimes the police have to tackle, Morris further stated.

Against this backdrop, he emphasised, the Force must be advanced.

“The breath of policing is changing and we have to catch up with that as a Force, at the same time we still have to be policing and servicing our communities. We have to provide from neighbourhood policing dedicated officers who are known by the community by their name, face etc to serious organised crime investigators dealing with criminality not only at the local level but also in the international stage,” DCP Morris added.

The three year plan will be revealed shortly to members of the public, this news agency was told.