David Morris: People do not talk to & …do not trust the Police!
During a question posed by Territorial At Large member Archibald C. Christian about Crime-Stoppers and the payment of reward, then Deputy Police Commissioner David Morris responded that the Crime-Stoppers programme was launched approximately one year ago and was not funded.
Morris, a UK officer now the Acting Police Commissioner following the pre-retirement leave of Reynell Frazer, told the SFC that Crime-Stoppers was not a Police initiative, but was deliberately created through a separate Board with no reward schemes being paid for because it was never funded for reward. Public does not trust Police, issues of confidentialityThe then Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) told the body that he “recognized that people do not talk to the police and maybe do not trust the police,” but there were also other issues in terms of fear for their own safety, fear of going to court and having to give evidence, if people come forward officially.
Mr. Morris further told the SFC appointed to examine the 2012 Draft Estimates that the Police got information, the same information through intelligence services, police officers and other sources that were followed up, but that does not necessarily mean that it would result in evidence whereby the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) would prosecute individuals because the Police needed evidence to prosecute. The DPC stated that they knew a lot of what was going on, but there is a difference between knowing what was going on and obtaining the evidence.
The DCOP also told the SFC that there were issues in the Force regarding confidentiality in terms of trust and recognizing when the public calls, the information was for policing purposes only.
He recognized that there were cultural work and discipline issues that needed to be overcome and stated that there were issues of trust in terms of reporting things to the police and protection of witnesses coming forward.
The now Acting Police Commissioner told the body that one of the biggest issues discussed at community meetings was both trust and building that trust and confidence in the force. He stated that the Police Force needed to recognize that they needed to be stronger in their engagement.
Meanwhile, Minister for Communications and Works Mark Vanterpool enquired that, if it was understood that Government may be willing to give the RVIPF whatever was needed, but when they got it, he did not know how confident the Government would be that the resources would be utilized well enough, quickly enough, efficiently enough with certain special delivery channels to make it happen.
Minister Vanterpool told the Committee that the House of Assembly (HOA) needed assurance that there would be special efforts made to ensure that the rise of crime would be first stopped, a serious reduction would be evident over the next several years and that a special effort toward proactive preventative measures would be put in place to prevent crime.
The fourth district representative said the SFC under the leadership of the Ministry of Finance would be willing to suggest that if then Commissioner of Police Frazer could have assured that crime would be seriously tackled in the next 12 to 48 months and gave a serious programme of how that would be done while fostering the HOA’s comfort level that something very dramatic would happen, then all 13 Members of the HOA along with the Speaker’s prodding would ensure that something serious happened in terms of providing the resources.
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