Law Enforcement Marine Base officially handed over
In a ceremony held just outside the base in Road Reef, Tortola, Premier and Minister of Finance Dr the Hon Natalio D. Wheatley (R7) called it a proud moment for all Virgin Islanders ahead of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF), His Majesty's Customs, and the Immigration Department taking up occupancy.
Proud Day for VI
“Today is a day for all Virgin Islanders to feel proud. Today, we celebrate the completion of the reconstruction of the Virgin Islands Law Enforcement Marine Base, a project being managed by Virgin Islanders. The contractor for this project was James Todman Construction Limited, one of our most prominent BVI construction companies.”
Hon Wheatly commented that a homegrown contractor has done the VI proud by delivering another well-executed project. He also acknowledging the Virgin Islands Recovery and Development Agency (RDA) and Trojan Design and Development Limited for their part played.
“This handover today demonstrates our commitment to our national security. The fight against the import and transhipment of contraband and human trafficking is well-known in this territory. Quite expectedly, the damage to the marine base adversely affected the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force’s Marine Unit and Customs and Immigration's ability to optimally execute its mandate of patrolling our waters and securing our borders.”
The Premier said he is excited about the opportunity for enhanced collaboration between the members of the Joint Task Force, including agencies for which he is directly responsible, having a base of operations at the building.
More collaboration
“Greater collaboration will lead to a more effective enforcement of our laws. There's also well known that the BVI is the sailing capital of the world, so we often have a lot of sailboats in our waters. As island people, we are always commuting from one island to another as part of everyday life.”
He said the marine base will allow the VI to serve its community by ensuring safety on the sea. while adding that the base will help to enhance local capabilities and coordination by giving law enforcement personnel the tools to do their jobs more effectively.
“National security and public safety are important to us all and therefore the Government of the Virgin Islands is pleased to do our part in resourcing and supporting our law enforcement officers, as we have always done and as we will continue to do,” he added.
The Premier thanked all those persons and agencies that made this project a reality and added that it is something for all of VI to be proud of as they look forward to other big tasks on the journey of nation-building.
Present at the ceremony were other members of government, public servants, members of the public and officers of the joint forces.
17 Responses to “Law Enforcement Marine Base officially handed over”
The question will be asked again. How many Deputy Commissioner of Police does it have? Every body knows which one passed the process, so why we hardly see that one. Present in every picture is not Policing.
So none of the Police officers that use to be in the Marine Unit long before Customs had boats and the Police Boat ( Virgin Clipper) was Docking infront of Treasure isle, then ( Úrsula) on the Roadside infront of Crandalls were not invited. Boy all you ungrateful.
God don't don't sleep.
BVI waters are packing military grade heat. For their own protection.