RVIPF divided based on nationality of officers - Skelton-Cline
Skelton-Cline's comments came during a special Wednesday, April 21, 2021, edition of his ‘Honestly Speaking’ show on ZBVI 780 AM.
More unity needed in RVIPF
“I’m hearing this debate often, a lot of police are regional neighbours from across the Caribbean… there’s a couple of things that concerns me as I gleaned from the sentiments of others, you got to have one police force.
“You can’t have a police force with all kinds of cliques based upon what island nation you are from, and then you are protecting only the people who are from the island nation you are from,” Skelton-Cline said.
The commentator and clergyman said some officers are allegedly using poor compensation as a legitimate proposition for not doing their job.
“On top of that, the quality of the officers that are being recruited is concerning to me, all kinds of other privileges including Belongership are afforded to police officers after a period of time when they come here,” he said.
Community policing dead - Skelton-Cline
The man of the cloth also alleged there is a lack of community policing in the Virgin Islands, be it on foot, horseback or motorcycle, and called for more to be done.
“So, the police only show up, as most police do, when the deed is done… this is unacceptable,” he said.
According to Skelton-Cline, violent crime continues to run rampant in the VI due to a deterioration of moral and ethical values.
He called on Governor John J. Rankin CMG, Premier Andrew A, Fahie (R1), Commissioner of Police Mark Collins, and all those who sit on the National Security Council, as well as ordinary VI citizens, to work towards restoring the territory to a safer place.
40 Responses to “RVIPF divided based on nationality of officers - Skelton-Cline ”
In this case, it may be that some of the UK cops are corrupt back up there, but in general, their police culture is more efficient and professional than ours.
Since we remain a UK dependency, in this case, as in some others, help from them is nearest/cheapest/easiest for us.
In some cases, maybe better we don't use them. In some cases, it might be better for the people of the BVI to use them.
Best option for the BVI is to be smart. Use them when it serves us best, imo.
The foreign police working according to the books because they take their training seriously, however the locals want to turn a blind eye when it comes to family members, they go back and say who report crimes, the say you can remain anonymous yet the local police asking for your name., then we want to curse out the foreign police saying they need to good back where they come from or watch their backs.
We locals are despicable.
agree with you cluade especially them v*** officers they are the worst set in the police force worst crooked ones and like mix up bad .
We won’t get many local cops nor will foreign cops break barriers until cannabis is legal. The police job includes punishment of what to some is religiously right.
Some people don’t care if what they do is right or wrong they’re getting paid.