A plan to boost the manpower of the Homicide Bureau by transfering detectives from other units has met the approval of the Police Second Division Association. Secretary of the organisation, Insp Michael Seales, said the Police Executive must, however, ensure that the targeted officers are adequately compensated and trained. Seales was commenting on statements made by acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams, who announced last week that the Police Service intented to quadruple its efforts to solve murders.
Speaking at an awards ceremony last week, Williams said the media saw the performance of the Police Service through the lens of murders, and while there had been a decrease in other serious crimes, murders must be addressed. Seales said without the proper renumeration for the excessive hours that the police officers would now have to work as a result of the proposed move, such a move would be demotivating.
He said the Homicide Bureau operates differently from other units in the way they interview and record statements from suspects and that officers coming in ought to be trained to do so. The training period he said should be between two weeks to a month and as well as on-the-job training. “Would systems be in place to manage the psychological aspects of these officers? There could be some confusion in the rank structure and the Commissioner of Police has to take those matters into consideration,” Seales said.