The Police Service Social and Welfare Association yesterday complained to acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams about the extra working hours of police officers in light of fresh anti-crime measures initiated in the wake of a resurgence in murders. On Sunday, National Security Minister Emmanuel George met with the top brass of the Police Service as the country recorded nine murders over the weekend. After the meeting, George assured the new crime plans would curb the murder rate. But when the association’s president, acting Insp Anand Ramesar, and secretary, acting Insp Michael Seales, met with Williams at the Police Administration Building, Port-of-Spain, for close to two hours yesterday, one of the issues raised was the extra hours officers would have to put in to ensure the plan achieved its desired goal.
Contacted afterwards, Ramesar said he told Williams second division officers must be included when anti-crime measures were being formulated because they were the ones who had been working well above and beyond the call of duty and deserved to have a say in such important matters. He said: “I made it clear that the association must be involved in any initiative in which terms and conditions may be affected. “If what the commissioner is doing does not affect these terms and conditions, then the association has no problem with this. But if the terms and conditions are affected, then the association is prepared to take a different course of action.” Ramesar did not specify what that meant. While the association supported the measure “in principle,” Ramesar said there must be proper conditions under which officers could effectively function. That, he added, must include support systems for officers who were single parents, proper facilities at all police stations and proper rostering of duties.
He said many officers were already rostered to work overtime. He added: “We are in full support of the Police Commissioner and given the state of affairs with homicides we are in support of the anti-crime initiatives but we are in support of the initiatives in principle. “Our officers must be given the assurance their terms and conditions would not be interfered with and must also be assured proper support structures were in place because officers already worked under a lot of stress. “You cannot have an officer working well over a 40-hour shift for the week.” Ramesar said the new anti-crime plans also forced officers to be away from their families for an even longer period and given that schools were closed for the July/August vacation, it meant less time spent with their children. Asked when the association was expected to meet with Williams again, Ramesar said the ball was in Williams’ court. He said if the acting CoP did not meet with the association in a timely manner that would be disappointing as the matter must take top priority. The new anti-crime measures are aimed at cracking down on gang activity and the recent spate of murders. The T&T Guardian understands that while the services of the Defence Force will be used, police officers will be in the frontline of the attack.