Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves this week, during parliament expressed dissatisfaction with blatant misuse of vehicles assigned to the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force.
Prime Minister Gonsalves was at the time responding to question from Opposition Senator Shevern John on the distribution of police transport to various district stations.
“From Georgetown, somebody who has control of the vehicle, sends the vehicle, got the vehicle to go from Georgetown, to go to fancy to drop a member of their family, and to wait to pick up people from the same family to come back down, even though there is a vehicle inside of that family,” Gonsalves said.
Prime Minister Gonsalves goes on to lament the lack of effort of some officers within the force when faced when faced with a duty with no vehicle available, advising them that maybe the career of a police officer may not be for them.
“And then the police officers will tell you when you call the office and I say—and there are very good police, but there are some—if you don’t want to be a policeman or policewoman, don’t join the police force, join the civil service. If you want an eight to four job, join it, if you want to sit down at a desk, join the public service, but don’t become a police officer.
As soon as you call the office the first thing they tell you “we don’t have any transport. Well let us check this out, you have half a dozen persons by a police station, a person goes out with the vehicle to investigate something, a complaint comes in, well the vehicle can’t come back from that area where they gone. Sometimes, Madame Speaker, you don’t even have to walk 100 yards. They don’t want to walk 100 yards! You know that and I know that!” Gonsalves said.
The Prime Minister said that there are too many pressing issues to be dealt with “mollycoddle” officers in this situation.