Police officers have been told that they need to take better care of items including stoves, fridges and washing machines found within the quarters they reside in at police stations across the country.
Commissioner of Police (Ag) Enville Williams made the call yesterday during a press briefing.
According to the chief of police, police officers came from the society, and they had to constantly be reminded that they ought to treat the furnishing on the premises that they are using with the utmost care.
“Because the taxpayers in St Vincent and the Grenadines have to constantly be replacing these items and so you want police officers to take care of the items,” Williams told reporters.
“I want to believe that police officers will do their utmost to take care of the items that are placed at the station for their comfort because it will mean that we have to keep buying new ones and it will mean that we continue to break the budget and it might mean that taxes along the way might increase and none of us want that,” he continued/
He said that he therefore thought that in an effort to avoid this that the police will start treating the equipment at the stations like they would of their own furnishings at home.
There was a similar problem with the manner in which some officers treated the police stations and police transport made available to them, the CoP added.
According to Williams, there were some challenges with the maintenance of police stations and vehicles.
“I want to appeal to the police officers because we live at the police station,” Williams said.
He further explained that members of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) ought not to continue vandalizing stations and not taking care of the police transport.
The public interfaces with the police through the various police station CoP Williams contended.
And if they wanted to be in a position to deal with the citizen’s requests soundly, then they had to stop damaging where they lived and the transport they were given, Williams said.