Police Chief Daniel Carbon has revealed that a Community Policing Action Plan has been submitted to Minister for Justice, Immigration and National Security, Rayburn Blackmoore in order to create greater relations between the police and the public.
According to Carbon, who was addressing a press conference held at the Police Headquarters recently, it will cost about $150,000 to launch the plan.
“The plan is over a period of three years for the first instance… Although the plan has gone through review and the Minister has indicated that it’s going to cost more than we suggested, but taking into consideration we need more man power, we need vehicles and other paraphernalia to make sure that the plan works, our initial cost is about $150,000 to launch it,” Carbon said.
According to him, every year the plan and its cost will be evaluated.
He also stated that the plan has worked for other countries and communities, and believed that, “it can work for us, and so we have a number of initiatives in that community action plan”.
“We have education, a major aspect of that plan, we have working with farmers, working with the health teams, neighbourhood watch, drug education, working with the yachts, working with different communities…we have to work with everybody we can to ensure that the plan is a success,” Carbon noted. “It’s not a matter of just rushing into a program and then that’s it. It has to be sustained for it to work over a period of time.”
Additionally, he said, “We have the commitment from the Honourable Minister that he will provide us with all the resources that we need to ensure that the Action Plan works.”
Meantime, Blackmoore said he was encouraged by the fact that the Community Policing Action Plan for Dominica was presented to him by the Police Chief.
“I was in fact encouraged by the fact that the police Chief has presented to me an Action Plan for the actual implementation of a Community Policing Plan that will seek to forge greater alliances between the police and the public,” Blackmoore said.
He indicated that certainly the police cannot perform their task alone and cooperation from the public is vital.
“There has to be a sense of cooperation and we have to work very hard, therefore, to get rid of any element of suspicion between the police and the public,” he stated.
Furthermore, he said that the police is mandated by law to keep persons in the public safe and secure.
“Every individual has his responsibility to keep himself safe and further all of us have the collective responsibility to maintain the culture of peace and security in this beautiful country,” Blackmoore noted.
That is a broken record Chief and you know fully well as i do what the past results have been at the attempt in institutionalize Community Policing as part of the CDPF curriculum. Some persons within the institution, have benefited from past programs but the general public which it is meant to benefit have not. What has happened to the proposal presented by the renowned (son of the soil) Criminologist Dr Peter St Jean. Chief my advise to you since the rest of the real world has based its crime fighting on Forensic tools it would be cost effective and beneficial to spend our scarce resources to advance and enhance the crime fighting capabilities of our hard working men and women of the CDPF and the country at large.
Hey “CJ ” ensuring that student homework is done should be the responsibility of their parents and school teachers, not the police
Ok sirs now let me ask a few questions.
1. Does the plan address the need for Women Police Investigators to be attached to the welfare department as first responders when our children are sexually abused? The current process is flawed.
2. Does it include a policy on the use of deadly force so it will not be left to the whim and fancy of ever officer when he should resort to such force?
3. Does it contain retraining of ALL officers in the use of fire arms and an effective date by which time all officers will be armed 24/7 so they in turn can protect us? Keep in mind all criminals are well armed these days and baton will not work against them.
4. Does it contain guidelines for more social interaction between cops and the public such as dominoes, rounders, football, cricket, etc?
5. Does it address timely response to crimes and complaints regardless of which political party the complainant supports?
Hopefully the answers to my questions are YES.
Always assertive!…
Mr. Carbon, before you, Blackmoore and Skerrit can convince us about community-police- action- plan, please answer these simple questions:
1. Ask PM Skerrit why the DLP closed down the police station that once served the Cottage / Capuchin / Cliffton / Savanpie area, seeing this area is so isolated and and, it is known to be a heavy drugs trafficking area
2. Ask Mr Skerrit what became of the ground breaking ceremony of May 31, 2012, for the coast guard base at bell Hall, for which we got some $2 million from the US government
Might be a good idea, given that the police don’t generally do their job and tend to vary from merely incompetent to totally corrupt.
The way this government is moving with the police force not arresting and charging the criminals, will not go anywhere e.g Look at the GON Emmanuel case people come forward an what happened. The criminals in question are walking d roads of the country.
For to work it will take alot to come back bease they don’t trust the police.
Community Policing is a fanciful term that has been kicked around for ages. Paraphernalia? Really? Here is a suggestion. I am from Marigot. So get a map of the village, identify what crimes happen or are more prevalent in which areas and then you can redirect your resources such as patrols in that area. Assign certain police officers to certain areas so that the residents can become familiar with them and vice versa. Stop transferring the police officers willy nilly. Allow them to become friends and confidants of the citizens. Organize sporting competitions like dominoes, soft ball cricket, rounders etc between areas, led by the police patrons and eventually a village team. Let the police officers conduct afternoon classes for students to ensure they do their homework, or extra curricular activities such as swimming etc. Let the police become involved in the community. We already have 100 motorcycles. Does this need $150,000 and would my plan have a chance of success?
Man it looks like you were reading my mind. Wow! Good comment sir.
Always Assertive!
Can we, the tax payers get more information on the plan, as well as an itemized break down of the costs? Thank you.