CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – RETIRED Police Commissioner Calvin Fahie is of the view that some members of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force are not loyal to the profession but to their second and third jobs.
Fahie proffered that view and many others when he called in to the Hon. Mark Brantley’s talk show programme, ‘On the Mark’, aired on VON Radio two Wednesday ago (May 3).
The Retired Commissioner intimated that his reason for calling in to the programme was to express his views on the crime situation in Nevis.
He first gave his definition of crime, saying “it is a manifestation of a number of things” and opined that “we no longer treat our people like human beings”.
In explaining his opinion on the treatment of people, Fahie said: “Some of us treat ourselves like things, like commodities. Until we can get back discipline in the home, the community, the public and private sectors, and discipline in the Police Force, because they are the custodian of law and order, we will have a big problem...especially when that breaks down.”
Fahie made reference to the ‘Broken Window’ theory proposed by James Wilson and George Kelling in 1982 in the USA and introduced in New York City under the direction of Police Commissioner William Bratton to stem the flow of misdemeanours there.
He explained that the theory links disorder within a community to subsequent occurrences of serious crime, adding that it is a theory that speaks to prosecuting people for the simplest of offences so that it would be a deterrent to more serious matters.
Pointing to what is currently being experienced in Nevis, he said: “The small things have mushroomed and we are now reaping what we have sown. You look around town on high day, right in front of the police station, and you will see that people have no regards when parking their vehicles.”
Speaking further to what he insinuated is the lackadaisical attitude of police officers in the execution of their duty, Fahie said: “I sometimes wonder what is happening, because I drove out of Brown Hill gap and a passenger bus stopped right in front the gap and I had to wait until it drove off to get out. I also saw an officer in a police vehicle passed a passenger bus at the roundabout. When did you ever you hear or see people putting off passengers at a roundabout?
“Some weeks ago, a police vehicle drove into a supermarket area with two officers and the female in the passenger seat jumped out and went into the supermarket while the vehicle was not properly parked. Now I hear they have three more vehicles...what are they going to do, mash them up? The time has come for people to be held accountable and it is worrying me because this is not the type of Nevis I know.”
The God-fearing retiree indicated that the most outrageous excuse from police officers he ever heard in recent times was shortly after the shooting incidents in Cotton Ground.
“I was down in Cotton Ground some Sundays ago at an open-air service when a young man was passing and he started to disturb the service. I called the Police Station in Cotton Ground, which is just at the junction where they had the shootings, and the police said they had no vehicle there.
“We have to wake up! It is worrying me because I intend to live here until God is ready to take my breath. If the police are not doing their work, I am going to talk about it. We have to call a spade a spade and the police, some of them, are not loyal to the profession. They are loyal to a second and third job, and you cannot have split loyalty. It is time that we take back our country, and the police must be at the forefront, irrespective of what people say.”
He stressed that citizens and residents of Nevis must not sit down and remain silent when there is evidence of dereliction of duty by the police whose salary comes from taxpayers.
“We cannot sit down. I and others are paying the police. No government or party pays the police, it is the taxpayers who pay them and they must put out for what they earn. It aches me to see what is going on in our small Nevis while some people are just roaming along and saying: ‘They ain’t getting sufficient money.’ But they are getting more money than some hard-working public servants like teachers and others.”
When asked by the host what has changed in the Police Force compared to the time when he was a member, Fahie emphatically declared: “The mentality of some police officers...not all! We have some hard working.
“Leadership is key to any development in any organisation. I believe that we have to revisit the leadership and the senior ranks in Nevis. If we want to wait until the ship runs aground and want to close the bars or the stables when the horse is out, then we are now reaping what we failed to do two years ago.
“Leadership is not about being nice; it is about being right and being strong. We have to get strong leaders in these difficult and unpredictable times.”
Highlighting the fact that it was said in some quarters that if the leaders are not getting the job done it is time to bring people into the Federation who are capable of doing so, while there are others who disagreed with that suggestion, the host sought Fahie’s view on that situation.
“The situation is crystal clear! The thing about it is that we have become a society that is like a friendly society. We are afraid to take action even though we have the Police Regulations, the Police Act and the Standing Orders. Nothing is wrong with the senior leadership in my opinion. Mr. Queeley and Mr. Brandy have vast experience in policing but the weakness is the supervisors, the middle managers that we have. If you have weak middle managers in any organisation you have a problem.”
He continued: “Ever so often you would hear people going on courses, and it leaves me to wonder what happened to the courses. You don’t only depend on government to send you on courses; you spend money on yourself because some people in the Police Force and the public service believe that they must work for their money and put it aside. Everything is handout! When you depend on handouts you become corrupt and subservient, and that is what is happening. We have too many people in the organisation who are highly corrupt and it is time that we call a spade a spade.”
Addressing the subject of gangs and gang-related violence, Fahie revisited the past and offered an explanation to the failed efforts he made as Commissioner of Police to nip it in the bud.
“In 2003 when the shooting and everything started, the first sign was an area in Keys Ghaut - four to five miles from Basseterre - that indicated the emergence of gangs. When it started there was shooting, but what they did? As the Commissioner, I wrote to Mr. Welcome, the Chief Education Officer, and I also wrote to Mrs. Hyleta Liburd, who was the Principal Education Officer in Nevis, and asked that we partner with all the schools, starting from the Clarence Fitzroy Bryant College right down to all primary schools.
“I have the letters that I wrote to them and the letters that I sent out to each police officer who was supposed to be school liaison officers...concurrently that we had the DARE programme. We would have been better off if we had dealt with it as opposed to when we brought in MAGIC and other things. But what? We are not giving our own people the chance to develop. Bring something from North America, bring something from South, bring something from Europe and you go for it and spend thousands of dollars when we have people right here who could really develop.”
He intimated that instead of spending so much money on foreign assistance that has so far resulted in little or no positive result, there are many former senior police officers who could advise on the current crime situation if called upon.
“We have Mr. Frank who was Commissioner from 1980 to 1993, myself from January 1998 to August 2004, Mr. Jeffers from 2004 to 2008, Mr. Williams, and now you have a Senior Assistant Commissioner [Joseph Liburd]. Are you telling me that we can’t get together and tell the authorities that this is what going on? And then, in my opinion, we have a Police Service Commission that seems not to be au fait of what is taking place.”
The Retired Commissioner also pointed fingers of blame to the police for the lack of public trust and slammed the police on Nevis for not enforcing the law.
“It is disheartening and discouraging when you see people going to report that they went to a funeral and on return found their house broken into and the police in the district dragging their feet. And that is why you find you cannot get the trust within law enforcement. Trust and truth are first cousins and if you can’t get that in law enforcement you are in problems. Law enforcement is only a part of the criminal justice system, the Parliament passes laws, but who enforces them? It is because of the lack of enforcement we are faced with this problem today.”
Fahie said he is not seeking friendship and would always speak out against the police whenever there is proof of dereliction of duty.
In his parting comment, Fahie said: “If we continue to condone indiscipline we will breed more criminal activity.”
