Basseterre, St. Kitts - THE Police Force will be stepping up its effort to stem the flow of illegal drugs and guns through the major ports of entry in St. Kitts and Nevis with the new K-9s that they have received.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Ag) Hilroy Brandy, the dogs would be placed at the airports and seaports to complement the law enforcement officers on scene.
The law enforcement agency believes that a number of illegal drugs and firearms are being smuggled through those ports.
“The dogs that we are receiving this morning would be beneficial to us in terms of policing our airports and our seaports, where we suspect that a lot of drugs and firearms are coming through,” Brandy told SKNVibes at the graduation ceremony of eight officers who attended a Dog Handling Course.
The Force received six K-9 yesterday (May 18), and Brandy, who is currently the Acting Commissioner, said their new crime fighting partners would allow the Task Force and Drug Squad to do searches and expedite search operations.
But looking forward, he explained that they are currently training officers to deal with “spur of the moment” decision making which would be critical when out in the field.
Further, the announcement of the officers that were promoted to the ranks of Inspector will be made shortly, following the recent disclosure of those who were promoted to Superintendents.
“Moving forward, our additional crime fighting strategies would see us having a number of training so that our officers can be equipped and be able to make decisions on the spur of the moment. We are also having our new Directorates outfitted. We just recently positioned the various Superintendents and later this week the Inspectors will also be named and got to the various Directorates.”
This, he noted, would allow the Force to have its officers more visible and held accountable.
Just recently, Prime Minister and Minister of National Security, Dr. Timothy Harris had announced a partnership with Motorola to provide radio handset service for the Police Force.
Brandy told SKNVibes that the programme would be completed soon and all member of the Force would be in receipt of radios to communicate.
“We are also rolling out our Motorola programme that all officers would be equipped with all sets - our vehicles will also be equipped with sets. Our vehicles would be equipped with GPS and our managers and supervisors will be able to see exactly what our officers are doing on the streets by monitoring and enabling the community to be more reassured and confident to see the police officers on the streets.”
The Police Force has in recent months been successful in removing a number of illegal firearms from the streets, along with illegal drugs. However, they have not been able to put a lid on the gun-related crimes.
