BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE hierarchy of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force has found it necessary to once again urge local young men to lend their support and service to the country by becoming members of the law-enforcement body.
Commissioner of Police Austin Williams, in an exclusive interview with SKNVibes, spoke of the challenges with recruitment faced by the institution over the past couple of years, noting these difficulties persist.
Over the years, as he explained, the number of locals recruited to join the RSCNPF has dwindled to the point where it had to look outside the St. Kitts-Nevis borders for manpower.
COP Williams explained that the police force is comprised of approximately 375 individuals to date; almost 20 percent below its ideal strength of 447. Of the 375, he further explained, 60 officers or 16 percent of the force is comprised of persons from across the region.
According to Commissioner Williams, some 24 recruits are currently training for induction into the police force sometime early next year and, of those, about 96 percent are foreigners. Should all successfully complete the training, the manpower of the force would increase by some six percent, still below the required standard.
The Commissioner describes the institution as being “grossly understrengthed” indicating that “we have made many efforts to recruit locally and when the process doesn’t materialise we have to turn to elsewhere”.
When asked about the popularly viewed unattractive/unappealing nature of the employment packages as a possible deterrent to joining the police force, Commissioner Williams noted that “the packages are reasonable compared to the rest of the Federation and government service. I think the problem is there are other job opportunities that the people gravitate to”. He further said, “I believe the problem is the risk factor of being a police officer.”
He made particular reference to Barbados, which, as he explained, boasted that its police force consisted only of locals but, as of last month, has indicated that it would have to seek recruits from elsewhere in effort to correct the problem with manpower that is has begun to experience.
The optimistic COP said he is hopeful that there would be an improvement in the current situation and took the opportunity to encourage locals to take their service to this country to another level.
“I would wish to encourage young men to join the force. It is an attractive profession which can mold you and guide you to become whatever you choose to be in the future. We are hoping that in the not-too-distant future the situation will turn around. We experienced this turn-around some years ago and we are expecting the same to take place.”
