Mr. Wattley who also spoke of his military background told the officers that their job was a thankless one but they needed to be ready, willing and able to look after the public’s best interest.
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A section of Police Officers station in Nevis
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He said over the years many police officers had done much to destroy the trust and confidence that the public had placed in them which had taken years to build and how easy it was to stereotype an entire group and urged the officers to be zealous about protecting the integrity of the Force.
While he lauded the efforts of the Nevis based officers in their fight against crime, Mr. Wattley shared what he described as some critical factors for successful policing which would help the officers to continue their positive work in Nevis.
He admonished them to know all there was to know about Nevis; to develop a knowledge warehouse and use it as a basis for their decisions; work hard to become intelligent emotionally and mentally; to plan, plan and plan some more; to know and to the job; to perform and to build smart partnerships with the corporate and social communities.
Mr. Wattley also urged the officers to put people first in the Police Force and the community in which they served; to model the way; lead people; to set standards of performance and work to exceed them; to be fit for the job they were required to do; to use available resources to get the job done; to take partisan politics out of the job; to stay committed; to stick together and to be true to themselves.
To the Force High Command he encouraged them to motivate the officers; manage the organisation; put square pegs in square holes; to train, train and train officers again and to reward where possible and recognise always the people who exceeded their performance expectations.
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| (L-R) Sergeants Simeon Prentice and Alanzo Carty providing musical accompaniment during the event |
In conclusion he told the officers that things did not just happen in life on their own but people made them happen.
“We make things happen. We make our own successes and we cause our own failures. So it is important for us to create our planned future. We can create not just the vision of the future we want but we can do what needs to be done to achieve that future but nobody is going to make it happen for you, you must do it yourself,” he said.
Meantime, Inspector Hilroy Brandy, a founding executive member of the Nevis Strategic Planning Group, told the Department of Information at the end of the ceremony that the event was instituted five years ago to motivate the officers at the start of every new year.
“What you have witnessed is a tradition of New Year’s programme from the Strategic Group which started five years ago and at the commencement of each year we normally invite a Minister of Religion and a guest speaker to give us a motional speech in order to propel us through the year. We have been having this for the past five years,” he said.
The Strategic Group is made up of the Head of the Division that is the Superintendent, and Inspectors and the Sergeants in each department.
The group convenes every Monday to strategise and plan for crime and other incidents.
Mr. Brandy said the Group had been successful so far but its long term plan was to keep crime at a minimum in Nevis and to make residents and visitors feel safe and welcome to the island. ~~Adz:Right~~
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