The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

FNM Deputy Leader Loretta Butler-Turner called Minister of State for National Security Keith Bell a “loose cannon” and claimed this is why Prime Minister Perry Christie never appoints him as Acting National Security Minister.

Her comments came as she took the government to task for failing to recruit more police officers as part of the fight against crime.

Had the government hired more recruits in a timely fashion, she said, there might not have been a need to keep all officers on 12-hour shifts today.

Earlier this year, the government announced that $8 million had been set aside over the course of the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 fiscal years to increase the manpower complement of the police force by 450 officers.

Nonetheless, November of last year was the last time police recruits in New Providence graduated from the Police College, having begun training in April 2012 when the former FNM government was in power.

Currently, 64 New Providence recruits are undergoing training which began in October this year.

They are expected to graduate in April 2014.

Speaking to The Tribune, Mrs Butler-Turner said: “If you look at the budget for July 1 and the budget debate of this year, the Minister of National Security had spoken to the expansion of the police force and Defence Force.

“Clearly they said they had the funds to do this. When the FNM was in office, we put in place a longer training period for police officers. We were getting in two cycles per year.

“That the current administration isn’t doing that speaks to the fact that if police are feeling this amount of burnout, that could be laid at the feet of the government because it’s the new recruits that do a lot of the beat work.”

She added that the lack of recruits proves that “there is a disconnect between what we were told during the budget debate and what has taken place. Why aren’t there more recruits? One of the first tasks of recruits is to walk the streets; that’s a real issue in the battle against crime.”

As for officers having to work 12-hour shifts, she asked: “How long do you intend to have these mere humans who are already in a stressful situation working these long shifts?

“We’re asking these people to protect us and put in these long hours and if a person is taxed to that extent, how are they supposed to protect us?”

As for Mr Bell, Mrs Butler-Turner criticised his statement last week that the Police Staff Association is a “tool of the FNM” after the association complained about the lack of compensation for officers forced to work 12-hour shifts.

Describing the minister’s accusation as “nuts,” she said: “The Royal Bahamas Police Force is the law enforcement agency of the people of the Bahamas. Even though they can’t unionise, they have a right to form an association. How does that make them a tool of the FNM?

“All around the world police have associations. The only reason they don’t have unions is because they are an essential service.”