The Vice President of the Caribbean Federation of Police Welfare Associations (CFPWA) has indicated that the organisation wants more money and fewer working hours for officers.
“The reality is we are overworked and underpaid – that is one of the key issues,” Sean Mc Call told reporters on the sidelines of last week’s CFPWA 11th annual general meeting in Saint Lucia.
He said police officers work more than forty hours per week, a situation Mc Call described as unheard of in 2023.
“Our Commissioners have to sit down with us and address these things,” the CFPWA Vice President asserted.
“For instance, what if an officer is on the job – twelve, thirteen, fourteen hours, doing more than forty hours a week and has an error of judgement, will the Commissioners take that responsibility or would he leave that officer at the mercies of the court?” Mc Call stated.
“If you treat your workers well, your workers will treat the public well. Our service delivery will be A one,” he declared.
He disclosed that those were the kinds of issues for which CFPWA member associations are advocating.
The organisation’s member countries are Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Dominica, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, and the British Virgin Islands.
The CFPWA was established in Nassau, The Bahamas, on the 25th of May 2007.
Headline photo: File image of police officers on patrol in Vieux Fort.
They are overworked and underpaid. Imagine, just for a minute, that we are in their shoes. You are asked, on a daily basis, to put your life in danger for $3,000 (or there about for a constable). I know I couldn’t do it! Not only that, upward movement in rank is beyond frustrating. To move up in rank is (mostly) dependent upon whether your superior likes you or what party you are allied with. Being a police officer is a thankless job and only those who really love it or those who do not have a choice will become police officers.
And so, I agree with this report.
Mister!!!! Some work eight hours and go home the bad apples 🍎 work eight for the government and eight for the mafia these are the ones making bad judgment so you can’t put all the police offices in the same basket… get rid of the bad apples and then you can came back and ask for more money for the good police officers…
Didn’t they know what they signed up for when they took the job?
Our local officers, just drink rum and sleep.
This man is speaking of the REGIONAL police officers, and generalising the plight of the regional police forces. Each island is different.
The St Lucia Police Force needs more than a stiff injection – the whole she-bang needs to be upgraded, rebranded, and overhauled.
– SLU needs a police force of MORE officers (don’t kill me yet), educated in literacy, educated in psychology, educated in a LOT of issues concerned brains and brawn. A lot of them have no idea of the law they swore to uphold (I’ve had a few close encounters).
– SLU needs to bolster the “face” of the police officer (most of them hardly have secondary school education) – make the job LOOK lucrative (OMG!!), make it LOOK exciting.
– SLU police force needs military and para-military training – females included.
– SLU needs to up the force, with “brave and dedicated” officers – with DAMN GOOD PAY for their efforts.
The above is A LOT to ask for of our police force – the current status quo has been stagnant for over 60 years, and it is time to bolster the force, with energetic minds and muscle: Two factions, the daytime officers and the nighttime officers who should be seen, known and heard – with intelligence.
@Bad apples … yes, the bad apples HAVE TO go!!
@ Badapples I believe you may have missed the point the VP was bringing across in relation to the judgment
call of the overworked officers. It has been proven that persons are more susceptible to making errors when they have been working for long hours hence the need for persons to get sufficient rest and relaxation between duties. I don’t believe one should be at a station for forty eight hours at a time or even work twelve hour shifts. This is just madness. One has his or her family, health and spiritual being to consider. Police Officers are not robots nor are their loved ones or the public their are to deliver a service to at all hours of the day. Time to change this long hour shifts.
I was thinking the same way too but maybe its because the pay is low some have to take the corrupt way .if.you making 3000 and you are offered 10000 to turn a blind eye its hard to refuse that. that’s the sad reality
Ask Mr. Gibson Chitolie about that? There are good cops, however, there are crooked ones too
Increasing police salaries is a very good idea. Higher salaries will attract better more disciplined workers. Once promotions are based on merit the useless ones will eventually get pushed out.
Most of the comments are sensible and true. Working more than 40 hours a week is no big deal, as long it is for the good of the country. I have first hand evidence of a police officer failing to get involved in a robbery because he was not on duty. That should not be. A police officer should always be on duty. Based on that premise. I want to support the notion that officers should be better paid. Police officers should not be a part of the public service grade scale. First and foremost, the police commissioner should earn the same salary as the DPP. And the starting salary for a police officer should be $5000. Police officers who openly display partisan political affiliation, should be dismissed forthwith. As it stands now, police officers only work diligently when their Political party is in office. And, that should never be. Many police officers are crooked and must be dismissed immediately that they are found out. Public service investigations must not be held for crooked officers. Performance appraisals must be developmental , motivational, and impartial. Promotion must be based on job performance and nothing else, and low performance ratings must be followed by dismissal from the job. An independent non partisan body must be responsible for discipline and performance management.
Charly u are so right