EDITOR: When I was a member of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, which came to a pre-determined end at 10 a.m. on May 20, 2004, I had many concerns with the operation of the institution. {{more}}
These concerns I made known in my internal writings, at general meetings (meetings hosted by the C.O.P. and other members of the management of the police force) and at Police Welfare Association meetings; hence the reason for my faithful participation as a member of the executive of the Police Welfare Association over the years. This association, in my opinion, is being suppressed by those in administrative authority of the Force and by politicians; thus denying the general public a higher quality standard of service and those who provide the service a more equitable and transparent system in which to function.
A week before I left St. Vincent and the Grenadines, I released a document entitled, “The Police Restructuring Programme – The Response”, which was a response to a blind-lead-the-blind document by the same name that was prepared and released by the police administration for the viewing of a selected few. This was the effort of the administration to single-handedly deal with the restructuring of the Police Force, but in fact it was a regurgitation of that which is currently in practice.
In my document I called for the formulation, implementation and management of policies that will lend a system of protocol to the administrative and Force procedures. I ensured that all the stakeholders could access copies of this document.
I was of the opinion that the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force was operating in the 21st century, but was stuck somewhere back in the 1950s. But after I was exposed to a police service in which the machinery of modern policing is in motion, my opinion changed drastically; now I am of the opinion that the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force is stocked somewhere in the dark ages. Not that the police service in which I now serve does not have its shortcomings, but after coming out of the suppressive system which exists in the police force in the land of my birth, I can live with the shortcomings of this institution.
A sense of pride always seems to show up in strange places. I was confronted with such in my new country of residence, in which I work as a police officer. I discovered that the fundamental policies and procedures on which my newly adopted police service has erected its structure was written and implemented by a very humble Vincentian, one of the six Vincentians and one of the five superintendents who are presently serving in this police service: Randy Liverpool. A man who, in my humble unsolicited opinion, can contribute tremendously to the development of the police force in the land of his birth; that is, if we are really serious about restructuring The Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force. Such a move can provide a more efficient quality of service to the community and allow the service providers the opportunity to function in a system that is set up in an environment that is equitable and transparent.
Let us stop monkeying around and do the right thing.
In service to humanity,

Allan H.F. Palmer