COMMISSIONER of Police, Leslie James has sent a strong message to all and sundry that there will be no victimisation of any member of the force who raises concerns with him publicly during his tour of inspections to the various divisions across the country.
James was at the time responding to questions from this publication about the rationale behind requesting junior ranks and officers to raise concerns publicaly with him and his administrative team, namely the four deputy commissioners of police during visits to their division. The first of these visits commenced on Monday last in ‘A’ Division, where the commissioner and his deputies met with the ranks.

The ranks and officers were asked to raise issues which affected them but there was a clear reluctance by junior ranks to stand up with any concerns that might be affecting them even as the commissioner, his deputy and the commander of the division were part of the head table.

It was however observed that immediately following the session, a number of ranks both juniors and seniors, were seen engaging the commissioner and his deputy in some instances, clusters and one on one.

“There will be nothing like victimisation that will be taking place under my watch if the ranks say something publicly. They must not feel that if they say something publicaly that they may have some level of victimisation coming towards them” the Top Cop firmly stated.

He continued; “Let me tell you this, we will not have any issues that resemble victimisation taking place under my administration of this force,” James concluded.

The commissioner said that the importance of his visits are to illustrate, to the staff and commanders of the various divisions, that as commissioner, he and his administrative team of four deputy commissioners are very serious about ensuring that the force is set on the right path and that there is leadership which each rank and officer under them can emulate as they prepare to lead the force from the front.

“We are reminding them of their duties and what is expected of each and every one of them,” said Leslie James.

He further stated that as is always the call, the police administration hopes to see its members serving the public and performing their duties in an exemplary manner by way of their conduct and professionalism, especially when engaging members of the public.
Commissioner, Leslie James has reassured the members of the police force that under the new management, which they currently serve, there will be strong focus on the issues of human resources, training and infrastructure.

According to James, works in these areas have already commenced and will continue as the police force is very confident that with these hallmarks, ranks will be more motivated to put their all into what they do and that will ultimately result in a better quality of service rendered to members of the public, increased public trust and transform the image of the organisation to the glory it once enjoyed.

As it relates to his visit to ‘A’ Division on Monday, Leslie James said that he found the concerns raised by the police officers to be very genuine and realistic.
“That is why I urged them to speak and we are not about shutting down any questions or ideas that come from our officers and especially junior ranks as we hope to listen to them, take them into consideration and ensure that we have those issues fixed soonest” Commissioner James assured.

The commissioner would be moving to another division to carry out a similar exercise within a matter of days.