Turks and Caicos, April 28th 2017: Police Commissioner James Smith says low morale among officers in the police service has been a longstanding issue. In answering questions on the promotion process, the Top Cop says he has no involvement in the exam taken by officers, as all ranks are determined by the Human Resource department and is dependent on the officer’s success at the exams taken. In the past four years exams were not held, leading to a stymie in promotions.
The Commissioner noted that the force has been more professional now than ever, and while his senior staff have mentioned “grumblings” of low morale among the force, his response was that the “force was at the forefront of continuous change”.
He remarked that change wasn’t something always welcomed, but sent a strong message to officers to sign on to the code of ethics , “do your 100 percent, live by the rules, uphold the law, or find something else to do”.
Change he says is part of the new Police and Crime Plan he unveiled, which outline the Force’s Five Key priorities in the coming three years, which includes the code of ethics for officers, holding senior staff to account on delivery through monthly performance meetings.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Smith welcomed the TCIG’s budgetary allocations for a new fleet of vehicles and the recruitment of new officers this year. So far 18 specially trained officers have been recruited from Jamaica, while the force is currently short listing applicants from a pool of 200 “to get the very best for the job”. He says this will in turn get “the boots on the ground” with an experienced workforce, cutting the financial costs and time spent in training new officers. He outlined plans to recruit Specialist officers to assist in filling critical skill gaps in its Criminal Investigations Department.
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