Welfare Chair Laments Officers’ Woes

By Kisean Joseph

kisean.joseph@antiguaobserver.com

Police officers say they are being denied a risk allowance nearly a decade after lobbying began, with renewed calls compounded by a string of recent on-duty incidents.

Virlica Chatham, Chairman of the Police Welfare Association, told Observer Media that officers currently receive only a duty allowance, intended to cover overtime, with no separate payment recognising the risks involved in police work. She said calls for a risk allowance date back to 2017 and remain unanswered.

“We feel as if we’re being treated like dogs,” Chatham said. “We are being treated like dogs.”

She said the frustration stems from a series of violent incidents involving officers.

“As recently as within a year, three of our officers were shot at,” she said. “One, as we all know, had his leg amputated. Another was saved by a cassie tree. And there is another who had his hand injured by gunshots. So that is just within a year, and there are so many more stories.”

These concerns come against the backdrop of another recent case highlighting the physical toll of police work. Senior Sergeant Jeffery Benjamin of Golden Grove was hospitalised at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre after he was struck by a truck while walking along Valley Road on July 3rd. Superintendent Frankie Thomas said Benjamin suffered injuries to his right leg and body when a Mack Truck, whose 19-year-old driver claimed brake failure, ran him over. Chatham’s calls for a risk allowance follow closely on the heels of that incident.

Chatham said the authorities have shown little concern for officers’ welfare despite the toll these incidents have taken.

“They do not have that interest in our well-being,” she said, adding that decision-makers ought to weigh the full picture before determining what officers are owed.

Asked whether the Police Service Commission was aware of these concerns, Chatham said representations on behalf of the rank and file are usually made directly to the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General, rather than to the Commission.

“So we don’t necessarily go to the Police Service Commission,” she said.

She said it was possible the Commission remained unaware of the extent of officers’ concerns, though she noted there was scope for direct engagement with that body in future.

“There’s a chance. We probably can speak with them. That’s too many people to go through,” she said, referring to the layers involved in raising the issue formally.