THE EDITORIAL in the last Saturday Sun regarding the overhaul of the (recruitment approach) of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) was quite thought-provoking and not much can be faulted in what was said.
The society in which the RBPF exists and functions has changed and therefore this will present certain challenges to the organisation in terms of the type of people which it can target for recruitment.
Barbados is no longer the predominantly low-income agrarian society it once was, where occupations like policing, with its (then) comparatively high-paying civil service salary and promises of advancement for an ambitious young man or woman, would be seen as an avenue to escape poverty and move up in the world.
Back then, police officers were remote enough to possess a greater awe-inspiring aura of authority, respect and social cache that would influence the young person of the time to want to acquire such. Thus, the force would have been inundated with applications at each recruitment cycle. Sadly, over time this has changed for a variety of reasons.
For one, the society has become a more middle income one, with greater educational and employment opportunities that have diminished the organisation’s value as an important facilitator for social mobility.
Added to this is that the society’s values have changed, with a decline in regard for traditional social institutions, gravitation to lawless behaviour, and the perception of many police officers as brutish, callow and often generally unprofessional. (To be fair, this is not necessarily new).
Therefore, to the point of the editorial, the force will have to revamp its image as an institution that is highly professional, with policies that reflect contemporary international level approaches to policing and with officers that represent the best and the brightest. That is on the organisation to set, insist on and maintain high standards in terms of what it expects of its officers, and this, hopefully, will flow outward to the community as the individual officers execute their duties.
However, the Government has a major role, in that it must demonstrate that it too regards the RBPF as a very important and special organisation. This is not only by the erection or renovation of buildings, but with a strong and decisive commitment to the significant improvement in conditions of service, particularly the remuneration of the officers.
In these times when more is demanded of the officers, you can only recruit a certain quality or calibre if the pay is very attractive, and is seen to be so. That’s the bottom line. This, coupled with the provision of the appropriate tools (facilities, equipment and so on) for policing 21st century Barbados, would go far in restoring some of the lustre the agency has lost over the years.
The RBPF does sterling work – very few can refute this – and this work is important for the stability and orderliness of the country. There just needs to be ways to get suitable persons to want to be part of it.
– RANDY BATSON
