MARIJUANA USE should not mean automatic ineligibility for entry into the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF).
Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite made that suggestion this week as he spoke to the issue of recruitment for the manpower-strained force.
In fact, he said recruiters are asking the wrong questions when candidates come before them.
Using an example where he had to use his office to intervene, Brathwaite said he dealt with a young man who answered “yes” to the question about whether he had ever smoked marijuana, and was disqualified.
“I am not sure how many young men you’re going to meet who are going to say “no” to that question. So your question really has to be “do you smoke?”, “when last you smoked?”. What I’m really saying is that, particularly where you have challenges in terms of our young men, the questions cannot be asked how I put it . . . . The guy is going to say “yes” if that’s all you want to know,” Brathwaite said, adding that the affected youngster is actually a member of the force now.
“In terms of your vetting, I want you to be very cognizant of the realities of our society and ensure that you ask the right questions and not stop at one question,” Brathwaite cautioned.
Speaking directly to Acting Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith, Brathwaite said forces across the region are facing the same challenge of attracting personnel, but they needed to do what they could to bring a new set of recruits on board.
Having said that, Brathwaite said all officers had a responsibility to lift the image of the force and make it attractive to youngsters.
The minister noted that the automatic respect officers commanded in previous years no longer obtained.
“Policemen were well respected across this country. They were leaders in the community and I’m sure that many of you became police officers because of that. We have lost some ground. We need to recapture that ground where many more of our young men, in particular, will be attracted to policing. Policing is a dynamic environment. It is not just about walking up and down Broad Street There are so many factors,” he said.
Brathwaite also encouraged officers to rally around each other and not to allow anyone, not even him, to divide them.
“When you go and knock at doors at 5 o’clock in the morning, you want to ensure that the fellow next to you and the fellow beside you is on board with you . . . .You need to recognise that you’d be as strong as your weakest link, and therefore work hard to build the type of organisation that when you are finished, and when you look back, you’d be proud of your contribution,” he said. (YB)