Surveillance cameras for police stations to help monitor interactions  

In a bid to ensure the public receives professional service when visiting police stations, cameras will be installed to monitor police interactions, Minister of Home Affairs Robeson Benn has said.

Benn explained that there is a need for reforms in the manner the police currently offer services to the public.

To tackle this, many programmes have commenced but the main tool to monitor police engagements will be the use of cameras.

“We are going to be putting in cameras in all the police stations so where there is contact between the police and the population there will be cameras which will be recording that engagement,” the minister said.

He explained that this is necessary in keeping with the ongoing training of servicemen and women in relation to addressing issues relating to domestic violence, the care of juvenile offenders, and the police’s treatment of their colleagues.

Benn believes that the professionalism of police officers is of utmost importance.

He explained that “we are talking about how when people come to the police station how they are treated, whether they are chased off, whether their information is taken down, whether there is a safe space for women who are suffering from domestic abuse or children accused under the law, so the issue is to make policing professional and not personal.”

Although the Home Affairs Minister did not disclose how soon this new system will be put in place, he said that the goal is to ensure that there is better monitoring and training of police officers to carry out their duties.

The attitude of the force when handling sensitive matters has been repeatedly criticised with members of the public now hesitant to approach the police.

The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security has collaborated with the joint services to train ranks to respond to such matters.

Some 1,600 cops have been trained to deal with domestic violence matters since the MHSSS has facilitated the COPSQUAD 2000 initiative.