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Cops want out
By Fabian Ledgister, Staff Reporter
The Bermuda Police Service (BPS) has received more than 250 applications from Jamaican police constables following an advertisement in a local newspaper less than three days ago.
This outpouring of officers wishing to leave the island is a worrying fact for the police high command.
Mark Shields, deputy com-missioner in charge of crime, says that there may be a compromise in the local police infrastructure, given the vast difference in the Jamaican and Bermudan police pay checks.
"More pressure will be put on the Jamaican government to improve wage conditions for its local officers ... Policing is an international business, and as policing styles become generic, other countries will be seeking police officers of the best calibre, and with our level of training done here (Jamaica), a skill drain is a serious possibility that should not be ignored," said DCP Shields.
The BPS had published the advertisement in The Sunday Gleaner, stating that they were looking to recruit currently-serving police constables to join their establishment for a contract period of five years. The recruitment drive from neigh-bouring Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, is said to have been brought about after an internal study found a need for at least 40 more officers for active duty within their ranks.
The STAR spoke to one local corporal from a Corporate Area police station, who said he already downloaded an application off the BPS's website. He will, however, be applying as a constable, as he is fed up of living 'hand-to-mouth.'
"The wages are much better, and if mi a get more pay to work in a country where it's far safer to be a police officer, then I can't see why I should stay," said the officer.
But the Bermuda Police's public and media relations manager, Dwayne Caines, gives the assurance that their recruitment drive is mindful of not affecting any police infrastructures in the countries from which they recruit.
"We have so far received a robust response from Caribbean countries like Jamaica, but we ensure not to affect the country's police infrastructure, as we only recruit the rank of constable, and we diversify recruiting by not taking too many officers from one country," explained Caines.
Sources in Bermuda say that one of the highest number of applicants are from Jamaica. They say they expect more than 300 applicants from which only four or five will be accepted.
Among the other Caribbean countries from which recruitment is taking place are St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, and St. Vincent. The BPS, however, says the recruiting may come from as far as England and Wales.
MORE PAY
The current pay being offered by the BPS for recruited officers is US$56,000 annually, a sum that averages to be about $289,000 per month. Compared to a local constable's starting wage of $404,000 annually (approx-imately $33,696 per month), the Bermudan wages would seem phenomenal.
The difference between the wages gets even bigger, as, according to Caines, "The $56,000 is just the starting wages, and after expected overtime hours, the average constable usually ends up taking $70,000 to $80,000 per year." He said, however, that although these figures seemed high, "we must consider that Bermuda's cost of living is also high."
The Jamaica Constabulary Force is genuinely concerned about this and other recruitment initiatives because of the huge contrast in local and overseas police wages.
"I know of a sergeant that left to be a constable in Cayman, and a skilled female corporal trained as an officer required to operate one of our technical areas, also left for Cayman to take up a civilian post. These skill drains are all because of better pay," said the Police Federation's General Secretary, Corporal Hartley Stewart.
This new drive comes just days after the police force protested low wages and lack of communication with Government over wage talks. The Police Federation says that Government "refuses" to engage in talks.
Efforts to contact the Ministry of National Security on the matter, proved futile up to press time.
Cops want out
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