ST. JOHN’S, Antigua, Aug 17, CMC – The Antigua and Barbuda Police have launched “Operation Restore Confidence” with a series of coordinated operations while insisting that the initiative “is not a one-off exercise”.
In a statement, the police said several intelligence operations were conducted in various communities and known crime hotspots with the execution of several search warrants and stop and search exercises targeting illegal firearms, ammunition, drugs and persons of interests.
“Operations Restore Confidence involves personnel from several departments and several units of the Royal Antigua and Barbuda Police Force, including the Criminal Investigation Department Task Forcc, K-9 Unit, Narcotics Department, Special Services Unit, Proceeds of Crime Unit Forensic Recovery Unit and Traffic Department,” the statement said.
The announcement by the police comes amidst calls by Prime Minister Gaston Browne for law enforcement to crack down on illegal activities and for the judiciary to impose stiffer penalties on repeat offenders.
While he has come under criticism from various sections of the legal profession over his public statements,, Prime Minister Browne has accused some members of the Office of National Drug and Money-Laundering Control Policy (ONDCP) of refusing to perform their duties.
Speaking on his weekly radio programme, Prime Minister Browne the officers were off the job for up to five months complaining of the conditions under which they were required to perform their duties.
However, he noted that despite the required renovations carried out by Public Works and the assessment carried out by government’s chief chemist, Dr. Linroy Christian, the officers, with the support of their union, have refused to work for a full day, opting to leave at midday.
In a letter sent to Prime Minister Browne last Saturday from Colonel Edward Croft, the ONDCP director, he highlighted the steps that were taken to improve the working conditions with Browne telling radio listeners that it is clear that some staff at the agency had become ‘disruptive’, are refusing to work and that he has had enough of their indiscipline.
“Everything they have asked for, we have done. Even to get tested to see if they have any form of respiratory disease because of the incidence of mold in the building. When a government goes the extra mile to make sure that the staff is fine after you have fixed that that was wrong, they are still refusing to go to work,” he said.
Browne said that the ONDCP has not assisted in apprehending anyone in the last several years and that if this attitude continues, then he will have no other choice but to close down the agency and turn the operations over to a special unit within the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda.
“If you by the nature of your action, a quasi-law enforcement entity and an essential service, are now colluding with ‘a third rate’ union and have decided that they should not go to work, what are we supposed to do; allow them to continue to cheat the system
and collect full pay. I rather lock it down; the country would be better served if these duties were performed by an arm within the police force” he told listeners.
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