St. Kitts – Nevis Police Officers
Photo By Erasmus Williams
Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
February 24, 2012 (SKNIS)
Residents have embraced the presence of the new Dieppe Bay Police Station which opened in November last year, and have welcomed the increased role of law enforcement in the community.
During a recent public forum, persons thanked the police for their efforts to reduce the influence of antisocial elements and encouraged them to enhance their relationship with the nearby primary school, so as to positively impact the impressionable students.
The Sub-Divisional Commander of the Police District, Inspector Vaughan Henderson was interviewed on this week’s edition of SKNIS Perspectives and explained that there has been an outpouring of support over the past weeks.
“There’s an eagerness from the community to work closer with the police,” Inspector Henderson revealed. “They initiated a beach cleanup in the area, some committed to beautify the area around the police station, and some even went into donating towards fencing the Dieppe Bay Police Station.”
The senior law enforcement official noted that the cleanliness of the environment can positively influence the tranquility of the community and noted that the security forces welcomed the efforts to enhance the ambience of the area through cleanups and restorative work to dilapidated structures. He added that the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force was willing to lend assistance to support similar activities around the island where possible.
In addition, officers are being exposed to training in professionalism and customer service to foster better communication with the public.
“We always say that the customers of the police are not always the easier ones to deal with as they are either victims of crime or the perpetrators,” Inspector Henderson said. “We believe that if we have strong interpersonal skills and good customer relations we can do a lot to mitigate some of the grief that our customers may be feeling due to the circumstances that cause them to come into contact with our officers.”
These efforts are of the police initiative to take back the streets and restore public trust and confidence.