The Royal Montserrat Police Service (RMPS) is working towards creating a more positive image in the community, which is set to be the driving focus for this year’s Police and Fire Community Week, scheduled for October 27 to November 3. This was the sentiments of Police Commissioner Mr. Steve Foster during a recent press conference when the new Deputy Commissioner was introduced.
The event is expected to reflect the theme, “Rebuilding our image Police and Fire Community Week 2k12.”
Mr. Foster outlined the program for the event in his presentation. He said, “We are looking at improving our image as a service. We will start with a pre-activity which we have scheduled for 29th and 30th September, that is a football match. We also have another free activity which will be a hike and that’s something which we didn’t have before, so that will be on the 20th October.”
He said, “We are looking at going into different elderly homes, Magason will have one team, Lookout will have another team and Golden Years; and instead of just taking them for a tour, we’ll go in and interact with them, that’s a different way of doing things from how we did it. We are going to still have our normal Junior Citizens Day and we’ll also have an Open Day … the Gospel concert will still be in the calendar and our final dinner and dance also will be on the calendar,” the Commissioner revealed.
Apart from the community week celebration, the RMPF has also embarked on high visibility patrol throughout the community. On any given day, both senior and junior police officers including the Police Commissioner and new Deputy Commissioner can be seen patrolling various communities; and in some instances making brief visits to business places to say a friendly hello and alert them of their presence in the vicinity.
The Commissioner believes that this move will not only deter persons from committing crimes but also foster a good relationship with members of the community.
In the past few months the police have received a number of break and entry reports of several local places and homes in the community.
