The Police Welfare Association is again urging the government to introduce a risk allowance for officers, saying the dangers of policing continue to go unrecognised despite years of appeals.
Speaking on Observer Media, Association Chairman Virlica Chatham said officers have been seeking the allowance since 2017 but have yet to receive compensation specifically for the risks they face on duty. She noted that while officers receive a duty allowance for overtime, there is no separate payment recognising the hazards of the job.
Chatham said the issue has become more urgent following several violent incidents involving police officers, including cases in which three officers were shot within the past year. One officer lost a leg, while others sustained injuries after coming under gunfire.
She also pointed to the recent injury of Senior Sergeant Jeffery Benjamin, who was struck by a truck along Valley Road on 3 July, as another example of the risks officers face.
Chatham argued that greater attention should be given to officers’ welfare and said concerns raised by rank-and-file officers are typically passed through the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General rather than directly to the Police Service Commission.
She said the Association remains committed to securing a risk allowance, maintaining that police officers deserve compensation that reflects the dangers of their work.
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What happen to overtime for some Police Officers who were working 17 hours at the Grace Farm Police station and never got any overtime? Why are Police not getting risk allowances? Mr Minister and Mr. Commissioner of Police you need to do more. These men and women put their lives at risk and a blind eye is given to them. Get up and get with he programme. Something must be done.
Where does the upper levels of the police force stand on this matter?
Why have they not prepared a list of concerns and presented them?
Rank and file of the police have been actively lobbying for a risk pay since 2017 in line with the physical dangers that comes with police work. The ongoing delays have led to internal criticism that the association’s leadership is undoubtedly weak and easily manipulated or blocked by the police hierarchy and government officials, leaving frontline workers and other officers unprotected. We are always quick to hammer the police but they work in an environment where they have to struggle and toil to get even the basic items and requirements to do their jobs, yet everyone expects miracles from them.
Unanswered call??? The public of Antigua know this well. How many of us complain that the police never answer calls. So now it’s happening to them it seems fitting. . Good riddance! It’s about time they get the kind of treatment they have meted out to us. Most useless institution in Antigua. Not one cent of the publics taxes should be spent towards the force until we see a decrease in crime, and improvement in their response times, an increase in foot patrols (not in a vehicle, make them walk for the duration of their shift through the communities), a change in their attitude when they deal with members of the publis, no more passengers in police vehicles, no taking the vehicles on unofficial business, no more picking up your children from school in a police jeep. Those vehicles belong to the people of Antigua and Barbuda, the police work for us and they seem to have forgotten that. We need to make them remember and we need to limit their funding until we see improvements. So don’t let them get benefits and services that are not already available to regular Antiguans.
@ Audley Phillip
What risk allowance or risk pay? Where and what are the risk?
How many police have died or have been injured in the line of duty?
Are fire fighters also going to be looking for risk allowances. How about the Coast Guard?
I would not be opposed to better pay for policemen and women; and more basic training and professional training; where promotion is based of skills experience and performance.
But Risk Allowance? No wonder they are being ignored.
Maybe the superiors will treat you better when you start working, you’re asking for risk benefits and better treatment but treat the job how you want it to treat you. what risks are you taking? The police is not willing to do nothing but sit at the guard desk or drive around in the police vehicles, and there’s never a vehicle at station to attend to reports
Is only who is in the fire knows about the heat. We always on the outside and assume the worst.
Sitting behind guard desk or not, is being at risk. Once a man or woman wears the black and blue, he or she automatically becomes a public enemy. In every job, there are those who performs to their best, and those who underperform. But that doesn’t mean everyone should be punished.
That is a real disappointment that a human who has taken the oath serving and protecting others isn’t able to get the same in return when they are most in need… injured while performing their duties wether on or off duty.
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