Falklands : Police Committee News (12/14/05)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 15.12.2005 (Article Archived on 29.12.2005)
Find out what happened at this vital meeting.
POLICE COMMITTEE
By J. Brock (FINN)
A meeting of the Police Committee took place at Government House at 1500hrs on Tuesday, 13 December 2005. Present were Cllrs Hansen and Rendell as well as Andy Brownlee (JP), Melany Chilton, Crown Council, Acting Chief Police Officer, Len McGill, Leif Pollard, lay member, Chris Simpkins, Chief Executive and Mrs. Una Wallace, who took the minutes. The meeting was chaired by H. E. the Governor Mr. Howard Pearce.
There were no apologies so H. E. the Governor Mr. Pearce welcomed new member, Leif Pollard and new Councillor Mike Rendell and Councillor Ian Hansen.
After confirmation of the meeting held on 05 September 2005 was completed matters arising from those minutes were discussed.
There was considerable discussion about the DARE Programme expanding into the Senior School. The training of Sgt. Dave Roberts was needed in order to move into the new area of instruction. Nikki Osborne and her group of young people would discuss it and give feedback.
The Chief Executive brought up the subject of a meeting with licensees about Police Officer safety. Len McGill and Chris Simpkins would discuss Officer Safety during arrests at the Licensee meeting. Sgt Whistler would be back just prior to Christmas and would be able to initiate a meeting should Len McGill not be able to make it due to work commitments.
The fire arms policy was reviewed with the subject of authorized users for hand guns raised. Hand guns are convenient and affective for humane killing of animals in distress. Though it’s debatable, it was mentioned that women whose job it is to do the killing prefer hand guns to shotguns or rifles. A paper would go before EXCO and go out for public consultation.
The number of guns per owner may be hard to police with Len McGill mentioning that a person in Camp with a gun collection was more of a threat than careful gun owners in Stanley. It seems that there are more guns per capita in Stanley than there are in Camp. Andy Brownlee mentioned that we don’t want to become a Nanny State but gun policy and regulations are needed.
David Lang suggested that the 400 licences issued to gun owners should come due on the owner’s birthday, thus preventing a rush of 3-year licence applications being presented at once.
The debate concluded with an assurance that there would be public consultation and the results, if appropriate, would be discussed with the EXCO paper.
A two part drivers licence was discussed with Andy Brownlee saying that in some cases the licences produced in Stanley looking like they were a do it your self kit and made on a home computer. Even though it was produced on water-marked paper it was thought that a credit card sized licnece would be more professional looking and easier to present when needed. The card could be carried with the individual with the water-marked original could be left in luggage when travelling.
The problem of what colour to paint skips so they can be seen was discussed. It was suggested that a supplier bring in luminous strips to put on the skips because not all paintwork glows in the dark. It was suggested that care should be taken when placing skips and a permit would help regulate how long a skip would remain in an inconvenient area. One nuisance skip was in the road for a month before it was removed and people have collided with them.
Manning levels were than discussed. Two Senior Police Officers were suspended and one police officer was off on long-term sick leave. The Licensing Clerk is also off on long-term sick leave. Police Officers are pretty over-stretched with one child protection case being left uninvestigated. The JSPSU has come to their aid with manpower and a qualified investigating officer was in situ. The Devon and Cornwall Constabulary were sending someone before the end of the year. Recently there has been a rise in crime that was not reflected in the latest crime statistics, which ended abruptly in October. The services offered by the JSPSU have been offered free of charge.
H. E. the Governor Mr. Pearce said he felt the JSPSU did a very good job and he thanked them for the help rendered during this time.
It was noted that sometimes the simplest cases had the potential for taking up the most Police time and that there were quite a few Juvenile offenses to deal with. The timing of Juvenile crime indicated that it happened earlier in the day, with one exception at 0130hrs.
The date of the next meeting was set at Tuesday, 20 March 2006 at 1500hrs at Government House.
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