Anguilla’s Commissioner of Police, Mr. Paul Morrison, is on a short break in his native England and will be returning to the island on July 11 to continue his work.
On the eve of his departure he granted an interview to The Anguillian newspaper in which he praised his officers for their professional work; gave details of some policing matters in hand; and thanked members of the public for their support.
“We have some bright officers in the Royal Anguilla Police Force who are excellent in taking on new ideas and making them better,” he boasted. “I can give them a flavour of how to do something, but wow! They add more ingredients and suddenly it is a dish everybody wants to eat. They are so, so bright.”
But The Anguillian newspaper asked him: “What else is really on your mind for law and order, and handling crime, other than praising your men and women?”
“Well, the Force has come a long way but it still has a long way to go,” he replied. “That development, in terms of training and techniques of investigation and statement taking, still needs to go on. It needs to be consolidated across each officer in the Force. I think the new Justice Bill throws up various challenges and we will have to make sure that our officers are confident and competent to carry out those processes.
“I think that although we have done a lot around witnesses, there are a few more things we can do. We can consider a victim’s code in the future and how we should look at victims and those affected by crime. It is all about consolidation, to some extent, of what we have already done because we have taken some giant leaps – and at some point we have to consolidate that and make sure it is properly embedded in everything we do. Once we have that consistency, we can continue the main areas of crime investigation and professionalization of the Force. Those are the big things for us over the next year.”
Mr. Morrison, who formerly served as Chief Superintendent of the Surrey and Sussex Police Force Service in England, has been in Anguilla for just under three years. His contract ends on March 15, next year, but with an option to stay on for an additional two years.
He was asked what he thought he had accomplished so far that gave him a sense of satisfaction.
“Wow! That is a million-dollar question,” he responded thoughtfully. “It is almost impossible to answer. There is no one thing. The feeling of satisfaction I get is from seeing officers developed into professional policemen and using their skills to better investigate crime; provide better care for victims and witnesses and ensure that we achieve convictions for the cases we take to court.
“A very satisfying moment for me was really the Assizes this year when we saw the increased number of guilty pleas and convictions that were achieved because of the effort and commitment we put into the workforce since October 2015. That was very satisfying, but with that satisfaction there are so many things that happened. It was the first time that we did witness protection and video-linked evidence as part of our work. These were all big challenges and I think the professional satisfaction you get from watching those things play out irrespective of the outcome. The fact that video-link evidence is being used in a lot of cases is very, very satisfying. It is very satisfying to see the development of the group of crime officers into a very professional body and the reductions in crime that have been achieved.”
Mr. Morrison continued: “The change I think in public opinion is that there is now a lot more confidence in the police. When I first came here there was a lot of criticism about confidentiality in the police, and that we were bias in the way we investigated matters – but those criticisms have gone. The occasions are so rare now to have those comments made. That is extremely positive and I think, professionally, there is a lot of satisfaction in reaching out to the public and the public realising that we are actually trying to do our best for them. We now have different processes which are enabling us to reach more into the public, probably a bit more effectively than in the past.
“The morale of the Force is another positive vibe. I think the officers are happy coming to work and being engaged in all they do. It cannot be easy for officers who are used to doing things in a certain way, for a very long period of time, now to be exposed to different ways of working. It is never easy, I think, to accept change, but the positive attitude that has been displayed by so many officers, and the leadership exhibited by all levels of the Force, are matters of much satisfaction. We have Detectives and Constables showing leadership skills that sometimes you feel like giving them a big hug and saying: ‘You are doing a very good job’. That is exactly what we want to see, and the public will be proud, I think, to see that type of policing we are having. It is from those sorts of things that you get the satisfaction.”
Asked to comment on the disappointing matter of gun crime despite the hard surveillance work of the police, Commissioner Morrison said: “You cannot but be disappointed when someone is injured as a result of gun violence or the criminal use of firearms. I think, on the positive side, the number of incidents has gone down. We have taken nine guns off the streets in five months, this year, with about 60 rounds of ammunition. Our intelligence is a lot more effective which has probably led to reductions in some cases of gun criminality.
“I think the big issue is that it is not about the police working in isolation. We are working with some very good people, in other areas of the Government, in terms of Permanent Secretaries in Education, Social Development and Hyacinth Bradley from PAVE, to see how we can prevent the youth of today from progressing into gang life where firearms are used to re-enforce respect or some criminal activity.
“We are trying to identify those children within our society who are more vulnerable to be attracted towards that gang life. That diversion will hopefully start to see less and less people wanting to take up guns. The main priority of the Force has always been, since I came, the reduction of gun violence and the reduction of harm through the criminal use of firearms. It is still a priority and where we put a lot of effort.”
Mr. Morrison went on: “There are something like 5 main organised crime groups that we have identified on the island, but up to 14 and a further 9 could loosely fall into the categorisation of a crime group. Out of those crime groups we have arrested 33 targeted individuals and 40% of those are now in prison. We are particularly focused on persons who are associated with those crime groups and the use of firearms. A lot of our effort is being put into targeting these people and this is where we are finding a lot of our successes in relation to the guns we are now recovering. It is not a problem where you can arrest your way out. It is a problem where enforcement is just one part of a solution that requires others to become involved in the diversion of those who might drift into crime.”
Mr. Morrison was questioned as to how beneficial he thought the recent meeting involving Criminal Justice Officials in Anguilla, St. Martin and St. Maarten was to the Anguilla Police.
“It was absolutely vital,” he replied. “The Police Strategy 2016/2019 in Anguilla outlined three specific objectives. The third one was building worthwhile partnerships. Those partnerships, in this particular case, can extend the virtual borders of Anguilla as far as we can away from Anguilla. We have a huge inter-dependency – socially, economically – with St. Martin/St. Maarten, and it is true that criminals move between the two islands, as well as criminal contraband such as drugs and firearms. I think this inter-dependency extends as far as St. Kitts and we are working to extend this relationship to the four countries.
“What we see is that criminals exploit jurisdictional difficulties and weaknesses between countries in order to further their criminal enterprise. We want to try, as much as we can, to get rid of those boundaries. We have already agreed that intelligence sharing is a key first step to take. We are working with the Attorney General in Anguilla and the counterparts at that level, within the French and Dutch territories and hopefully within St. Kitts, to come up with an information or intelligence protocol. That would allow us to move intelligence much quicker between the territories so that we can actually track the people we are very much interested. We can bring that collective effort of all the law enforcement agencies to bear on those individuals so that, if they are not picked up in Anguilla, they can be picked up somewhere else. The net benefit is the protection of all the citizens of the four countries.”
Commissioner Morrison delivered this message to the people of Anguilla: “The relation between the public in Anguilla and the police is absolutely the most important relationship that we can have in order to make this country safe. Unless we have the support of the public, and the public on our side, policing is almost impossible. I am very grateful to the communities of Anguilla for getting behind the police service and supporting us in our efforts to reduce crime. I promise that every single day we will do our very, very best and will never let you down. God bless the public of Anguilla, God bless the Royal Anguilla Police Force; and God bless Anguilla.”
