Police body to lobby for $1m for families of officers who die from covid19

The police association is to lobby for million-dollar payouts to the families of police officers who die after contracting covid19 while on the job.

Police officers have been on the frontline since the outbreak in mid-March last year and just over 2,500, or a third of the workforce, have been in quarantine after coming into contact with people who had the virus.

A total of 166 officers have been infected and some of them remain with long-term medical distress, according to data from the association.

Within the last two weeks, three officers have died of the virus and and there are just over 900 in quarantine.

The families of the three officers who died received $25,000 each as part of a special insurance payout negotiated last year.

President of the Police Social and Welfare Association Insp Gideon Dickson said while covid19 did not exist when the decision was made in 2014 to compensate families of members of the protective services who die in the line of duty, it was now compelling that it should be included.

"So these officers commit, dedicate and devote their lives to this country and they would have died in the line of duty, like you die in a war," he said.

The facility to compensate members of the protective services who die in the line of duty came into force under the 2010-15 People's Partnership administration and was adopted by the ruling PNM.

Dickson said his organisation is also seeking an arrangement for officers from each of the nine divisions to be able to go a specified health centre in their division to be tested and get their results quicker.

He identified the current system where officers have to join the line like everyone else as "challenging" and hoped for a more efficient service.

Dickson said if would help an officer psychologically to know their covid status quicker, and referred to a previous instance when former minister of national security Stuart Young intervened so that 15 officers got their results quickly, which prevented a possible collapse of the administrative branch.

He said the matter had been raised with Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith, as officers could return to the frontline sooner, rather than remaining in quarantine for up to seven days without getting their results.

Questioned on the low visibility of military patrols since the state of emergency went into effect on Sunday, Dickson said it was "a little too premature to make that kind of assessment."

He said he was aware that the police executive was working alongside the military to "have strategic operations." He agreed that the number of military personnel on the streets was smaller than when states of emergencies were implemented in 1990 and 2011.

"In the past we would not have been fighting an invisible enemy," he said.

Dickson said one matter to consider was whether it made "smart sense" to commingle police and soldiers, in light of the way the virus is transmitted, but welcomed all the help from the allied law enforcement personnel.

He said he was aware of military patrols in four of the nine divisions – Northern, North Eastern, South Western and Tobago.

During the pandemic, soldiers from the Engineering Battalion have been deployed to fit out step-down facilities and were also instrumental in setting up the two field hospitals donated by the US government on the grounds of the Couva Hospital and Multi-Training Facility and Jean Pierre Complex.

Messages and phone calls to Minister of National Security Fitzgerald Hinds and Chief of Defence Staff Air Vice Marshal Darryl Daniel were not answered.

On Tuesday, the leadership of the defence force met with Hinds to discuss "matters of critical importance and propose measures to resolve issues requiring urgent attention," according to a statement from the Ministry of National Security.

Hinds assured them they would be provided with the required resources to execute their mandate, the release said.

Under the SoE, member of the defence force have the same powers as police officers.

Among the issues discussed were manpower; accommodation; human resource; formation operations; acquisition of additional assets; ongoing infrastructural upgrades at defence force facilities; servicing and maintenance of critical assets; and improving health and wellness support for members of the defence force, according to the statement.