Top cop: All being done to protect police

UPDATED:

Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams urged police to exercise extreme caution on duty and wished to assure their families all is being done to reduce risk even as the police continue to grapple with rising crime, hours after PC Anand Ram was shot while responding to a robbery report in Marabella.

Speaking with reporters after the funeral of slain SRP Richard Babwah yesterday, Williams said the safety and lives of officers remains a top-tier priority to the police. He added while the duties of an officer involved great risk, he urged the public to use Babwah’s death as a reminder of the danger associated with policing. Williams said, despite this risk, they remained firm in their resolve to carry out their duty.

“If an incident like this occurs, it’s not about being scared after this incident. At the very onset of this incident the police were hunting the criminals, so it’s not about being afraid. We need to understand the profession. Being on the inside, police are not in fear. Policing is a call. When you join the police service you know for fact there is a high risk and the ultimate cost is your life on the line.”

Williams said, all that could be done was being done to ensure the safety of police on the beat, although even with bulletproof vests, the job was dangerous.

“We have equipment in place to protect our officers. Constable Ram in south was wearing a bulletproof vest but he was still wounded.

So there is only so much we can provide them with. We also encourage our officers to wear their vests – it provides a level of protection – and we also train them and hope they can utilise it to manage the risks they face.”