Sergeant Allan John of the Royal St.Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force has received a token of appreciation from Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, on behalf of a contingent of officers that he led from the Regional Security System (RSS) who provided assistance during the Glendairy Prison uprising.{{more}}

John headed a unit of officers drawn from St.Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts, Antigua, Grenada, St.Lucia, and Dominica from March 31 to August 13.

Mottley conveying her Government’s gratitude to the representative of the RSS during a ceremony held at headquarters of the Barbados Defence Force, St.Anne’s Fort, stated that she had absolutely no regret about making the request for assistance under the Regional Security System treaty to deal with the March 29 prison disturbances.

“I believe it was the right decision. I believe that the facts since then speak for themselves. We have been able to minimize the disruption to the society, to the economy, and generally to the security of the country,” Mottley stated.

Mottley added that thanks to the RSS forces, the disturbances were brought under control with minimum loss of life, without any escapes from custody and with minimal difficulties during the transportation of over 1,000 persons to a location that was not intended to serve as an incarceration facility.

According to Mottley, because of the assistance of the RSS forces during the 130 days or so since the disturbances, the island has continued to show a significant reduction in the incidences of recorded crime on a monthly basis.

While stating that the treaty arrangements were completely beneficial, Mottley stated that they did not allow the various regional territories to rely on each other inter-regionally. To that extent the various regional heads have agreed in principle, that as a matter of urgency, a treaty between the RSS and non-RSS member CARICOM countries should be signed. This would allow for additional assistance to be drawn from and provided to non-RSS countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Guyana, and Belize.