Deputy Comissioner wants wiretapping

If it were up to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, telephone wiretapping would be introduced in St Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

Deputy Commissioner Bertram Pompey made the call at a recent press conference held to announce that Sea Operations Limited has been awarded the $3.658 million contract to construct the Georgetown Police Station.

Pompey said that the security landscape has changed, and as the face of crime changes, new methods must be looked at.

“Everybody is concerned about their privacy but…this is the lesser of the two evils,” Pompey said.

He made a call for legislators to find the political will to enact the necessary changes to the laws.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves has called on the contractors to find ways to involve tradesmen from the Georgetown area in the project.

The three-storey Georgetown Police Station will include a Court facility, offices for lawyers, Magistrates’ Chambers, three holding cells, a section for a joint task force, an armory, CID office, male and female dormitories and the District Commander’s office.

The Prime Minister used the opportunity to highlight the various infrastructural works being done for the police force, including the $1.6 million firing range to be constructed in Arnos Vale.

He said that the facility is crucial for the training of police officers in the use of firearms and private citizens who are licensed firearms users, who without such a facility learn about their firearm “by trial and error.”(KJ)