Superintendent Ballantyne celebrates 35 years in Police Force

Having worked at all police stations in this country except Vermont, Superintendent Brensley E. Ballantyne believes that he has served his country well in the 35 years since he was enlisted as a constable.{{more}}

“It was always my dream of becoming a police officer, that is why I gave up the teaching profession to join the police. It feels good to be celebrating 35 years in the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force,” Ballantyne said.

Ballantyne, who hails from the Sandy Bay community, began his journey on January 4, 1974, when he caught a wooden bus into Kingstown and took the oath to become a member of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force. Four days later, Ballantyne was among a batch of 26 recruits from SVG, who travelled to the Regional Police Training Centre in Seawell, Barbados, to undergo six months training.

A teacher for six years, Ballantyne said during the first few days of training he began questioning why he had left the teaching profession to enlist in the police force. However, those questions were sidelined and Ballantyne endured to the end.

He graduated on July 7, 1977 and was subsequently attached to the Beat and Patrol until September of that same year. He was then transferred to his first out-station on September 12, 1977, where he spent two years.

From that year up until January 12, 2012, Ballantyne was transferred 54 times.

In 1984, whilst at the Georgetown Police Station, he was promoted to the rank of Corporal. In 1990, he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and later promoted to Station Sergeant in 1999, whilst at the Colonarie Police Station.

At the Questelles Police Station in 2001, Ballantyne was promoted to the rank of Station Sergeant and was later named second in Command of the Eastern Division when he was promoted to Assistant Superintendent in 2004.

On March 12, 2008, Ballantyne took over as head of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), which he headed until September 22, 2008. He was promoted to Superintendent in June the following year.

He was also in charge of the South Central and Eastern Division and is now currently the Divisional Officer for the South Central Division.

“It’s a blessing to have attained such a rank and I am the only person north of the Rabacca Bridge to reach such a rank and I am grateful for that…,” Ballantyne added.

Ballantyne has also attended a number of courses, both overseas and local. In 1985 he attended an Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program in Washington D.C., and in 1988 and 1990 he completed Junior and Senior Detective courses in Barbados.

In 1995, Ballantyne was the first Prosecutor at the newly established Family Court. He also completed other courses in Canada, Belize and Jamaica.

Now into the twilight of his career, with retirement on the horizon, Ballantyne does not intend on slowing down. “I have great plans for my retirement. I am very proud of what I have accomplished and I have decided that I am going into some business,” he explained.

Ballantyne says he will be opening a restaurant with his family, since there isn’t really any business of that kind across the Rabacca Dry River.