In honour of Inspector Calvin Glasgow aka ‘Gold Teeth’

Editor: Please allow a space in your newspaper to pay tribute to former inspector of police Calvin Glasgow.

Inspector Calvin “Gold Teeth” Glasgow # 285 was enlisted in the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force on January 10, 1986. He had spent 30 years, four months as a member of the constabulary upon his retirement on June 6, 2016. During the early part of his career, Mr Glasgow worked at the Process Department, where he was involved in the court procedures. He was later transferred to the Traffic Department.{{more}} The majority can attest that Mr Glasgow was a police officer who carried out his duties with pride, dignity and confidence. In my own experience, having had the opportunity to work with Inspector Glasgow during my tenure at the traffic branch, I found him to be a very firm, honest, hard-working, fearless individual, and most of all true a disciplinarian. His general demeanour was exemplary. He took pride in his general decorum, as you would have been able to see your face in his boots; his sparkling white shirt and well seamed trousers could have been spotted from afar, along with a neatly trimmed haircut, which made this man an impeccably groomed police officer.

It is while working at the Traffic Department that many persons came into contact with this noble person, who later became a household name in St Vincent and the Grenadines. He was well respected and talked about around the region and even in North America. He commanded the streets of Kingstown with pride and authority. He prosecuted all who broke the traffic rules and regulations, regardless of your status in society. I have no doubt that Glasgow developed some enemies along the way, especially among the “van drivers,” who would see him as being on their backs all the time. Some say Glasgow would just appear without them seeing which direction he came from. This no doubt would have created a fear among some drivers who would dare to think about breaking the traffic rules. Some may recall the words of the song “Vroom Vroom, Skettel Coming, Vroom Vroom, Look out for Gold Teeth,” by Dennis Bowman during the Carnival season, some years ago. Kenneth “Vibrating Scakes” Alleyne also paid tribute to “Gold Teeth” in his song some years ago as well. This is to show you the impact that this man had on many persons in our society. Although some may have hated him at the time for taking action against them, looking back, some of these said individuals indicated that they were wrong and respected him. I remember travelling to different parts of the region and persons would ask “who is this bad traffic man in St Vincent?”

He spent long hours on the job and was considered a workaholic. He was a well-rounded police officer, who had several courses both locally and overseas. He worked at the Chateaubelair and Georgetown Police Stations, where he gained more experience as a policeman in a managerial position. This training and these experiences propelled him to manage his juniors in a new diversity of modern policing. The question many persons ask is why wasn’t Glasgow promoted to be a part of the policy making body of the organization which he undoubtedly deserved? Is it because he was fearless? Or was it because he wasn’t singing from a certain song-sheet? Was it the internal mechanism, or external interference? Is this the way we treat persons who have served our organization with such passion and dedication? All these questions must be answered seriously by all concerned, otherwise there may be many more Inspector Glasgows. Happy retirement, Sir, and thanks for your contribution not only to the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, but to the Government and people of St Vincent and the Grenadines. May God continue to bless you with long life and in all your future endeavours.

Brenton Smith