For the third Thursday in a row, police on St. Croix protested their lack of a current contract and poor working conditions. But this time they weren’t marching alone.
Members of the St. Croix and St. Thomas Police Benevolent Associations, the Law Enforcement Supervisor Union, officers from the Bureau of Corrections and Planning and Natural Resources, and firefighters all marched on St. Croix’s Government House as part of the newly formed Public Safety Coalition.
The group was formed "to keep the needs on the front burner and in the public arena," said St. Croix PBA president Naomi Joseph. "It’s not just about money alone. It’s about having supplies and equipment to do the job.
"We can’t have firefighters without gear to go inside burning buildings and we can’t have police with out (bulletproof) vests to protect them," she said.
Joseph said that if and when the Turnbull administration finds money to spend on public safety, coalition members have agreed that it should be split among the different agencies.
Police officers and supervisors on St. Croix are currently working under unfunded contracts while supervisors haven’t seen a pay raise in nine years, said Arthur Hector, president of the St. Croix LESU. He said officers at Patrick Sweeney Headquarters are working in a dilapidated building and many are driving vehicles that, by contract, should not be on the road because of the amount of mileage.
Also participating in the protest was St. Thomas PBA president Elroy Raymo. He said "there are those who are upset with me and my men" for remarks he made recently saying that police would protest in front of tourists with the message that they aren’t safe because the administration is neglecting law enforcement.
Despite being criticized by Police Commissioner Franz Christian earlier this week for his comments, Raymo said the union would take its protests on St. Thomas to visitor-heavy areas like Havensight, Main Street and the Cyril E. King Airport if the administration doesn’t come to the negotiating table soon.
Additionally, representatives from the V.I. Fire Service and the Bureau of Corrections aired their grievances. Firefighters on St. Croix are ill-equipped and haven’t had a pay raise since 1993 while the Golden Grove Prison, which just started receiving Virgin Islands prisoners who have been held in off-island facilities, is understaffed.
"We’ve all been neglected," Joseph said. "We don’t have the basic tools to do our jobs."
