Aug. 29, 2008 — The V.I. Police Department is working to turn around some of its longstanding problems, but low test scores and an officer shortage remained at the forefront of discussions Friday during a meeting of the Committee on Public Safety, Homeland Security and Justice.
Though VIPD officials reiterated much of what has been said at press conferences and other Senate hearings held over the past few months to update the public on the department's major issues, senators still spent much time delving into homicide statistics and offering suggestions on how the department could elicit more cooperation from the public. In particular, the department should send out more public-service announcements and put out information on various crimes, along with any rewards being offered, they said.
In response to questions about the murder of retired police Sgt. Liston Gumbs, police officials said they are "making strides" and following up on leads, but would not release any information to the public at this time.
Later Police Commissioner James H. McCall said the department has completed the formation of its Cold Case Squad. But senators chastised him for not releasing the names of its investigating officers to the public, with Sen. Celestino A. White Sr. saying citizens "need to know who they're calling or who to talk to if they have any information."
One file on the cold case list involves the June 2001 disappearance of police Cpl. Wendell "Lazee" Williams, who went missing after dropping a relative off at the St. Croix airport. What was initially a missing persons case was upgraded to a criminal investigation soon after police found Williams' burnt vehicle in the bushes near Castle Burke. Spent shell casings from a high-powered weapon were also found near the vehicle, department officials said in 2001.
"The file has been re-opened," said acting St. Croix Police Chief Oakland Benta during Friday's Senate meeting. "We found a few leads in there — I don't know why they were never followed up on — but it is definitely an active file."
Senators also urged police officials to beef up their recruitment efforts significantly by going to local schools and finding a way to increase the starting salary for new officers. One of the department's main challenges is finding enough individuals to make it through the VIPD entrance exam and vetting process, McCall said.
The department's last entrance exam was given in April. On St. Thomas, 32 potential recruits took the test, but only 14 passed, according to Kenneth Hermon, head of the government's Personnel Division. On St. Croix, only one out of eight candidates passed. Though a majority of the remaining recruits racked up scores between 50 to 69 percent, the division sometimes sees individuals score as low as 19 percent, Hermon said.
The process of recruiting potential officers for the VIPD should be a joint effort between Personnel and the department, Hermon said. That's why efforts have been made to engage the University of the Virgin Islands in providing additional training and academic courses for recruits who failed the test and police officers seeking promotions, he said after the meeting.
"All we do now is give them a big book and say, 'Here, sit down and study, you have 60 days to learn the material,'" he said. "What we're trying to do is get them into a classroom setting, where they have a chance to really understand everything and get to interact with other people who are also trying to learn the material."
During the meeting, police officials said they have also been in talks with Personnel to try to restructure the exam. While VIPD officers still have to sit through manual exams, Personnel is exploring the possibility of bringing the tests onto a computerized system, Hermon said.
Some senators frequently questioned why VIPD isn't using $7.1 million appropriated in a recent crime bill to hire new officers, but McCall pointed them back to the testing and vetting issues. He noted that more eyes are getting on the streets thanks to the police auxiliary forces, the VIPD's cadet program and citizen integration teams formed throughout the districts.
"These changes have significantly influenced our enforcement efforts and are most evident in the number of illegal firearms being confiscated," McCall said. Retired police officers have also been brought on and assigned to the department's Cold Case Squad and forensics unit, along with the crime prevention and firearms bureaus, he said.
Present during Friday's meeting were Sens. Liston Davis, Carlton "Ital" Dowe, Carmen M. Wesselhoft, Celestino A. White Sr. and Alvin L. Williams.
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