A small number of emergency police and rescue call boxes may start appearing in strategic locations around the territory if a bill approved in committee Friday becomes law and if the funding works out.
The measure sponsored by Sen. Kenneth Gittens would task the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency with setting up a system of call boxes in the territory, located in relatively high traffic areas where they might be needed.
As initially written, the legislation would have appropriated $25,000 from the General Fund for an initial investment. An amendment from Sen. Judi Buckley changed that to $50,000 from the Tourism Advertising Revolving Fund, which is funded roughly $15 to $20 million per year from hotel occupancy taxes. The bulk of that fund is used to pay for tourism advertising and public relations.
The Committee on Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety heard from University of the Virgin Islands officials, who recently began installing a similar emergency call box system on the St. Croix campus.
UVI Chief Financial Officer Shirley Lake-King said the units can increase safety, both by acting as an alarm with strobe lights on top and because, "unlike with cell phones, the dispatcher will immediately know where the call is coming from."
Lake-King testified they "can be a cost effective method" of increasing safety.
Nereida Washington, UVI’s St. Croix director of operations, said the university looked at a number of models before settling on purchasing five units from manufacturer Code Blue, at $5,000 each, to go in selected high traffic areas. These are placed near video cameras and set up so video is captured of the scene once a call is received. Maintenance is minimal, but the boxes must be monitored by a company on island that can handle any technical issues, she said. This was a major consideration in their choice of models, Washington added.
Assistant Police Commissioner Thomas Hannah said call boxes "could save someone’s life in an emergency" and praised UVI for installing them. "This is an opportunity to add another level of safety to our community," Hannah said.
At the same time, Hannah said the question of whether there was enough funding to install, monitor and maintain them "is still a concern for us."
"Maintenance will be paramount to success," he said. Also, at $5,000 per unit, not very many could be installed, so this initial purchase should be seen as more of a pilot program or test, Hannah said.
As initially written, the bill directed VITEMA to select locations for installation, with assistance from Public Works. Along with changing the source of funding and increasing it, Buckley’s amendment removed Public Works, replacing it with the V.I. Police Department. It also delayed implementation to 2015 and removed passages specifying exactly how much is to be spent on each island.
Police Commissioner Rodney Querrard said he agreed the VIPD should play a major role, but suggested Public Works still needed to play a role. Sen. Sammuel Sanes said another amendment incorporating that and other suggestions from Querrard would be offered when the bill is considered next by the Rules and Judiciary Committee.
Voting to send the bill on to Rules and Judiciary for further consideration were Buckley, Gittens, Sanes, Sens. Craig Barshinger and Clarence Payne. Sens. Tregenza Roach and Alicia "Chucky" Hansen voted no.
Several other bills were on the agenda for Friday but were held for amendment without discussion.
