Police Commissioner Franz Christian said Tuesday the department is wrestling with depleted manpower because of retirements and resignations. He said a thorough assessment is being made of other operational areas of the VIPD in order to possibly move personnel to the front line, its patrol units.
"We are looking at other units and making an adjustment with sworn personnel. We are streamlining those units," Christian said, adding that manpower should increase with two cadet classes that will graduate in the next couple of months.
Christian said the retirement of officers and other personnel has diminished police strength mainly in operational areas. "Areas that are stretched the thinnest include the patrol division," he said. "That is the unit which has the first interaction with the public when the department is called on for service."
But he said the government's early retirement incentive program has had little effect on the primary law enforcement agency in the territory, "It has not played a major factor as only six employees resigned under that legislation," Christian said.
Christian said he continues to streamline the use of police officers in civilian positions.
"The officers who have been doing nonpolice work have been reassigned and I am keeping close tabs on that," he said.
The commissioner admitted that while he is concerned about thinning ranks, he believes the public should be kept informed of how the department is handling the situation. Other police administrators have shied away from readily providing such information, which they said tips the hands of the department to the criminals and erodes public confidence in the department's ability to fight crime. "We believe that to a certain extent, the public does have a right to know what is going on," Christian said.
