And with 100 cops dealing with COVID up close, and thousands more still on duty and very afraid to get infected, how is the police department managing to stay motivated and engaged with a community that is increasingly infected?
That's what we asked the Commissioner:
Jules Vasquez
"This is right now is the hardest time for policing in memory because of the duration, we're going into the 8th month of COVID awareness, my perception is that some of the officers are inevitably losing motivation and this may be for a number of reasons, they are very afraid to get infected and that is a completely rational fear. Two, there is only so much you can do, I saw people campaigning this morning for politics with their mask under their chin. How hard is to keep officers motivated and focus on enforcing really what is a public health issue more than a law and order issue strictly?"
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"The truth is Mr. Vasquez that indeed many of our officers are affected psychologically because just the thought of some of them getting infected do affects them and sometimes it's not for them per say but the fact that they might be infected and go home to families unknowing to them that they are infected, then they infect their loved ones, that makes it even worse. I am here, I can tell you I don't really want to interact with my mother because I don't know if I'm infected and I don't want to infect her, so I try as best as I can to interact with her, which is extremely hard for both of us. At the end of the day, as I've said before as police officers, we are a special breed of people and the things that we do in difficult circumstances are difficult times are you rightly alluded to are things that some people would never dream to do for not even an hour but despite that, majority of officers are still committed every day to come to work and do what they need to do to ensure the safety of others. The campaign issue, I saw a group yesterday indeed and they were campaigning, they were in very close proximity of one another, they were not wearing their mask properly and I stopped beside them and I said come on, you need to social distance and you need to ensure that you wear your mask and they apologised and they put on their mask and being to walk with spaces in between but I am sure that when they got up the road again, they continue to do what they want, these are the things that people need to understand. The police and the Ministry of Health do not have the power to stop the spread, who have the power, are each of us individually to ensure that we make it our individual interest to do what we need to do to protect ourselves and to protect our loved ones."
