On Thursday June 18th, 2020, 14 officers passed out and officially became full-fledged Police Constables of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force. This cohort was inclusive of 8 males and 6 females. The ceremony was opened with reverence to the Almighty God and followed by an explosive rendition of the National Anthem and Territorial song by our reigning Ms. BVI, Bria Smith.
His Excellency, The Governor, Augustus Jaspert in his remarks expressed his joy to be among the graduates and audience. He thanked the recruits for joining the RVIPF especially during such a time as now and for dedicating their life and career to serving with integrity. “When the going gets going, you keep going.” He applauded them. He thanked all persons involved in molding the officers into what they have turned out to be and concluded by telling them that they should have immense pride knowing that they have dedicated their life & career to being a part of one of the most important professions in the world.
The Premier, Honorable Andrew Fahie in his remarks stated that he always wonders how it would feel to be a recruit, going through the whole process and arriving at the final day with anticipation. He advised them to be the best them they can be and to seek the knowledge of experienced officers. “Always follow how you would want someone to follow if you were leading, and lead how you would want someone to lead if you were following because that is all a part of being the best version of yourself.”’ He also stated that they must be fair because the greatest law breaker has the most respect for a fair but assertive officer, and by being consistent and having a purposeful mindset they would succeed. He concluded by congratulating the entire cohort 4.
The Commissioner of Police, Michael Matthews in his remarks congratulated the 14 graduates of Cohort 4, for succeeding at completing the rigorous 6 months training. He reminded them of their first day at the swear in ceremony where he told them that they are welcomed to leave if they felt that they made the wrong decision, but no one left, they all persevered and he is happy to see them at the end as full fledged officers of the force.
He expressed his pride to be standing in congratulation amidst the current circumstances while informing the audience that those 14 officers add to the total of nearly 70 new officers hired since 2017. He elaborated on the importance of that year and like the then Cohort 2, this Cohort being deployed to duty directly after training concluded. He joined with pride with the entire organization on the success in finding, training and delivering good police officers.
He concluded by reading a quote from the special thanks from the Cohort “We are thankful for being able to serve the people of the Virgin Islands without favor or affection, malice or ill will,” and reminded the officers to live by this and treat everyone fairly, especially because of the developing situation with law enforcement mainly in the US which has impacted the entire world and reassured the audience that the RVIPF’s policing product is based on the UK and not the US, and though it is not always done right they will strive to continue to protect the Virgin Islands.
The President of H. Lavity Stoutt Community College, Dr. Richard Georges in his remarks congratulated the Cohort as well as the instructors, Dean and staff at HLSCC for the works done and produced during the training. He expressed that he loved to see not only the technical part of policing but also the human side of the career. He stressed the importance of the Commissioner’s ending remarks because it reminds us that we are a part of wider world and that there are also gifts and curses of being a small society. One gift being that change is quicker to implement and the impact is greater on a smaller society.
He concluded by saying that we must make sure that we see the value of others, especially being police officers where they have to deal with the good and the worst of people.
PC 131 Lesrono Davis, this Cohort’s Best All-around recruit started his remarks by congratulating his course mates on finally making it through to the end. He gave thanks firstly to God for helping them to persevere and then to his fellow course mates for pushing each other to make it through.
“Although we have arrived at the end, do not think that this is the end of the journey, this is just the first leg of the race.” He stated. He further expressed that they are the future of the RVIPF and if they put God first, they would always make it through. He implored them to give their all to become great officers and ended by once again congratulating the entire Cohort 4. PC 131 Davis walked away with 8 out of the 15 awards that were given, including Commissioner’s award for Excellence, Commandant’s award for Perseverance, HLSCC Presidents award for Excellence, Superintendent C. Alexis Charles’ award for Best All-around Recruit, Superintendent Jacqueline Vanderpool’s award for Best Recruit, Loren Ryan-Rymer’s award for Leadership, Bill Johnney’s award for Best at Evidence, and Westmore Jeffers’s award for Best at Police Duty Subjects.
The remaining 8 awards were Deputy Commissioner’s award for Best at Drills and Inspector Ernest Gumbs award for Best Shot presented to PC 146 Rhomon Jackson, Superintendent St. Clair Amory’s award for Most Disciplined Recruit presented to PC 207 Japheth Tahanlagit, Chief Inspector Paula Alleyne’s award for Best at Physical Fitness (female) and John Anthony Browne Memorial award for Most Improved Student – Sponsored by Chief Instructor Beverly James presented to WPC 164 Onome Joseph, Chief Inspector Selwyn Rock’s award for Perseverance presented to WPC 121 Natalia Baptiste, Inspector Dean Robin’s award for Best at Physical Fitness (male) presented to PC 171 Severn Simmons, and HLSCC award for Highest Academic Achievement presented to PC 141 Alan Hutchinson.