By Amanda Norris
The Virgin Islands Daily News
ST. THOMAS — Despite the objections of the V.I. Police commissioner, the 30th Legislature’s Homeland Security, Justice and Public Safety Committee voted Monday in favor of two bills designed to grant peace officer status to probation officers, Waste Management Authority enforcement officers and the security officers at the Legislature and the Governor’s Office.
The measures were adopted over the reservations of Police Commissioner Rodney Querrard Sr., who testified that he had failed to see how expanding peace officer powers to more government employees really could help the department.
A bill to which the new measures are amendments has granted peace officer status to personnel in 25 agencies, Querrard said, but with the exception of officers of the V.I. Port Authority, the V.I. Lottery and the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs, the Police Department is seldom aided in emergencies or after 6 p.m. by all the other peace officers.
“I am still trying to determine what impact, if any, this is having in assisting the Police Department in curtailing crime in the territory,” Querrard said.
The cost of training also falls to the Police Department, as it is the designated entity in charge of the academy, where the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council curriculum is administered.
Querrard said the cost to train new individuals is $8,500 per person, and there are not clear cut interagency agreements that will allow the Police Department to recover the cost of training non-police officers.
“I am somewhat apprehensive with conferring peace officer status for agencies that primarily work the hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., five days of the week,” Querrard said.
He said that he objects to persons being granted peace officer status and not even reporting violations of law they witness outside of work hours. Furthermore, some persons granted the status are using it for personal gain by doing private work, Querrard said.
Also, in a letter read into the record, V.I. Superior Court Presiding Judge Darryl Donohue Sr. objected to granting peace officer status to probation officers, citing a lack of funding and fear that some probation officers would not pass the Peace Officer Standards and Training tests and successfully complete training, resulting in a loss of jobs.
Kelvin Vidale, the general counsel for the V.I. Waste Management Authority, testified that peace officer status would greatly help environmental enforcement officers who felt that being armed and having the authority to arrest individuals will help them when encountering “belligerent” members of the public and will ensure their safety.
Senators Sammuel Sanes, Judi Buckley, Clarence Payne and Kenneth Gittens voted for the bills, 30-0117 and 30-0045, which will be forwarded to the Rules and Judiciary Committee.
At Monday’s hearing, the committee also approved a bill authorizing the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to issue a Virgin Islands ID card, which would serve as a legal photo ID card for children too young to drive or to citizens who did not have a drivers’ license.
Jerris Browne, director of the Motor Vehicles Bureau, testified that many Virgin Islanders never obtain Social Security cards and are left without valid forms of identification when attempting to open bank accounts or conduct other business, especially on the mainland.
Senators Alicia Hansen, Buckley, Gittens, Payne and Sanes voted in favor of the bill, no. 30-0036.
The committee also approved Bill 30-0063, which would require the V.I. Parole Board to notify victims when an inmate is paroled.
Parole Board Director Darien Wheatley said the bill simply codifies a long-established practice of the board.
“Victims are regularly able to testify at parole hearings, and we adopted a notification system in 1997 after then-Attorney General Julio Brady recognized the need and suspended the board’s actions for two months while we did so,” Wheatley said.
Buckley, Gittens, Payne and Sanes voted in favor of the bill.