The Government has allocated an initial sum of $2 million to set up two new agencies to deal with crime in the country.
Finance Minister Colm Imbert told the Senate yesterday that an initial $2 million was allocated to establish the Police Management Agency and the Police Service Inspectorate.
They were to be allocated $1 million each.
Imbert was responding to questions on the order paper from Opposition Senator Wade Mark.
Imbert said the Police Management Agency (PMA) was being established as part of the government’s plan to modernise the service.
He said the PMA would be established to “develop the necessary leadership expertise, skills and professionalism that will take this arm of our nation’s protective services forward.”
Imbert said the agency would set and maintain the values and ethics which would underpin the professional culture of the police service and would also deploy strategic and scientific resources in all areas.
It will also:
• Develop the necessary leadership expertise, uphold accountability, develop the skills and professionalism of the workforce
• Enhance the capability to plan and execute police operations
• Implement efficient operational processes, practice and doctrine
• Set and maintain the ethics and values that need to be embedded in the service’s professional culture
• Ensure that service delivery is optimised and ensure that strategic and scientific resource management is deployed in all areas.
He said an initial startup cost of $1 million was allocated to meet the requisite expenses, including office space, equipment, staffing and more. Imbert said additional funds would be provided in the mid-year review, if required.
Imbert also said the Police Service Inspectorate was being established to develop trust and confidence in the police service.
He said the office “was envisaged to treat with potential abuse of state power and an overreach by the police service in the discharge of their duties.”
The Inspectorate “will ensure quality assurance and have oversight of police operations and will be held accountable through annual reporting to Parliament.”
He said the $1 million allocated was to address requisite startup costs.
In response to another question from Mark, Imbert said four arms of the protective services—the Defence Force, the Police Service, the Fire Services and the Prison Service—were owed more than $3.4 billion in arrears from the last collective agreement, which was signed last year. He said the recurrent expenditure for the same groups was $2.6 billion.