By Robert A Emmanuel
The deployment of the country’s police officers and armed forces in routine patrols have so far drastically reduced the number of break-ins and theft at schools across the island.
Information Minister, Melford Nicholas, providing the update last week, said, “I believe that the interim measures that have been put in place with the police—supported by the army—have proven to be effective. It is by no means the optimal position.
“The government, through [the Ministry of Information Technology] has committed to ensuring that in the first quarter of next year, we will have some improved measure of electronic surveillance on these compounds,” he added.
Yesterday, Observer media spoke to the Police Public Relations Officer, Inspector Frankie Thomas, who stated that while investigations were still ongoing into the perpetrators of the break-ins, he agreed that the temporary measures have improved the situation significantly.
Security at the government-run schools—both primary and secondary—have been an issue for the government, school staff, and students alike in recent years, following several incidences of break-ins and theft.
Security personnel—a frequent fixture at schools—became an issue following several non-payments of funds owed by the government to the private security firms that had been contracted to do the job, leaving a major vacuum which led to criminals and vandals taking advantage of the situation.
The Ottos Comprehensive School, Irene B Williams Secondary School and Clare Hall Secondary School were among schools that had been broken into or vandalised.
Due to this, teachers threatened industrial action against the government in August if their concerns were not adequately addressed.
A meeting between Cabinet, the officials at the Ministry of Education and leaders of the Special Security Services (SSS) firm was then held days later, with the current temporary measures being implemented until more permanent measures—such as CCTV cameras, are in place.
The temporary measure, Operation Static Sentry, was proposed by the Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force (ABDF) and carried out in collaboration with the Royal Police Force of Antigua and Barbuda.