20 Peace Officers Welcomed Into Law Enforcement At Graduation Ceremony

ST. CROIX — At a graduation ceremony on Friday morning at the Canegata Ballpark Center, law enforcement officials along with Governor Albert Bryan and Lieutenant Governor Tregenza Roach, welcomed 20 peace officers to the law enforcement fold in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The center was packed with family, friends and supporters of the men and women who graduated Friday, called the “Police Recruit Class 2018-2, Blue Knights”.

It was the first ever joint class in the V.I.P.D.’s recruit efforts, and participants had to travel from St. Thomas to St. Croix for a number of months for the training. Of the 20 graduates, one will head to the VI Fire Service, another to the Virgin Islands Port Authority, and the rest will serve on the police force. Of the remaining 18 offices, 11 will serve on St. Croix and 7 in the St. Thomas-St. John District.

The joint police recruit class was initiated by former Governor Kenneth Mapp. In September 2018, Mr. Mapp announced a nonprofit organization aimed at strengthening law enforcement in the territory through specialized training. Called the USVI Public Safety Support Foundation, the organization was created as a public-private collaboration that sees the V.I.P.D. along with other enforcement arms in the USVI, teaming up with the International Association of Police Chiefs, and other similar groups, in a bid to advance law enforcement in a number of ways — chief among them training.

“This is how we’re going to build our cadre and continue to professionalize our law enforcement personal in the Virgin Islands,” the former governor said last year.

On Friday, Governor Bryan lauded the joint class and said he hoped to see more in the future, perhaps the next class seeing St. Croix recruits joining their counterparts in St. Thomas.

During his talk, Mr. Bryan reminded the new officers that their first line of duty is to protect Virgin Islanders. “You see, the first time you meet Virgin Islanders, they shouldn’t be in distress, they should have a relationship with you already. We should know them and know that they could feel that they could trust you, that they could tell you who has offended them,” Mr. Bryan said.

The governor later added, “I noticed that each one of you, when you came up here, your shirt looked big on you, right? All the shirts, blouses and everybody seeing a six-pack glowing. Some of us have jobs that tend to fill those shirt, right? Mine included. So my challenge to you today is that four years — and hopefully eight years from now — we meet in the same place and all our clothes still fit, right? It’s important that we make the example, because it’s something that make me very proud when I see a police officer in the Virgin Islands in those blues looking official.”