Cops Mull Safety Measures at Police Stations

The daring mid-afternoon murder of Police Constable Marvin Locke, while on duty at the Raccoon Street Precinct on Sunday, has left the department badly shaken up and reeling from the unimaginable.  It is being forced to seriously consider adequate security measures for the safety of its employees.  As it stands, Precinct Two is among several police stations where officers, for the most part, are unarmed while they are not out on patrol.  The fact that they do not often carry any weapons puts them at extreme risk.  The weekend tragedy has prompted Eastern Division South Commander, ACP Chester Williams to look into various means of safeguarding the wellbeing of his men and women, including the possibility of installing a metal detector at the entrance of the building.

Isani Cayetano

“Has this incident or will this incident prompt you to look at other safety measures?  I know that arming the front desk may not necessarily be a thing of yours, maybe a metal detector or something for civilians or something.”

Chester Williams

ACP Chester Williams, O.C., Eastern Division South

“Yes, that will be done.  I am looking at some of the models we saw in police departments abroad where anyone who enters the police station there is a metal detector and you have to empty out your pockets and everything before you go in.  That is a system that we will be looking at to ensure that we have safety when anybody comes to the police station.”

Reporter

“Sir, you mentioned that the police officers managed to get assailant off the person.  We are being told that there were, and you also alluded to the fact that there were no weapons at the front desk; however, we understand that the assailant had to be deterred using a cement block or some other object that is not a normal part of the weapon or the defense mechanism that police are being given.  No batons or anything to that effect.”

ACP Chester Williams

“Mr. Wade, we still have an unarmed police department and despite that we have received firearms over the past year.  But the firearms are normally used by officers who are out on the streets and we do have firearms inside the station.  But the quickness as to how the thing occurred and the fact that the man came to the station as an ordinary person, no one believed that he came with the intent to kill someone.  The officer walked outside with him casually, like nothing.  The only thing the officer could have used that was next to them they improvised and they used whatever method to disarm the man, whether it’s a stick or a gun or a bat, I don’t think it matters.”