Ascension : POLICE ACTIVITY REPORT
Submitted by The Islander (Gavin Yon) 11.11.2004 (Article Archived on 25.11.2004)
First of all I would like to congratulate Tina Yon and Keturah George on their appointment as Special Police Constables in the Ascension Island Police Detachment.
First of all I would like to congratulate Tina Yon and Keturah George on their appointment as Special Police Constables in the Ascension Island Police Detachment. They were appointed on the 3rd November 2004. They said that they are looking forward to working with the Detachment and to assist in providing a quality service to the public.
Two Road Traffic Accidents occurred last month whereby the drivers reported it some nine hours later. They were breath tested whereby a portion of alcohol was in their body. The Police are now investigating this by way of Post drinking exercise. All information is sent to the experts at the Lion Laboratories plc in the United Kingdom and they will do a back calculation alcohol analysis. They would then be able to say how much alcohol they had in their body at the time of the accident.
A damage only Road Traffic Accident occurred on the One Boat Road during the early hours of Sunday morning on the 31st October 2004, involving a RAF vehicle. This accident was reported some twelve hours later. The driver was breath tested and was over the prescribed limit. This case is now under the investigation
ST HELENA POLICE
DRUG STRATEGY
Special Police Constable Timothy Reynolds, an officer of the St Helena Police Service, has been on the island for the past two weeks, having attended an Overseas Training Course in the UK on a Drugs Dog Handler Course and this is what he had to say.
‘As most of you are aware, I have just attended and successfully completed a six week “Drug’s Dog Handler Course” in Bower Ashton, Bristol in the U.K with the Avon and Somerset Police Force.
There were four other males attending who each owned a German Sheppard and already had ten years experience in Dog Handling, so I suppose it was a bit intimidating for me to begin with but then I soon settled into things. It did help however, that everyone was made aware of my situation before the course started and to their credit they helped me to bridge the gap. The two training instructors PC Gary Scott and PC Andy MacDonald deserve a special mention as they were absolutely brilliant to me.
The instigator of the whole course, Inspector Dave McCliver also needs to be mentioned as he made sure that I was as comfortable as possible and had everything I needed, including letting me call home at least twice a week at their expense. The other Dog Handlers had already had their drug’s dog for a few weeks before I met Buzz, but because Buzz is a very friendly and obedient dog we bonded very quickly. I could see from day one that he was above average as he had a natural ability to sniff drugs. This was proved throughout the course as we had a 100% success rate in finding all drugs. He is trained to sniff out Heroin, Cocaine, Crack, Amphetamine, Cannabis, Ecstasy and Magic Mushrooms.
During the time Buzz and I were on Ascension, a Policing program was organised. I did a limited number of demonstrations of Buzz’s capabilities, the last being at Two Boats School for the staff and pupils. Unfortunately I did not have chance to do a public demonstration. We carried out general patrols around the island, and attended the private functions during peak periods with no disturbance to the clubs or their customers.
As the result of patrolling around the island, just one area was found with evidence of cultivation, planting containers and water bottles were found in a deserted location away from a residential area, however no drugs were in the planting container. This wasn’t surprising as my visit was published and the offender had sufficient time to dispose of the drug; however I am pleased that my visit caused disruption to drug users.
I would like to thank the RAF for their support and for allowing Buzz and I to police the Terminal by carrying out random searches at the Air Head and the Camp at Travellers Hill. However the US authorities preferred not to allow the dog on US property for various reasons. I would also like to thank everyone for their help and assistance during my stay on the Island. I look forward to returning in the near future, unannounced, for another exercise’.
Timothy is leaving today on the RMS for St Helena and we wish him well for the future
SPEED LIMITS CONVERSION CARDS
Available at the Police Office are some Speed Limits Conversion Cards, showing you MPH converted into KMH. These cards are free of charge. I would like to remind all drivers that the speed limit on Ascension Island is 40 miles per hour.
Clarence Roberts
Police Inspector
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