24th February 2021
Ministry of Agriculture hands over Predial Larceny Safety Gear
By Ministry of Agriculture
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The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources and Co-operatives have procured safety equipment for officers of the predial larceny unit.
The protection equipment includes snake gaiters, to maximize the level of protection against snakes and other hazards likely to be encountered in the field. The unit also received expandable batons to be used as a compliance tool and defensive weapon by the officers.
Pancras Albert, Head of the Predial Larceny Unit expressed gratitude to the Department of Agriculture for acquiring the equipment.
“I am happy for this new equipment because everyday we go out there, we encounter problems with snakes. We’re just lucky that we have not gotten bitten by a snake yet. So I want to thank you sir again, and the Minister involved too because he is part of the ministry for the equipment that we are going to receive this morning.”
Permanent Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries, Natural Resources and Cooperatives, Barrymore Felicien, stressed the importance of ensuring the officers of the predial larceny unit are adequately equipped to better serve and protect farmers as well as other stakeholders.
“There are currently about 13 members of staff and they are located at three different districts that are Choiseul, Micoud, and Richfond. There are three offices in which they run their operations from. With these three offices and the 13 members of staff, they are expected to cover the entire island and deal with all the cases of predial larceny that come before their desk. In 2019 there were just about 524 cases, but it seems during the spike in COVID there was also a spike in predial larceny cases. So you saw about a 39 percent increase to 729 cases which means last year they had to deal with an increase in over 200 cases. The effectiveness of the unit depends on the protection of the officers so if the officers are armed properly and protected properly it means they can serve us better.”
Mr. Felicien reaffirmed the Department of Agriculture’s commitment to protecting the wellbeing and welfare of their human resources to allow them to more efficiently execute their duties.
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