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Proposed law enforcement merger not likely to happen- Hon Penn
Speaking on the Morning Braff show broadcast on Tola Radio with host Floyd P. Burnett aka ‘Heritage’ on Thursday, February 6, 2025, Hon Penn voiced his concerns over the feasibility of merging the Customs, Immigration, and Police departments, arguing that such a move cannot happen overnight.
"This just can't happen overnight because Customs has its own Act that speaks specifically to its operations, and Immigration has its own Act as well; So, you're talking about total amalgamation if you're going to do this in terms of legislative framework and all the things that have to happen for this to work."
No legislative path
As such, Hon Penn pointed out that the necessary legal processes to merge these agencies have not even begun, reinforcing his view that the proposed merger is unlikely to materialise.
"For you to amalgamate Immigration, Customs, and Police, it has to be changed through law. You have to come to the House of Assembly to do the amalgamation; I don’t see any of those things happening and I certainly don’t see it passing through the House of Assembly."
The opposition legislator during the discourse also publicly expressed his belief that most House members do not support the merger, stating candidly, "Many of the members have expressed publicly no support for the amalgamation of all three agencies into one. I think the agencies as they're functioning now just need proper checks and balances, which many of them already have."
Opposition not consulted
The proposed merger, reportedly being discussed in high-level meetings, has been a point of contention in recent weeks, with mixed messages circulating in public discourse with Hon Penn distancing himself from any insider knowledge on these discussions, disclosing too, that the Opposition had not been consulted.
"This new development that I’m hearing people talk about, it was not previewed to the Opposition," he divulged, telling the listening audience, "...we weren’t involved in any of the discussions, I don’t know if the Leader of the Opposition was involved in the meetings, but as far as I’m aware, we were not."
Pressed by the host on whether the Premier Dr the Honourable Natalio D. Wheatley ( R7)) had initially supported the merger before backtracking, Hon Penn responded, "You’ll have to ask the Premier that question. I can’t say what he was for. I wasn’t in the discussion that he was in."
Joint Task Force precedent
Hon Penn did, however, acknowledge precedent with past collaborative efforts between the agencies under the former Unity Government and referenced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that facilitated joint operations at the ports of entry involving Customs, Immigration, and the Police.
"What happened after the CoI (Commission of Inquiry) and all the CoI implications was that a joint task force was established at the ports; This was done via a memorandum of understanding, not through legislative changes. That MoU should have expired by now, and I don’t know if the current government renewed it."
The distinction between a non-binding agreement and a full-scale merger, Hon Penn argues, is crucial, reaffirming, "...a memorandum of understanding allows agencies to work collaboratively…it’s not the same as legislative amalgamation; That requires going through Parliament, which is not something I see happening."
Premier Wheatley has already said he rejects the recommendation to merge Immigration and Customs and place them under the responsibility of the Governor.
See link to related article:
Premier Wheatley rejects proposed transfer of Immigration & Customs to Governor
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11 Responses to “Proposed law enforcement merger not likely to happen- Hon Penn”
One should remember after the 2017 hurricanes the law enforcement from London came into BVI and ran things
Look; the local police department in this Overseas Territory was headed by United Kingdom for years and there is nothing our people can do about it
Mr politician, stop trying to fight down London and invite them here to fix the roads, fix the water system because all we getting from political parties is talk election after election
This is a British Overseas Territory therefore encourage Great Britain to come in and lend a helping hand for the benefit of the people(stop being so power hungry politician man
We are humans, fullbred, not cows being drenching and fenced for the day of market.
Customs isn't the same as Immigration, but if the UKs appointed Governor control Customs under his alone authority, would that proved us that don't trust our government? Of course the UK's should trust, but on the other hand, we also shouldn't trust the UK'S government either. Humans are human.
The bible says, trust only in God, the Creator of the universe. God is not a human beings. God is a Spirit being.
Grandstanding for the cameras or radios. They speak on the topic while it is hot. And no matter how important it is, once media leaves it alone and it goes cold, so do the politicians. By the next two weeks, he will have forgotten about this issue.