Police Week puts communities first despite shortened programme

By Kisean Joseph

kisean.joseph@antiguaobserver.com

Police Week 2026 placed greater emphasis on community engagement despite a shortened programme to accommodate the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Commissioner of Police Everton Jeffers has said.

Jeffers said the reduced programme did not diminish the observance’s impact, adding that feedback on the church service had been particularly positive.

In an exclusive interview with Observer Media, Jeffers said: “This year, the focus was on the people. We were not focusing so much on the police; instead of focusing internally, we focused externally.”

The commissioner said the traditional fire display was dropped from this year’s line-up. In its place, officers visited sick and housebound colleagues, both serving and retired, and delivered care packages to those unable to attend the events.

He said officers were also deployed to communities across Antigua on Sunday, including Willikies, Parham and Gray’s Farm, to hear directly from residents and gauge public sentiment towards the force.

Describing the response from Willikies, which he personally visited, Jeffers said residents reported low crime levels in the area but raised concerns about safety when travelling into St John’s.

“There was a bit of a fear, and they’re asking in that particular area that they need the police station back in the community,” he said.

A full report on the consultations is being compiled, Jeffers said, and he expects it to highlight further complaints linked to recent unrest.

“I know that there are going to be complaints because of all the activities that took place not long ago,” he said, adding that Operation Restore Confidence was established specifically to address those concerns.

Jeffers said restoring public confidence would take time. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but we’re going to work as hard as we can to get Antigua back to where it’s supposed to be,” he said.

Turning to recent investigations, Jeffers thanked members of the public for their cooperation in several high-profile cases while declining to discuss the matters in detail.

“Without them, this would have been a difficult thing to do in such a short period. I know that many of you were perturbed, frightened by what you saw, and I want to thank you for your patience and for your support,” he said.

He also commended officers for working “tirelessly” to secure arrests in recent cases, saying it “took a lot because so many things happened around that period”.

Jeffers confirmed that the robbery at McKinnon’s had been solved, with one person arrested and expected to appear in court this week. He said the same applied to a case involving a stolen quad bike, in which an arrest had also been made.

Two people have also been arrested in connection with a robbery he referred to as the Buckley’s Line matter, Jeffers said, although he did not elaborate.

He said another case of public interest remained under investigation and that the force would issue an update once arrests were made. “Once the arrests are made, we will make an announcement to the public to let the public know that this particular matter, which was under investigation, has also been solved,” he said.