Free National Movement (FNM) Parliamentarian Richard Lightbourne yesterday came to the defense of the 3,500 officers on the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) saying that they should not be forced to work 12-hour days.

Over the past month, these officers were on the half-day shifts, a move Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage said was resulting in a reduction in crime.

However, recently the Police Staff Association (PSA) stressed that if these officers are being forced to work the hours, then they should be compensated for it, rather than not see it reflected in their pay at all.

Yesterday, the Montagu MP agreed, saying that these officers were being overworked and underpaid.

“I hope that the belief isn’t that we’re going to solve the crime problem simply by having police on duty for 12 hours a day,” he said during his contribution in the House of Assembly.

“We’re just scratching the surface. We need to look at the core problem and until we do that, the problem will continue. I assume that at some point you must have these officers off the 12-hour-shifts.

“I’m certain you would find in first world countries, governments wouldn’t limit the amount of hours their employees work. When you overwork a person like that they come to a point where they can’t function. Then you put a gun in his hand and his whole process is not functioning properly.”

Mr. Lightbourne said it’s the same thing with pilots and doctors, who cannot work an extended amount of hours.

According to Mr. Lightbourne, the 12-hour-shift is not the solution to crime.

He said it cannot be the government’s initial plan.

“If they had this in mind from day one, they would have talked about it during their campaign. So I hope this isn’t the solution to crime they were advertising,” Mr. Lightbourne said.