By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage said the government will not pay police officers overtime for working 12-hour-shifts because they “are not owed anything”.

His comments came after the Police Staff Association requested the government pay $16.4m for overtime, which it claims the officers are owed.

PSA lawyer Wayne Munroe said the letter requesting the money will be delivered today.

He also said the government has 28 days to respond before the Association takes further action.

Speaking to The Tribune, Dr Nottage said the government is not required to pay what they do not owe.

“The government doesn’t owe any overtime pay to them,” he said.

“Further, I have not received a bill so I cannot respond to something I have not seen. The Police Act maps out how police officers are employed and what the conditions of their employment are. I am not aware of any request ever being made of the government for overtime pay for the PSA. We employ policemen, we do not employ the staff association.”

The 12-hour shift system was adopted in September 2013 to fight a surge in crime. While there were rumours that the controversial shift was phased out in late November, Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade and Dr Nottage have refused to give an exact date of when the shift ended.

The 12-hour shift was reinstated in February, according to PSA President Dwight Smith, which led the group to hire Mr Munroe to represent their interests. Normal shifts are eight hours.

Mr Munroe said he has now been given the go-ahead to get the money from the government, which is in line with police policy.

“We are asking for $16 million for the first time they began the shifts last year and then $400,000 for the shorter period this year. The officers worked these shifts and should be paid. They had road blocks all over the island, they gave out a massive amount of traffic tickets. If they say they don’t have the money, then they could use that money they got from all those tickets,” he said.

Earlier this year,  Commissioner Greenslade said that he reserves the right to enact the 12-hour shift system at his discretion and that compensation for officers is a “moot point”.

Speaking to The Tribune, Mr Greenslade insisted that he was slow to respond to calls from Mr Smith over restitution for officers working long hours because it was a non-issue. He said the law was very clear concerning the PSA’s role in Royal Bahamas Police Force matters.