VI UPDATE
U.S. Virgin Islands Public Records
TRANSCRIPT OF PUBLIC PROCEEDINGS
Committee on Rules and Judiciary | October 21, 2021
Legislature USVI
October 21, 2021 · 4.6 hours · gov
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I'm going to show you how to do this. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
0:00:00
Thank you. Let's go. Thank you.
0:02:00
Thank you. We'll be right back. [2 such phrases repeated 25 times · standby audio before the proceeding, transcribed by the
recogniser as speech]
0:03:30
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
0:16:00
Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Thank you. Good morning everyone, good morning colleagues.
0:17:30
Good morning to our hard working central staff employees, good morning to our testifiers and A special good morning to
the people of the US Virgin Islands. The Committee on Rules and Judiciary Meeting of October 21st, 2021 is hereby
called to order. Madam Clerk, can we please have a roll call? Senator Milton Potter.
0:19:19
Present. Senator Potter, present. Senator Kenneth L. Gittins, absent. Senator Norvell E. Francis, Jr. I'm here. Senator
Francis, Jr., present. Senator Carla Joseph. Senator Carla Joseph, present. Senator Franklin D. Johnson. Senator Franklin
D. Johnson, present. Senator Steven Payne, Sr. Senator Payne Sr. present, Senator Genevieve Whitaker, Senator
Whitaker absent. Mr. Chairman, you have five present and two absent.
0:19:51
Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. We do have a quorum, so we will proceed. Before we do, please record Senator
Whitaker as present. Colleagues, I want to just make a pitch this morning to the people of the United States, Virgin
Islands once again. For those folks who are on the fence regarding taking the vaccine, the COVID-19 vaccine, I just want
to make a personal pitch once again to ask you to consider taking the vaccine. They say who feels it knows it. And I think
like perhaps thousands of Virgin Islanders who have suffered the unnecessary I think and preventable loss of a loved one
who was not vaccinated, I want to urge you to consider doing it. Consider doing it not necessarily just for yourself, but
for the loved one in your life. For those vulnerable persons with pre-existing medical conditions who, because of a
0:20:33
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compromised immune system, they are much more susceptible to getting this dreaded virus, I urge you to consider doing
it. Once you're vaccinated, the probability of spreading the virus is reduced significantly, And the probability of death and
hospitalization is reduced in a massive way.
So I don't engage in the debates anymore about the efficacy of vaccinating versus not vaccinating. I just know based on
the science, based on the facts, based on the information that we know, getting the vaccine saves lives. And it really puts
us in a position to get to a more normalized existence once again. The more persons who are vaccinated, the greater the
probability that this dreaded epidemic will come to a close. So I'm off of my soapbox at this point. Madam Clerk, do we
have any pieces of correspondence to be read into the record at this time? Please record Senator Gittins as present.
0:22:14
No, Mr. Chairman. Okay, thank you very much. Colleagues, we will proceed with our agenda. Madam Clerk, can you
please read today's agenda into the record? The Committee on Rules and Judiciary has scheduled a meeting for Thursday,
October 21st, 2021 in the Fritz E. Louettes Conference Room on St. Croix to consider the following. Block 1
Commissioner of the VI Police Department. Block 2 UVI Board of Trustees. Block 3 Bill number 34-0074 a resolution
honoring and commending Holland L. Redfield II posthumously for his expensive extensive and continued contributions
to the Virgin Islands of St. Croix and the entire Virgin Islands community as a whole through his role in various areas of
service in the territory and awarding him the Virgin Islands Medal of Honor for public service posthumously sponsored
by Senator Samuel Carillon and Genevieve R Whitaker co-sponsored by Senator Stephen D Payne Sr. Block 4 bill
number 34-0047 an act requiring the Department of Agriculture and the University of the Virgin Islands to create a plan
to develop a community seed bank program to store and preserve seeds for preservation against climate change, natural
disasters, and other situations that could lead to total annihilation of crops, plants, and other fauna and flora. Sponsored
by Senator Samuel Cadillone and Marvin A. Blyden. Co-sponsored by Senator Milton E. Potter. Block 5, Bill number
34-0062 an act amending title 3 virgin islands code chapter 5 section 65a relating to filing vaccines on board
0:23:14
and commissions by adding subsection g to acquire membership on board and commissions to be gender balance
sponsored by senator genevieve r withaker Invited Testifier, Abel Bakar, President, New Horizons Women's Democratic.
Thank you very much, Madam Clerk.
0:25:24
Colleagues, we are honored today to have before us the Governor's nominee to head the Virgin Islands Police
Department, Commissioner-Designee Mr. Ray Martinez. Mr. Martinez, I'm seeing you clearly on the video. Please just
introduce yourself just as a mic check before we proceed. Thank you. Good morning. Ray Anthony Martinez, police
commissioner.
0:26:00
We seem to be hearing you loud and clear. Martinez, we want to thank you very much for, first of all, accepting the
challenge. I think I have told you that I believe that the commissioner of the Virgin Islands Police Department is far and
away the toughest job in the executive in the executive branch of office toughest cabinet level job all of them are
challenging but the commissioner of police position is a very tough and challenging and often thankless job so i really
applaud and appreciate your willingness to serve in this position to put yourself in the firing line so to speak
commissioner as we proceed with this nomination hearing as is usual i want to ask you to please raise your right hand. Do
you swear or affirm that the testimony and responses you're about to offer during this hearing will be the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth?
0:26:34
Yes, Senator. Okay. Thank you very much, sir. Director Martinez, please proceed with your testimony. good morning
senator milton e potter chairman of the rules and judiciary committee of the 34th legislature of the virgin islands
members of the committee other members of the 34th legislature in attendance virtually or in person the virgin islands
police department staff family friends people of this territory i am ray anthony martinez commissioner nominee of the
united states virgin islands police department firstly i would like to thank the honorable albert brian jr for this opportunity
to continue to serve let me also begin by acknowledging and thanking the officers of every rank and my dedicated
civilian staff territory-wide for their continued commitment to the people of the virgin islands and the virgin islands
police department for without them there is no vipd senators i sit virtually before you today not knowing what lies ahead
however searching my principles confidence knowledge and extensive career of service has prepared me for the role of
police commissioner make no mistake the road i have traveled getting to this point in my career has not been paved in
gold. Like many of you, I have endured many a trial and tribulation, yet I remain undeterred. For it is these experiences
that drive me, that compulsion to serve and achieve. Often battered and bruised, I am a strong, proud Virgin Islander, son
of the soil who wants the best for his home this is how i do my part prior to my appointment as the police
0:27:43
commissioner nominee i served more than two years as a director of the law enforcement planning commission the lepc
commencing in april 2019 as the lepc director i oversaw the agency with exclusive oversight to administer monitor and
evaluate several streams of federal funds that address criminal justice juvenile delinquency and victim services initiatives
from the u.s department of justice grant programs i was previously employed with the virgin islands police department
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from april 2003 to january 2015 where i served in various roles as a labor relations manager director of internal affairs
special assistant to the police commissioner acting deputy police commissioner and criminal intelligence director it was
during this period i became smitten by the law enforcement bug an interest that quickly mushroomed into an infatuation i
also served six years as a member of the public employees relations board the perp and subsequently three years as its
executive director where i honed my labor relations skills in addition i served several years as executive assistant to then
lieutenant governor gerard los james ii and over eight years as an aircraft rescue firefighter and crew chief with the virgin
islands port authority fire department i am a graduate of the federal law enforcement training centers flexi criminal
investigator training program where i hold a distinction of being the only virgin islands law enforcement officer to
graduate from this course i obtained a bachelor of science in international and comparative criminal justice from captain
university and a
master of science in criminal justice with an emphasis on research from the university of cincinnati i have also a
certificated paralegal and a proud u.s army veteran having served with the first of the 87th light infantry of the 10th
mountain division i am a member of the international association of chiefs of police and most recently became a member
of the association of caribbean commissioners of police i am also a proud product of the government of the virgin islands
public school system where i graduated from the saint croix central high school golden class of 1986. i have had a
distinguished life as a public servant and i am always willing to serve my greatest accomplishment thus far however is
my transformation into a family man i am married to diana martinez and the father of three children danelle ray and
reading since accepting the nomination the overwhelming question i've been asked is why would you leave lepc and
return to vipd with all its problems i've consistently responded this is my home and i have no intentions of leaving i
believe i possess the knowledge and leadership abilities necessary to lead the vipd so with the blessing of my wife the
decision was not a difficult one the virginalis police department is a primary law enforcement agency within the territory
Our mission is to ensure public safety, to protect life and the property of residents and visitors, to detect and arrest
criminal offenders, and to enforce all the laws of the Virgin Islands.
0:31:42
The Department is an apparatus with many moving parts, running a non-stop operation 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
success is contingent upon balancing statutory mandates, policies and procedures, and adherence to collective bargaining
agreements in conjunction with available resources and evidence-based strategies to address pressing crime issues within
our community. Violent crimes continue to be the plague of our community. Historically, these violent incidents occurred
at nights and on weekends in places deemed high crime areas of late there's been an uptick in daytime and early evening
incidents occurring in busy business and public areas this unfortunately suggests that perpetrators are not in the least
worried about being identified or harming innocent by standards in many instances violent actors have been lying in wait
or surveilling victims This further suggests violent actors are taking the time to gather intelligence on their victims, as
opposed to utilizing classic opportunistic means. These methodologies make it even more difficult for investigators to
solve cases. As a result, the community is once again calling into question VIPD's ability to safeguard them.
0:33:32
Traffic initiatives and saturated and proactive patrols have been instrumental in the seizure of guns and drugs, as well as
in the apprehension of violent criminals. Enforcement of the traffic laws has proven to be a valuable tool in removing
guns and drugs from our streets. Even with these ongoing initiatives in place, there are a handful of individuals who
continue to openly disregard our traffic laws. I've received substantive complaints and have personally observed young
men operating unlicensed, uninstalled motorcycles without regard for established rules or the safety of others on the
roadways. In addition, most of these cycles have altered exhaust, which make them a noise nuisance, especially in
residential neighborhoods.
0:35:00
We are working on a multi-agency plan to safely stop, ticket, and confiscate, when necessary, these cycles. I have further
tasked the chiefs and the deputy chiefs to increase the traffic enforcement efforts in their respective districts using federal
overtime funds. From every corner of the community, there has been a call for VIPD to increase efforts that dramatically
reduce murders and gun-related violence. driven firearm initiatives targeting individuals known to possess illegal
firearms have netted 24 firearms and 17 arrests between July and September. Despite increased checkpoints and
initiatives leading to arrests, brazen gun violence appears unabated. The introduction of a violent crime reduction strategy
is integral to any success we intend to realize. as violent crime continues to trend upward under my leadership vipd is
committed to increasing efforts to reduce violent crime within the territory by developing a multi-faceted violence
reduction strategy based on proven evidence-based strategies utilizing research from a combination of traditional hot
spots intelligence driven problem oriented community oriented and focused deterrence policing strategies. Our violent
crime reduction strategy will have a real-world impact. The plan will be two-tiered with an aggressive short-term
emphasis on substantially increasing police visibility in concentrated areas and prioritizing street-level deterrence and
arrest of repeat offenders in these areas through strong intelligence gathering. The long-term portion of the plan
incorporates a focused deterrence strategy that reduces
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conditions associated with violent crime that helps break the cycle of violence in areas and with persons that have long
been associated with continued acts of violence this long-term element is not vipd enforcement centric but rather requires
collaboration with outside stakeholders including the office of gun violence prevention and the governor's advisory
council on community violence intervention as well as other departments nonprofit organizations and businesses he who
has intel is king a strong intelligence unit will serve as the catalyst in aiding with our investigations returning to the
department after more than six years i understand the actors and the landscape of crime has changed by epic proportions
however with properly trained intel personnel the department will be better equipped to detect and disrupt criminal
activities with intelligence-led policing coupled with evidence-based strategies and crime analysts and intelligence bureau
to collect and analyze information from a variety of sources will lend to the advancement of criminal investigations the
department's intel unit must be revamped and And to do that, I felt it was necessary to take this posture, to establish an
MOU with NYPD intel.
0:37:42
Four NYPD officers will be stationed in the territory, two on St. Croix and two on St. Thomas, for a period of six months
to train and engage throughout the community, working side by side with VIPD officers. For several years, VIPD faced
challenges which affected their inability to effectively police. Personal shortages, low morale, and consent decree
mandates, to name a few. In the past year and a half, response to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has stretched
already limited personal resources. A portion of the Department's focus has shifted to helping reduce the spread of
infection by enforcing stay-at-home orders and encouraging social distancing while still responding to calls for service.
Our COVID team, with the assistance of partner agencies, performs a yeoman's job in combating the virus spread by
ensuring safety protocols in accordance with the governor's executive orders or strictly adhered to. With inordinate
changes in leadership, law and policies resources community needs and technology vipd still relies primarily on
traditional a reactive policing model as its chief operational strategy since 1972 and every 20 years thereafter the
traditional model has been tested by criminologists with the same resulting outcome as a standalone operational strategy
the traditional model is a failure studies found that reactive patrol time is not only largely uncommitted time but that it is
also unproductive time in addition it also found that isolating police officers in their cars and making them solely
responsive to radio calls for service ties them to the dispatcher thereby they are
0:39:10
less responsive to the community and its needs on this premise centralization efforts coupled with our multifaceted
strategic approach is the way to go. Departmental efficiency and operational effectiveness are essential components of
increasing community support and confidence. Moving forward, VIPD needs progressive executive leadership decision
making that identifies the most effective use of staffing and resources. This unprecedented time also provides an ideal
opportunity to test approaches that may continue to improve the delivery of services after the pandemic is contained.
0:41:07
Operational effectiveness will rely strongly on the strategic plan and violent crime reduction strategy. I am still
evaluating the strategic plan that was introduced one week before my nomination. I do not believe in reinventing the
wheel. will export the credible recommendations and combine them with my team's vision and expectations. As an
immediate crime reduction strategy, I've instructed my leadership team to focus on technological assets in our possession
to enhance crime reduction efforts. To put this into perspective, we have focused high-visibility policing in specific areas
of concern as you traverse the popular christian said boardwalk you can observe our live view mobile solar surveillance
surveillance units since the introduction of these units on the boardwalk there has been a decrease in snatch and grab
incidents and robberies the department has received rave reviews from merchants residents and visitors who feel an
increased sense of security in the area. We have also deployed similar units on St. Thomas and St. John. The live view
systems provide our chiefs and commanders with live feeds from multiple high definition infrared and advanced cameras
with imagery and information that aids our personnel responding directly to those locations, thus reducing the lag in
response time. In the past week, we received an additional six units to add to our growing inventory those units will also
be deployed in short order across the territory to bolster our crime fighting and reduction efforts it is my intent to also
integrate our live view systems into our real-time crime center package when it comes online currently we are in
negotiations with skywatch they specialize
0:41:51
in producing mobile surveillance and deterrent towers the unit would be the unit would provide the virgin islands police
department yet another force multiplying capability one officer utilizing the sky watch system would provide our
operations division the capability to monitor large gatherings this asset would support us in areas where we would be
unable to deploy our drone systems We have been working on deployment of a drone program over the past year. With
the approval of a recent purchase order, our fleet will increase to six functional drones and two practice drones. We
anticipate the arrival of those to the territory within the next 90 days. As we continue increasing our enforcement
prowess, we cannot lose sight of the fact we are surrounded by water. As the lead enforcement agency within the
territory, we are in the process of increasing our marine assets with the purchase of three additional vessels for open sea
interdiction and shore patrols. We have an excellent working relationship with the Department of Planning and Natural
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Resources, DPNR, the VI Port Authority, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
We will continue working alongside them in marine patrols and proactive marine initiatives. Strengthening the working
relationships with our federal partners remains a priority. Since my appointment, I have had fruitful meetings with
Homeland Security Investigations, the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Agency, HIDA, of the DEA, Federal Bureau of
Investigations, and the Customs and Border Patrol. VIPD, through its assigned task force officers, are engaged in ongoing
local and federal investigations of criminal groups. Likewise, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Marshal Service, and the
National Park Service Police are working alongside our officers in weekly initiatives, ranging from Marine COVID-19
response to fugitive apprehensions. Along with the VI Attorney General, I am also a member on the Executive Board of
the Puerto Rico Virgin Islands HIDA Task Force, which meets regularly to discuss tactics addressing the proliferation of
drugs, guns, and gang violence plaguing the territory.
0:45:01
Since my nomination in mid-July, I have met formally and informally with several of the unions where I provided an
overview of my leadership philosophy and my current plans. I have met with the federal law enforcement partners from
the FBI, Haida DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, and customs and border protection i've held introductory
meetings with the consent decree independent monitor and attended quarterly consent decree evidentiary hearings i've
approved the purchase of new marine assets and upgraded and upgrades of marine engines i've purchased orders are
approved for our new niving systems and microscopes in each district i've dialogued with the police unions regarding
plans for a 12-hour shift stipulation I've traveled to New York City, along with Governor Bryan and Senator Payne,
where we met NYPD officials to obtain information on modern crime-fighting techniques and the use of technology to
include crime-fighting techniques and technology and the strategic use of limited numbers of law enforcement officers.
0:46:10
We have received information about the real-time crime center operations that aid in crime prevention, investigative
services, and anti-terrorism techniques. We attended the NYPD ComStat meeting. ComStat is most valuable as an
instrument to increase communication and accountability within the police department among the chiefs of police and its
commanders. We met with the National Networks for Safe Communities out of John Jay College, creators of the Focus
Deterrence model, of which I am a strong advocate. I announced my leadership team at a press briefing on September
3rd. My leadership selections were based on experience, leadership skills, respect amongst their peers and a desire for
positive change that promotes the police department. As I said then and say now, my goal is to stop reacting to crime and
instead move forward with prevention tactics. We can no longer continue this trend of being reactive. We must become
more proactive. Proactivity begins with a plan.
0:47:20
Rest assured, I have a plan. Part of the plan was to assemble a leadership team necessary for the continued growth of the
VIPD. members of the previous leadership team remain in their current positions while others will be assigned the duties
that complement the leadership structure i have given you updates and listed many challenges and recommendations in
the attached addendum is a comprehensive list of the challenges and recommendations i've touched on today i ask that
they not be shared publicly but i welcome an offline conversation as it relates to my assessment and recommendations
based upon my assessment the following is my list of immediate actionable items the redeployment of operation of the
operations division within 60 days that includes to centralized operations which are patrol investigations and special
operations to obtain insight from the chief negotiator regarding the extent of management's rights to implement shift
changes in accordance with the CBAs. To develop a 12-hour shift stipulation with input from the unions. To develop and
implement a centralized deployment plan.
0:48:31
Case management. In 30 days. To schedule a case management conference between the Attorney General's Office and
our Criminal Investigations Bureau. to select violent crime cases with the greatest solvability factors and to put extensive
efforts into closing by arrest. And also to begin a search for a case management system. A vacation schedule to be
implemented in 14 days. To implement an annual vacation schedule that provides officers the opportunity to plan
holidays and summer vacations. for that vacation schedule to be fair and equitable based on your three-week time off
annually and to obtain advice from several mainland departments as to how they scheduled overtime in their respective
departments in 60 days i aim to establish the intelligence unit memorandum of understanding with the nypd that includes
drafting of the mou selecting unit personnel and acquiring true office space also networking with our criminal
investigation bureau investigators and our intel personnel to provide actionable intelligence to further our violent crime
cases to develop a historical perspective on violent crimes and to develop violent a violent crime database while the
virgin Island's police department faces unique challenges with its personal shortages, COVID-19 response, and increased
violent crime. The department must commit to optimization of every resource at its disposal to develop and maintain
community trust and confidence.
0:49:51
There must be a collaborative approach to utilize all that is available. Implementation of a strategic plan and a violent
crime reduction strategy, which are living documents that can be revised at will can bring the department and its outside
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partners together remove the tendency to operate in silos and establish a constructive flow of information that creates a
road map to reduce violent crime and increase efficiency and effectiveness this effort begins with me and i will lead by
being firm but fair in executing my duties and rendering my decisions that will have a positive and lasting effect on my
department and our on our community i recognize that over the past years vipd's executive teams have struggled in
administrating the department i am equally cognizant the role of police commissioner is one of if not the most highly
scrutinized commissionerships at times managing a department may seem an insurmountable task daunting at times i am
however equal to the task as i am resolute in executing my duties to accomplish the goal of improving the vipd governor
brian thank you for affording me the distinct opportunity to lead this agency to the men and women in blue i am
committed to serving alongside each one of you for none of us can do this alone to my wife diana my daughter danelle
and my sons ray and raiden thank you for your unparalleled love and support and for sharing me with vipd senators thank
you for your time and attention and the opportunity to testify before you today as a nominee for the role of police
commissioner i stand by for any questions you may pose Thank you very much. I called you Director Martinez earlier,
but I meant Commissioner designee Martinez. Thank you very much for your extensive... Commissioner nominee
Martinez, thank you very much for your extensive and detailed presentation here this morning. We
had one letter to be read into the record, which we will try to get in. We won't pause at this point, we'll move forward, but
at some point we'll make sure we get that letter read into the record. Colleagues, this is one of the most important
nominees in the Governor's Executive Cabinet. we will take six minutes we'll give you six minute rounds to proceed we
will begin with senator francis senator francis you're recognized for your six minutes sir thank you thank you very much
mr chair it seems like you're setting me up good morning to you and certainly good morning to the people of the virgins
and good morning to the police commissioner nominee ray anthony martinez how are you doing sir good so I must say
that your testimony brief well I believe that you certainly have articulated your intention to move the Virgin Islands
Police Department forward I wanted an opportunity to at least query you on a number of issues let me also add that I
certainly support your position that it'll take technological crime-fighting efforts to assist in our ability to reduce crime.
0:54:01
You mentioned some of those technologies that you intend to deploy, and can you speak to anything that you have
already put in motion outside of the surveillance cameras and the Naibin that you mentioned, is there any other
technology that you intend to deploy to assist you in your crime-fighting efforts? Yes. Thank you, Senator. Again, as I
stated, we're also going to be·we're ready to deploy our drones. As a matter of fact, we've been·I'll share that we've been
utilizing the drones on St.
0:55:36
Croy, and we've also utilized them on St. John in our crime-fighting efforts. And for us to acquire the additional four
would put us up, as I said, to six. And so that's really going to be a very good complement. Also, as far as technology is
concerned, outside of the CCTV and LPR that we have in place right now and are in the process of tripling. We also have
the ShotSpotter, which has been yielding very good results. And we think that we're going to increase those results as
well when we partner or team the ShotSpotter with our CCTVs. Technology is huge. And, you know, so the biggest part i
think the best use for all of our technology is really going to come together senator when we're able to um to acquire and
to put together our real crime uh real-time crime center and you and i know exactly what that is but for the lay persons uh
what the real-time crime center is is a center uh where all of our technology uh the information that's received from our
technology comes into one place and can be distributed in real time out to our officers so if a incident occurs on the
boardwalk and we have cameras on the boardwalk that information is relayed directly in real time to the um the officers
in the street if we require uh information about um uh about a vehicle again once the vehicle passes but passes by one of
our lprs or one of our cameras the information goes directly to the um to the officers again within seconds so i think of of
all the things senator six minutes you're going with my entire six minutes on question number one
0:56:13
mr martinez that that was my intent senate So in respect to proactive patrol, and I've always advocated for proactive
patrol because, again, I believe that we're always in, because of limited manpower, and otherwise we are traditionally in a
reactive mode. And what have been your instructions to police operations in regards to your proactive initiatives? I mean,
have you directed the chiefs that you want to see officers park, walk, and talk? You know, it's one thing to use
technology, but we still need that human-to-human interaction. Can you speak to your instructions in regards to how do
you ensure that there is this person-to-person interaction? absolutely senator so what has what has been related to the um
to the senators is very simply put for us to get back to patrolling in sectors and ensuring that once our offices are in those
sectors they get out they park walk and talk they turn the windows of the vehicles down get out of the air conditioning
and just speak to people okay and and i can't put it more simpler than that And that's what we've been doing. We started it
out in both of the, here at St. Croix, in both districts. And we increased it on St. Thomas as well, downtown. And now
we've moved into some of our housing communities.
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So I know that you have mentioned on several occasions that policing of 30 years ago don't work today. So one of the
things, the areas that I believe that have been really instrumental in controlling crime is our ability to be able to stop into
businesses, especially at late night where you know businesses are open you know a lot of times you just see where
police cruisers are zooming by with their air condition their their cell phones their radios and there is no interaction with
those businesses um again those are some of the back to basic that i believe is critical um while we want to utilize modern
policing i think that some of those old school methods have worked and will continue to work what would you say about
it absolutely and And when I say that we got to get away from the policing of 30 years ago, that speaks solely to the fact
that we continue to traditionally, to solely traditionally police.
0:59:45
And what we need to do, we have to do parts of, we can never get away from all traditional policing. But we have to get
away from the fact that to introduce the COP, the POP and intelligence led policing as well. Thank you. Okay.
1:00:41
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
1:02:00
Committee on Rules and Judiciary stands in recess for one minute. Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.
Thank you. Thank you.
1:04:30
Colleagues, the Committee on Rules and Judiciary is back on the record. For the viewing audience who kind of just saw a
little disruption during the hearing, What it was was a shake-out earthquake drill test by Vitema. So since earthquakes
happen like that, they happen unpredictably even in the middle of a Rules Committee hearing, we had to respond and
respond quickly as though we dropped and we proceeded to take cover under the tables or under the desks.
1:07:30
So I think these initiatives are important, these drills are important, because we know the question isn't if we're going to
have a major earthquake at some point. It is just a matter of when. So the Committee on Rules is back on the record.
Senator Francis, you may proceed with your line of question. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And Mr. Martinez,
are you still with us? Yes, I am, Senator.
1:08:20
So, Mr. Martinez, again, for the purpose of the listening audience and the public, can you speak to your suitability for the
job and what makes you the best qualified person at this time to assume the position of police commissioner for the
Virgin Islands Police Department? well in senator it you know most folks think that um that once you're the police
commissioner you're out there on the streets of uniform policing and um as you most definitely know the police
commission is an administrative position uh you must understand the the basics of policing but at most of it has to do
with your executive abilities your abilities to lead to provide the resources to provide the um you know the financial
resources the personal resources equipment but to provide those things and to lead from the top from an administrative
position i believe that based on my background that i am that person i'm suited i've got a an extensive labor relations
background.
1:08:49
I do have the policing background from having 12, just about 12 years working in the department, as well as some of the
other executive positions that I've held as well. I also think just my personality, the type of person that I am also provides
me with the type of leadership skills that are necessary to run a department that is filled with A-type personalities? So
that's the reason why I asked you that question because I think that it's important for the public to understand that in fact
your role is administrative. Your mission is to get the money for the police officers to do their job. You're supposed to
handle administrative matters and certainly hold your chiefs of police, empower them and hold them accountable for
carrying out the role of police operations.
1:10:03
correct senator very well um so have you empowered your chiefs of police and um and you intend to hold them
accountable to make sure that they're carrying out the mission of police operations the patrol division most definitely the
uh one of the first things that i did uh coming into this position was to switch around the um the way that we run
administrations the police administration here i empowered the chiefs by having them report directly to me the chiefs and
the deputy chiefs are the most powerful guys in their respective districts they control 90 of the department of the function
of the department because they oversee police operations which is in fact 90 of the um of the department so it is you
know for me to be successful they have to be successful they have you know had to take the reins off and allow them to
to start to make the decisions that need to be made and thus far i would say that they've been doing a very good job even
though some of they're still in the learning stages very well thank you very much um commissioner nominee martinez for
your response mr chair if we could just ask i know that during um some previous presentation there was some concern
about atf not reaching out to the police department i have I'd just like to ask whether or not the police commission that we
have been able to bridge that gap. Thank you very much for the opportunity, thanks.
1:10:59
Thank you very much, Senator Francis. Senator, oh, Commissioner? Senator, we have not made contact yet. We have not
had a sit down yet, but I am certain that that conversation will take place in short order. Okay, thank you very much.
Before we move on, I want to recognize noncommittee member, my freshman colleague, Senator Alma Francis Heiliger.
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Welcome, Senator Francis Heiliger. Senator Joseph, you're recognized for your seven minutes. Thank you so much, Mr.
Chairman. A pleasant good morning to my colleagues, a pleasant Good morning to the viewing and listening audience.
Also a pleasant good morning to Commissioner nominee, Ray Martinez. I trust you are doing well this morning and I
want to really thank you for stepping up to the plate and to take on this Herculean job in being the police czar for the
Virgin Islands, really. My question's going to be geared towards crime prevention, because I know we have talked about
it off the record about crime prevention, and I want to really get from you a sense of what is your strategy and how we
can prevent crime?
1:13:26
Well, again, Senator, as I stated in my testimony, there are two things that we need to take a look at. First and foremost,
of course, is the fact of having a strategic plan. All right. The strategic plan is, you know, that sets the roadmap for how to
depart where and how the department intends to move forward. It tells you where we've been. It tells you where we're at
now. And it tells you how we intend to move forward. Commissioner, I don't want my time to run off, but that is very
arbitrary. You know, I understand how strategic plans are put in place. I also understand how they function, and I also
know that they are fluid documents. Okay? So telling me about a strategic plan isn't answering the detail that I would like
to see or hear from you relative to how you, at the head of the police department, will tackle crime prevention? What
crime prevention mechanism that you are going to put in place so that we have a reduction in our crime rate? That's what
I would like you to answer.
1:14:25
Well, that's what I was trying to answer, Senator. But still, no matter what, it goes back to a plan. and the plan is a
strategic plan as well as the plan for us for our violent crime strategy what you're to it in the simplest form to answer your
question it's all intel driven we need to find out who what when and where who are the players and we need to find a way
to go at these very same players in addition a lot of it also has to do with the fact that we need to as a department we need
to also get back to getting into the communities uh rubbing elbows with the communities we need to get back into the
schools we've already started that as well where we've we've just signed an mou with the department of education
regarding uh getting to our youngsters in the um at the junior high and the high school levels uh teaching them about um
any from from stuff moving from um conflict resolution right on up to teaching them about policing about laws uh you
know these are all aspects of it but as it pertains to reducing crime at this very second uh it's it's based on intel-driven
policing and problem-oriented policing where we're going at where find out who's who are committing the crimes okay
going directly i don't want my time to expire because i really wanted to understand from you your perspective relative to
crime prevention and you hit out about communities what are the hot spot communities have you identified that can be a
vehicle and in helping to reduce crime and to push your strategy that you talked about arbitrarily uh for crime prevention
what communities have you identified as a hot spots because you're you're going to be in a hot seat as well because crime
is one of the major concerns in our community we have an aging population and a lot of people are really in fear for their
lives so tell us what you what communities have you identified as those hot spots that you're going to be able to put
forward a crime prevention strategy and implement it in those communities that have been identified as hot spots two
minutes again senator on in the saint thomas district uh we have uh the ohc pmp we have um smith bay
1:15:42
uh bovoni the um you know these are some of the areas at tutu uh as well on st croix we've got cyan farm williams
delight mutual homes grove place those are all places you know kennedy Those are all places that we're taking a look at
right now that are some of our hotspots. Okay and so is it part of your strategy to put in place some MOUs with the
housing authorities as well as any home ownership association in those areas to actually look at crime prevention in those
areas yes or no senator yes we've been in conversations with the housing authority just most recently regarding MOU is
where they're actually providing us with space to have sort of substations in some of these very communities as it pertains
to the residential communities we have not met with them as of yet and simply that because we have not we're still
haven't completed the plan all right we still have to meet and sit down and to use the data that we have to create the plan
how are you collecting your data as far as habitual offenders and the like do you have a system in place that is a central
storehouse or warehouse for collecting data that you can share with other agencies or other entities or nonprofit relative to
the amount of crime and violent crime domestic crime that gun crimes that are being committed yes senator we do have
the Spelman system
1:18:32
which has those capabilities our collection as our collections right now are still slightly splintered. We're trying to narrow
them down so that we can do a lot better. We're not doing a good job right now with the data collection. We understand
that and we're moving forward on that. In addition, we're also working on a case management system and that also is
going to lead to very good dividends. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. I'll just wrap up I know my time was called I
want to again congratulate you on accepting this nomination from the governor I will definitely be looking forward to
working with you and your team in putting forward crime prevention activities especially in the Bovoni housing
community thank you so much mr.
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chairman thank you very much senator Joseph senator Johnson you're recognized for your seven minutes good morning
good morning thank you very much mr chair good morning to all my colleagues good morning to the viewing and
listening audience good morning commissioner nominee mr ray martinez how are you doing this morning i'm i'm doing
well senator johnson i i must say that i've had the opportunity of meeting you on a one-on-one i've also had the
opportunity of meeting you on a zoom meeting and i think in each each of those meetings i learned a little bit more but
we had a very what i would consider a man-to-man conversation we spoke about many issues in in our especially in our
101 and i said it straight to you that i you know received so many calls about your nomination i stand here today to say
that in each of the meetings i learned a lot more. And I think one of the questions I asked you, why this job? This is not
the easiest job on the market. It's the most difficult job. And I will start off by saying to you, thank you for your
willingness to solve in one of the hottest job in this territory at this time. I look at your, you know, your performance here
in this application, and you set some very high, high goals here. Your long-term obtain finance and planning for police
administration bill in each district. Increase police personnel by 35 percent. Implement crime strategy that reduce violent
crime by 50 percent. Reduce violent gun crimes by 30 percent in 10 months. Bring the CCTV and license in plate readers
in full operation in 60 days, centralize police patrol, and implement the 12-hour shift in 60 days. The reason why I call
these things out, this is what I would like to hold you to. And when I say that, I'm sincerely mean that if you could
complete a percentage
1:21:18
of each of these things that you outline here today, We'll be on a road to really good policing and changing the
demographic out there when it comes to crime and violence in this territory. My colleague asked you a question that I had
interest in, and I still will speak about it a little bit. We definitely have to get back to those days when a policeman will
see a group of guys and just stop and say, hello, good morning, good afternoon.
1:23:33
It makes such a difference in the communication and the information that the police will be able to get from the folks if
you start meeting them, knowing them, developing that confidence in them. It makes a total difference. The other thing,
as I listen carefully here today, you speak about going into the high schools. And I will say to you, go down from fifth
grade.
1:24:08
I had an opportunity of taking a group of prisoners and going to the schools, them, and speak to the students. And I
always target the high school. Someone said to me, come down to Clado Marco. I said, no, man, I really can't waste time
going there. And I took on the challenge. And I regret to this day that I didn't start going to those elementary school and
those smaller schools. Because this is where we catch a lot of them and change them and have them comfortable with
policing. Growing up in Frederickstead, going to St. Patrick's School, I remember Speedy Judge coming to the school
every day. And he walked around with a box of straw candies. And he would offer the girls a straw candy. And he would
pinch the boys them. And he always had a way to deal with the boys them that was different from the young ladies them.
And you remember police, and you remember police to respect them from a small age, from a very small age. So I would
advise you that you look forward in going into the school from those younger age.
1:24:38
I see that you speak about having the drones them. Do you have a maintenance plan in place for those drones? Yes,
Senator. that's a huge part of the drone policy okay because we don't want to bring in and that's have been one of the
biggest problem in government as a whole we get all of these are equipment and different things and and maintenance is
very low and for it to be effective and last we definitely have to make sure that we have that maintenance since taking
this position Commission nominee how is the officer morale? How are the morale? How are they accepting the changes?
Because there must be changes and people don't accept change that easily. How are they accepting the new style or the
way that you have been approaching this? Well, for the most part, Senator, I think that we've been well-received, not all,
of course, of our recommendations and our changes, are um are really uh freely accepted but as it pertains to just getting
out there and one of the the simplest things has been just reaching out to the officers and and the same thing that you're
you alluded to and so did senator francis about coming out and speaking with the folks on the street it's the same thing
that i found here in the department where uh i myself just had to go downstairs and come through the building and just
talk to the officers because that hasn't been done uh over time it was missing and that contributed to some of the um of
the lowering of the morale but i think that the morale is on its way up and uh and again and a lot of it just has to do also
with my mantra which is to be firm but fair your implementation of the annual vacation schedule how
1:25:44
is that going? And you think with the shortage of staff, would you be able to work that out to make sure that each officer
get that dual time that they definitely do need it? Yes. We're still in the drafting stages. The HR director and I have been
working on this for a couple of weeks. We're still obtaining some of the programs from other, the plans from other
agencies as well and at the end of the day senator is this you know we we speak to new graduation classes we tell them
they need to unplug from the vipd and you know they need to when they're off they need to do something different to
unwind but then we still turn around to those very same offices when they're hired and they're on shift and we tell them
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well you know because of personal shortages you can't have vacation for christmas new year's uh thanksgiving during the
hurricane season fourth of july carnival festival so but those are all the the the requisite family times so we just have to do
better and we have to do and it starts with our scheduling and uh and to move on it shouldn't it the the lack of or or less
personnel should not detour us and and if i may mr chairman i wrap up on this question thank you you spoke about three
new boats would that be sufficient what what would that turn your fleet of boat that the police department would have at
when with three more boats what would your fleet be looking like how many on each island would that bring you know
to current uh with the three vessels we're actually looking at uh we would have seven in place uh four on St. Croix and
three on St. Thomas you think that would be sufficient for a
patrol in your waters especially in a very active day when especially when we have carnival festival you know the marina
the marine life picks up a lot in those times you think there would be sufficient boat for you to monitor and patrol out
there it's not in a in a grand scheme of things it's not sufficient. However, with the personnel that we have and with our
ability to have joint operations with the Coast Guard, Park Service, and DPNR, it certainly helps us to sustain the and
meet the mandates. All right, thank you very much. Again, I say if you could just meet half of what you put in place that
you're holding yourself to, I think we'll be on the right track to carving crime and making these virgin islands a much
better place for all of us thank you again for your willingness to solve thank you very much thank you senator senator if i
may the um i did the reason that i one of the reasons i also took this job is because one of your colleagues uh i sat as his
special assistant and he made the office of the job of the police commissioner look so simple that um i thought i should
just go ahead and take a shot at it Thank you very much, Senator Johnson.
1:29:32
Senator, well, before we recognize Senator Payne, I'd like to recognize my colleague, Senator Samuel Carrion. Welcome,
noncommittee member, Senator Carrion. Senator Payne, you are recognized for your seven minutes. Good morning, Mr.
Chair and colleagues. Good morning, good morning, good morning. Good morning to the listeners and the audience.
Good morning, Commissioner Nominee Martinez. Before I begin my line of question, sir, you mentioned to my other
colleague from St. Croix that you have four vessels for St. Croix, you think maybe you could do three for St. Roy, three
for St. Thomas, and one for St.
1:30:48
John? Yeah, you are always trying to get me into this, it's the St. Thomas-St. John district. So the three for St. Thomas or
three for the St. Thomas-St. John district? ah good morning morning morning it's a beautiful morning commissioner um
nominee i have a couple of questions for you and all i want you to answer is yes or no okay all right okay number one do
you have any experience dealing with collective bargaining yes do you have any experience dealing with unions? Yes.
1:31:52
Do you have your leadership team in place? Yes. Do you have your leadership team in place on all three islands? Yes. Do
you have experience in working with the police department prior to your nomination? Yes. Do you have any experience
in creating or developing specialized units in a police agency? Yes. Do you have any experience in developing strategic
plans for a police agency? Yes. Do you have a plan to address the violent crime that's plaguing our community?
Definitely.
1:32:40
So you're saying on the record, on the oath, that you have a plan to address violent crime that's plaguing our community,
and we don't have to wait 24 months for you to attempt to figure out how to address violent crime across the territory?
Yes, Senator, I do have a plan. Okay. And I'm working on it. Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, I'll give you a chance to
delve into it. so you're saying that you came into this position from day one with a strategic plan no senator i didn't have a
strategic plan i had a plan as to how to move the department forward and to put in place those things that need to be put
in place uh with the crime a crime frightening strategy okay have you gotten input from your top brass in regard to your
plan to tailor it to become the vipd's plan uh yes we're working on it uh collectively and um day by day yes okay
colleagues and listening and viewing audience in the 33rd legislature i asked the police commissioner nominee these
exact same questions and he answered no to everyone That's why I was the only senator that voted no at his confirmation
hearing. He stated no to every single question I just asked his nominee. It wasn't personal, you know, because I had no
idea who his predecessor was. My vote was 100% based on his answers to all of my questions. It's obvious from his
responses and detailed testimony that Ray Martinez is and was the right person for this position. Ever since I was elected
in the 33rd legislature, I have personally had at least 40 conversations with the governor, some of them very heated in
regard to placing Ray Martinez at the helm
1:33:32
the VIPD and now publicly you all know why. He came to the position prepared. He had a complete team in place in
under 60 days on the job. That's unheard of. The officers across the territory finally feel that they have a leader with a
plan that they can actually follow. He's not hungry for power and or operates like a dictator he has given his top brass the
power to do their jobs and do it professionally he has placed persons in positions that they are qualified to hold that alone
has boosted morale he and his team have implemented an officer of the month program that has also boosted morale I
saw some officers last evening in the gym, and they were excited about possibly being named the Officer of the Month in
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the upcoming months.
And I'm sure across the territory, residents are seeing a police presence that they haven't seen in years. He has fostered a
very positive relationship with the Attorney General's office, and will never attempt to usurp her authority relative to
prosecuting cases in the territory. commissioner nominee as you know you have my unwavering support but let me ask
you please speak to exactly what you believe that intel gathering is a backbone of modern day policing one minute oh
senator if you'd into he as i said you know and i've promoted this motto for years he who has intel is king in other words
if you have the intel you know the who what why when and where and that's where you start that forms the basis of your
investigations it forms a basis of the opportunity for you for us here in the police department to start moving forward
against the individuals who are leading the charge of crime of violent crime that's plaguing our territory okay thank you
and lastly i intend to host and recruitment drives on all three islands to give you and your team the opportunity to speak to
about 150 individuals territory-wide what is your message to individuals who would like to pursue a career in law
enforcement as a vipd officer notice i said career not just a job in the simplest form because your time is nearly up come
on board the vipd needs you your community needs you this is a a great place to start and
1:36:48
maintain a career thank you for your response uh commissioner amani martinez you know you have my my unwavering
support. Mr. Chair, thank you very, very much for the time. Thank you very much, Mr. At-Lodge, Senator, Honorable
Senator Steven Payne. But I'm glad, I'm glad, Commissioner Nominee Martinez, when you were on a roll with a yes or
no questions, you were on a roll saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And I was pleased when Senator Payne asked you about a
strategic plan that you said no. Because truthfully and realistically, any leader coming to an organization, you're not
coming there with a strategic plan in your pocket. You come, you're exposed to the ups and downs of the organization,
you meet your people, you meet the folks on the ground who are doing the heavy lifting, you meet with your leadership
team, then you develop your strategic plan.
1:38:47
So he was kind of leading you down this line of questioning. And I expected to hear you say yes, but you said no. So I
appreciate that. Senator Genevieve Whitaker, you are recognized for your seven minutes. Good morning, Chairman.
Good morning to all my colleagues. Good morning to you, Commissioner Nominee Martinez. I'm going to- Good
morning. Yes. I just want to also share that I thank you for reaching out to me. We've had a couple meetings. Of course,
one of our first meetings concerned the cameras, because as the liaison to the Department of Interior, Office of Insel
Affairs, and performing that responsibility, one of the things that I do find throughout a number of government agencies
are gaps, issues with spending. I do want to say that I do really appreciate how you immediately responded. We got
behind this camera funding issue which was a snafu um in on both the bi pd's part as well as the office of interior it was
two-sided and i just appreciate you jumping in and to your staff for the dedication to moving that process forward um and
i know now we have good communication between the department of the police department and the department of insular
affairs the desk officer everyone to be in the same page so that's that's the good news and that just speaks about um at
least your ability to respond but i want to dive into an area because one of the important things as a responsibility as
senators we go through the nomination process we have to sometimes hit some areas that are not um they're not i mean
they're difficult right of course through the process um you fill out a questionnaire and in the questionnaire there you
know questions surrounding um you know your background of course as you gave but i want to just point into one
particular um issue on page Page 7 of the questionnaire, there's an indication that it was an internal affairs investigation
1:39:48
for a violation of policies, and that was back in October 2014, which resulted in a 10-day suspension. Of course, that was
years ago. How have, as you are vying for this position, what impact would that have on you, and what things have you
done correctively to address anything that has happened in your past, particularly as it pertains to the department? or if
you can you can be specific as to as much as you can as to what took place after that what what measures were taken
going beyond that time well again yes i did um i was suspended for uh 10 days uh to this date i um i'm not and will never
be in favor of the um of that suspension i think it was personal uh but it is what it is i served the um suspension it just so
happened that the suspension was served at the end of the outgoing administration and um within weeks of that the uh the
incoming administration as if as i was an exempt employee uh the incoming administration provided me with a two-line
letter telling me thank you very much for your services your exempt you work at the behest of the governor and i was
terminated so there was nothing for me to do as it pertains to uh changing or or even um uh you know as as it pertains to
changing any of that stuff well i would just say i'm just in a small point about the exempt that's something that we have to
work on legislatively um there's some real issues with this whole um exempt situation so you know i hear that you you
know were terminated but again it's just how is that how i'm just really indicating to you is that as you move forward how
that would impact you in
1:41:42
dealing with in going forward and um thank you for your response the other item i want to delve into um as you testify to
um and i just want to point out i'm hoping as we continue to go forward receiving testimonies the day before i mean i
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read fast i understand a lot of stuff but it's it makes it a little difficult at times but of course in preparing for this hearing
uh you indicated that you are a graduate of the federal law enforcement training center um i went through actually um the
site and i've kind of been you know a lot of perusing my way of background i have a lot of background in the criminal
justice area one of the things that i um wanted to flesh out was that specific training was that a training for support staff
or is that training that would prepare you to be a commissioner of the department uh senator that's a training that prepares
you to be a law enforcement officer that specific training is the basic training for federal for some 96 of the federal agents
that um under the federal system the um that is that class is equivalent to our police academy on the federal level.
So I would just encourage, of course, if you are successful, to continue in that vein. One of the things we do find is
people assume the commissioner director position and they don't continue in the necessary professional development.
There is professional development, even being the government of original houses, professional development to help you
lead and be strategic in your approach. One of the biggest things we have is the review of the Virgin Islands Code for our
department. What efforts have you started to go through all the criminal codes, all the provisions that the department has
jurisdiction over? I'll give you a good example. You and I had a, you know, when you called, when I spoke to you, I had
written a letter to you concerning the status of the process by which you get a gun license.
1:44:50
There's, the law says one thing, there's a practice that's going on, and I'm a very big person about let's follow the law, let's
amend it so that it works out, but practice shouldn't lead it. The law leads and practice follows. What steps have you made
to really review the federal codes and what efforts will you make to ensure that we are moving strategically, that policies
are promulgated in an orderly fashion? Well, to date, Senator, I have not made any steps towards reviewing the codes.
What I have done, for instance, in the particular instance of the questions that you raised regarding the firearms licensure,
I have taken a look at that.
1:45:39
I actually, as we speak, the department's legal counsel as well is taking a look at that particular set of rules and regulation
and those policies. I'm certain that in the near future, with you know as as for lack of a better term complaints uh arise
then of course i'll be having to um to take a look at some of the other um statutes as well that govern the policies and
procedures that we utilize well you could definitely count on this senator to help you with that because that's something
that when we can work together mull out the code see what we have to work on and fix and so i will definitely support
that um and just finally uh join with a lot of my colleagues as you also are aware i'm pushing on crime prevention i want
that we have here in the virgin islands an actual youth infrastructure that's properly stood up that we have a youth court
juvenile system which we don't have you know and for us to build that ecosystem and so i appreciate also when we've
met about that that we can move forward in that regard thank you so much for your answers thank you thank you
chairman much thank you very much senator whitaker i would like to recognize non-committee member senator viola
welcome senator viola um senator alma francis heiliger senator heiliger you are recognized for your seven minutes hello
hello good morning good morning to my colleagues good morning to the testifier um commissioner nominee martinez
good morning to the people of this territory um i have had an opportunity to speak to you prior and um i was very much
impressed with quite a bit of what you had said so um this is another bite at the apple to really get to know a little bit
more about you and your capabilities so that i could make an informed decision on behalf of the people of this
1:46:26
territory um earlier when we were speaking in regards to strategies have you identified any kind of specific like
evidence-based strategies that you can employ to reduce violent crimes here in the territory anything specific yes senator
the um so that the three uh three i should say four of the most uh influential if you will strategies that i am totally bought
into of course is the intel driven uh policing which means that we go directly at the um you know we take a look at the
collection of data analyzing data and then utilizing the analysis of that data to move us forward as to what we need to do
next i also uh i'm a great a huge proponent of problem oriented policing which means that this is where again it goes hand
in hand with intel if we have i think uh i don't i think it may have been senator um uh joseph who asked the question
about those areas that have issues those residential places have issues those are the areas where you utilize
problem-oriented police and we're doing that as we speak where we have officers in the smith bay area where we have
officers in the um in in uh the vicinity of ohc that are stationed there okay that's a part of problem-oriented policing
because again we knew there's an issue and we put it there as well i'm a huge proponent of hot spots policing hot spots
policing is where we go in and you know the guys are loitering on the corner as a result we're having you know
1:48:35
between certain hours of the night we have shots fired or we've got violent crimes or or robberies or stuff hot spot
policing mean we physically take our resources and place them there in patrol functions and as well the greatest of all and
it goes to something that uh senator whitaker uh asked when she spoke about the juvenile courts and the preventive
measures as well as such as senator joseph is focused deterrence because at the end of the day senator we cannot we we
will not we will never police our way or enforce our way out of the issues we have we have to come up with
community-oriented preventive measures but those are the are the uh are the strategies that i am most focused on thank
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you so much for that answer um one of the things that and i i know i touched on this with you personally before but i
want to um speak up to it again one of my biggest issues is the re-victimization of victims when it comes to them
interacting with the police department and one of my major issues that i have is when you do come to this police
department you have officers that are doing double duty where they're not only the administrative person but they're also
the one taking the report and one of the most feelings that you would have if you come into a department a police
department whether you have been a victim of a crime and you're trying to report that and an officer consistently has to
stop and interject while you're trying to say listen i just got robbed i just got um hurt somebody just attacked me and
while you're trying to express that an officer is saying hold on hi this is the vipd
stop and it's consistent can you hold please ma'am i need to transfer this call so it almost makes you feel like you're a
victim of a crime you're coming into the department for help and this officer is so distracted by trying to do the
administrative part you feel victimized all over again and that creates a disconnect as to why people don't even want to
come into the police department in the first place how do you plan on solving that because that is a major major problem
tele-serve our four-on-one system and what the tele-serve is is where we take a specific uh we're going to be reaching out
to our retirees we're going to be utilizing some of our community service officers or non-police our cso's uh utilizing even
officers who may be on light duty and placing them to be the ones to take those reports for you to even have the
opportunity for us we live in a uh in an electronic age to be able to file your um certain types of reports telephonically or
through the email so that's the m that's the emphasis of our telesolver 411 system if you are successful in this nomination
how soon do you think something like that would be able to be implemented uh for me uh i know that we're in speaking
with our mis director and some of the other um uh team the the heads of our teams uh that is something that would
probably take us uh in you know around nine or ten months it's not something we're going to be able to um to get in place
overnight but it is in fact a priority because what it does is it also releases us from having uh a uniformed a a well-placed
uniformed officer at a desk where instead of having them
1:52:12
on the road and so that is something it is a priority well i'm looking forward to seeing that happen and i think it would
assist with the community's interaction in getting help from the police department um with the increased use of
surveillance technology i know you guys had spoken about traveling to new york and you know potentially having a
whole partnership with them and understanding when dealing with surveillance how do you think this could potentially
reduce your staffing needs so that those staff could be utilized elsewhere for example like what we were just talking
about by using telephonic technology to help alleviate a lot of the police officers being stuck to some administrative
duties well i mean it's going to um it it is going to have a resounding effect senator you know right now because of the
numbers that we have every single officer that we can have out on the street or in the in our investigations bureau
following up on cases or in special operations you know on special assignments and initiative every single boot on the
ground uh assists us right now so whatever we can do to move forward to get our uniform officers from behind the desk
that's the priority it must be done good good um what are your plans to increase the effectiveness of our intelligence um
the intelligence section of the police department because you know that is data driven a lot of times when you're dealing
with intelligence you could literally interject and stop crimes in advance you could protect so i want to gear some serious
focus on that and what are your plans for that senator intel is my baby everyone in this department knows that that's my
baby i created our intelligence unit back in 2009 so that that's you
1:54:07
know this is something that's close to my heart and i think that in its simplest form one of the things that we have and one
of the things that i have now has is the opportunity to have funding available to do a number of things by taking the
governor and senator pay with me to new york what i have is the um the the governor's attention and he's already
approved the fact for us to have funding to bring together and to put together a true intelligence unit that's why we're
working on the mou with the um nypd as well i i want to talk senator francis your time was called but i'll but I'll let you
just complete your thought.
1:56:05
Oh, okay. I know I'm saying, Thomas, you can't hear clearly when you're on the video, but go ahead and just ask your
final question, and I'll get the commissioner to respond. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. My final question has to do
with employee morale because you were touching a little bit on not being allowed to get vacation time and all these
different things and how important it is to have a very balanced officer that is out there serving the public. Tell me if you
get all the things that you need or what is your strategy to really help beef up employee morale amongst police officers?
Being firm about fear, doing the right thing and ensuring that my chiefs and my deputies and the commanders do the
right thing.
1:56:47
And if they don't do the right thing, then I need to hold them accountable. The talk around here has always been that we
punish the officers and not the supervisors and the commanders, okay? Those are things. We got to be fair. If a
commander or a supervisor messes up and violates the rules and they should be punished, we cannot continue to punish
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the officers alone. That decreases morale in its simplest form, just being firm but fair across the board.
Thank you so much, and I appreciate your answers, and thank you, Mr. Chair, for your indulgence. Thank you very
much, Senator Francis Heiliger. Senator Carrion, you are recognized for your seven minutes. Good morning. Good
morning, Mr. Chair. Good morning to my colleagues. Good morning, Commissioner nominee, Mr. Ray, and good
morning to the viewing and listening audience. Hearing your testimony this morning brings a sense of hope, and as I hear
my colleagues question you based on what you've shared also brings a question of the matter of execution because at
times it's easy to put something in paper and to speak about it and share what those ideas or plans are but is the execution
of those plans where the challenge lies how confident do you feel that what you've shared today and what you so far have
are envisioning for the department you will be able to execute Commissioner nominee in a perfect world it would be a
hundred percent of course nothing is perfect so I would say that the I am confident, overly confident, that the majority of
the recommendations that I put out here, Senator, will in fact be accomplished. And again, and they'll be accomplished
simply because it's not about Ray Martinez accomplishing them. It's about Ray Martinez empowering the individuals
beneath him, empowering his executive team for them to be the ones to carry out their duties.
1:58:01
And that is where the success in accomplishing these recommendations is going to come. And again, it's not the Ray
Martinez Police Department. It's a VI Police Department. So I need everyone from the officer at the bottom right on up to
the executive team, to my assistant commissioners, to simply just do their jobs. I hear you. And that leads me to ask you
this other question based on your recommendations and what you've seen thus far and what your vision for the
department is. I want you to share with us here what are your three major challenges that you're foreseeing that will make
maybe this process of implementation and execution a bit challenging.
1:59:57
First and foremost, Senator, time. Okay? My timelines are extremely aggressive. And they're aggressive simply because I
fully understand that this position I'm in, I do not own this position, nor do I know what is going to transpire in the next,
you know, six, 15 or 16 months. But because I live here and because I am a perfectionist, I am moving aggressively to
reaching and to implementing these very recommendations. That's one. So time. The second thing, of course, is that
whether we want to speak it publicly or not, change is not always easily accepted. So there are individuals in this very
same department, for the most part, the majority of the department are going to go for the recommendations that are in
place because they understand that we need to have change to be able to move forward. But the second thing is there are
going to be folks who are going to attempt to usurp the success that some of these recommendations can make simply
because they are getting over with the status quo.
2:00:48
They do not want the status quo to change. And the third thing is the bureaucracy of government. And again, no one
wants to say it publicly, but a lot of the issues that we have sometimes are just based on bureaucracy, they're set aside,
and then we become frustrated and lose focus. So those, I would say, would be the three things, Senator. And since
you've mentioned those three things, Commissioner Namini, so I really want to hear now, how do you intend to
overcome these three areas?
2:02:11
um the um so as it pertains with time again the um stay remain focused I got to remain focused my executive team has to
remain focused uh so that's in it I can't simplify it any more than that as it pertains to you know as as it pertains to
changing the mindset of those individuals uh who want the status quo to remain, give them the opportunity, you know, to
give us the opportunity to sell them on the importance of change. Give them the opportunity to be heard as to why they
want the status quo to remain. And I mean to give them an honest opportunity, but at the end of the day, after giving them
that opportunity senator i will be the police commissioner here and they're either going to get on a train or they will get
off the track and lastly with the bureaucracy i have absolutely no idea how i will combat the bureaucracy because that's
not something that um that that just comes and goes and you know it ebbs and flows well i appreciate your candid
response and um i i was bring you down this line because you know these things can either make you or break you in
your role as a as the leader of that department and it's important for us to know that you are aware of what those
challenges that you maybe have faced and will continue to face are and what tools you have in order to overcome those
challenges if if you are successful we in this nomination. We want you to be successful in your role as a
2:02:49
commissioner because public safety it's important to all of us. Now you did mention prevention as one of the key
components and necessary crime prevention and I'm a strong advocate of crime prevention and we have a lot of
non-profit organizations that focus and their mission is to work exactly that. thus far have you had any meetings with any
of these organizations and what's the status on the Office of Gun Violence Prevention okay let me answer the
unfortunately I've not had the opportunity to meet with any of the nonprofits as of yet and again that was by design I did
not know when I first started this process as to how my nomination would be accepted by individuals both in the in the
34th as well as the um as just the public so you know i i utilize my time internally so um you've got to clean up your
house first before you want to go outside to start cleaning and other things. And so I haven't gone out to them yet.
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As it pertains, I'm sorry, if you can, tell me again the second portion of your question. The Office of Gun Violence
Prevention? The Office of Gun Violence Prevention. I have been a party to the interview process and with the assistance
of the Office of the Governor, and there are a couple more interviews that need to be had. Okay, thank you. And Mr.
Chair, if I may, lastly, what about the Governor's Advisory Council?
2:05:59
You would need to have the·it would behoove us to have the Office of Gun Violence in place with a director moving
forward before we even, in my opinion, before we even bring the Advisory Council together. And I can only assume, I
haven't had the conversation with Government House, but I assume that's why you haven't heard of any movement from
that council as well. Okay, I brought up since you mentioned in your testimony, so I was an impression that maybe
you've met with the advisory council or what's the status, if any members have been assigned to it thus far? No sir, I
haven't had any meetings, but in the executive order there was a list of agencies and nonprofits that are supposed to be a
part of it.
2:06:37
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Senator Carrion. Senator Viale, you are recognized for your
seven minutes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning to the people of the Virgin Islands. Good morning, colleagues.
morning Mr. Martinez. Good morning Senator. I know you just come in from LEPC and dealt with federal grants on a
regular basis within the Police Department, the Office of Highway Safety have irregular habit of not spending the monies
allocated to that particular entity.
2:07:24
How are you planning to get that fixed with the federal fund experience that you have? How are you going to
immediately get the office to begin to spend the federal funds and perhaps apply for some of those LEPC grants that you
were over before? Again, I have had several meetings with my financial team, including the federal grants coordinator as
well as the director of highway safety and i think that we're right now uh with the way that i want and i expect things to
um to occur that we're in a much better place today with the office of highway safety and our office of our grants office
regarding the hold up one second so you have given them the charge and you're going to immediately have a plan that
will be able to expend those monies Yes, sir. We don't have the plan in place, per se, but we've already began expending
those monies. The increase in patrols that you've been seeing throughout the territory are all utilizing federal overtime
monies, as well as the purchase of equipment.
2:08:07
okay thank you i i have i've heard you reference that um policing is not like 30 years ago i've heard you say that more on
more than one occasion but there's so much from 30 years ago you could learn and so much that should still be
implemented in the way that policing was done 30 years ago the ability to solve crime before we even had social media
are you looking at that era and taking the best practices from that era and then utilizing the best practices from now
because 30 years ago the virgin alice felt safer so the policing of 30 years ago had to be working agreed to some extent
yes uh but also the mindset of 30 years ago to the mindset of the youngsters that are committing these crimes now has
also changed senator so we got to take that into consideration uh and again so hold up there hold up there i'm glad you
said mindset a big part of the mindset is because when you commit a crime are you not caught it's a badge of honor so
you're able to kill somebody in broad daylight on camera and still walk around the empowerment that you have is
unbelievable 30 40 years ago that person would not have been walking around so we would not have had that mindset but
we have had individuals in the virgin islands four or five murders you know i i go to to to looking at and i was thinking
about photos that i've seen i saw a photo of the the guy from yam yam with the gun in his hand arrest warrant have never
been issued they said there's intel from island areas of the shooting nobody arrested gallusbee that have cameras all over
somebody was murdered in that parking lot no arrest how are we you don't have to be real specific but are we working on
identifying the individuals in
2:09:20
these photos so that yes we can issue arrest warrants yes we definitely are senator okay now Now, uniform policy. Is
there a uniform policy, officers mandated to wear uniform, or does uniform include t-shirt and everything else? There is a
uniform policy that speaks to varying portions of the uniform wear, depending on the assignment. Okay. Is it going to be
mandatory that if your officers are involved in any activity that has a certain percentage of individuals that they must
wear a uniform so that it's not a T-shirt and somebody don't know that that person is an officer when they're looking from
behind?
2:11:22
I'm not following you. If they are assigned to a uniform division and performing a uniform division task, then they should
be in uniform. That's not a question. Years ago, you go to the village, you could spot a police officer a mile off because
they have on the hat, they have on the uniform, so they were easily identifiable. Now, sometimes you have to watch twice
because they might have on a T-shirt, they have on a jeans. Are we looking at being able to make sure that our officers
are clearly identifiable when they're at an event? If they're on duty? Yes, unless they're assigned to a play as a part of a
play and close initiative.
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there should be something that readily identifies them as a police center and sometimes that is a t-shirt with the word
police in it i'm asking are they going to be mandated to wear the uniform uh that is a question i'll have to um to take a
look at the policy before i can even answer that i'm not aware you know verbatim as to what the policy is now in in
reference to i i i heard you speak about um if a supervisor does something wrong you will make sure that um that the
same policy that applies to the officers apply um to the supervisor and i applaud you for that but i have a i just a bit of a
different twist to this whole thing i i think we need we have a limited amount of officers and we need to make that we
support them. We need to make sure that they're given the proper guidance to be able to do the job. And we need to be
able to protect them. We have had a number of young officers who graduate from the academy within the first four or
five months. They get into an altercation trying to do the job where somebody is trying to assault them. They end up
protecting themselves.
2:13:03
They end up at times having to physically be able to protect themselves with somebody else, and then they're suspended.
You know, somebody drive them a hand, and they defend themselves, and then they're suspended. And then they're
suspended for an extended period of time, and then those officers leave. And those are some of the stronger officers that
are trying to make sure that we have law and order. and I really believe that this community need to go back to the point
where the respect officers know we just saw incident this weekend I'm not finished on it outside we just saw incident this
weekend we were at a local restaurant and somebody from the restaurant across the bar across came across to that to that
restaurant a fight started public safety responded within five minutes Three officers. The one officer was just speaking to
the guy that was in the fight. And as he turned, he said, the guy drive him. Two punch in his head, drive the officer. Two
punches in his head, bam, bam, the officer was just talking to him. No, two punch. The next two officers that were there
took the guy down, handcuffed him one time. I think the judge released a $100 bill. He punched an officer. We lose in
this community because the parts don't connect. You can't assault an officer and then be out on the streets the next day for
little or no money when the officer came and protected everybody. And we need to protect them officers. If them officers
have to do their job, protect them. I'm not saying any abuse. And the Virgin Islands have not had any of those policing
issues that the mainland have.
2:14:20
But we need to protect our officers, and officers need to be respected on the street, and we need to get respect back
without hearing about the consent decree. Utilize the resources that we have in this government to protect our officers
when they're doing the job to protect the Virgin Islands. If we have all of them free to do this, free to do that, crime is
going to continue to be rampant and out of control. So I ask you to protect your officers and protect your chiefs. Thank
you so much.
2:16:10
with thank you sir thank you very much senator viale senator gittens you are recognized for your seven minutes thank
you mr chair and good morning to all since you only gave us seven minutes i said let me just take some notes rather than
going based on what i actually wanted to go on Well, you know what, let me start by the previous speaker. As he often
said, and I totally agree, that committing a crime and not being arrested is like having a badge of honor. And I want to
add that arrests with measly bail and arrests with no swift action by our Attorney General's office and or the courts is also
a means of empowerment to these bandits. And it is high time for it to stop. because telling me that you can assault an
officer in public view and I'm hearing even one of my colleagues might have witnessed this you mean to tell me that you
could walk away with a hundred and one dollar bill totally ridiculous. Commissioner Namini Martinez once again thank
you for your courage to
2:16:38
step forward at this time to serve in the position that you have been nominated for i have publicly supported your
nomination but let me make it clear that does that does not let you off the hook with the direct questions that needs to be
asked you were formally nominated to your post one month or so ago being september 21st when that letter came from
the Honorable Governor Albert Bryan however what day or when were you actually named to the post as acting
commissioner July 13th so July so it's fair to say you've been on board at least about three months correct how long did it
take you to assess the department that you have worked closely with and always had close ties to that assessment
continues on a daily center wait I will never have concluded an assessment however for the initial okay hold on slow
down slow down so you have not concluded your assessment but you have no you have come to some uh assessment thus
far within the 90 days that you've been there most definitely so you said uh in your prepared statement that you believe
that you possess the knowledge and leadership abilities necessary to lead the vipd and with the blessings of your wife
your decision to accept the commissionership was not a difficult one correct that's correct
2:18:33
is your wife an employee of the virgin islands police department yes she is in what capacity police lieutenant good now
married couples within the department is not considered fraternization correct not not to the best of my knowledge good
because fraternization to in my opinion uh speaks to improper relationships would you agree yes good in your assessment
that's not completed but ongoing as you say have you came across any fraternization problems within the department or
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allegations? Allegations, yes, with them being an issue. Not that it has come to my office.
How do you intend to handle these types of uh allegations and sadly much of it starts even at the police academy but in
short how do you intend to handle uh this matter well again to we first of all have to ensure that we run uh thorough two
minutes uh complete and um and investigate and fair investigations utilizing our internal affairs unit I wanted you to tell
me that there would be zero tolerance that's what I wanted you to tell me I know what the process is I wanted you to tell
me zero tolerance I'm sick and tired of hearing it the chief sleeping with this body a citizen sleeping with that body the
cadre is sleeping with red red with a recruit etc I want you to tell me that it will be zero tolerance again senator while it
will be zero tolerance and it's it's much easier said than done to say that it will be zero tolerance you must run and
conduct the types of investigations that commissioner nominee commissioner nominee i understand that i just want to
know that from your seat that you're saying i will not tolerate this not to saying what happened under your watch you
know but that you will not tolerate it and once it comes to your level especially or to the chief level or whomever but
we're talking about you so forget the chief's level once it comes to your level that uh it will be dealt with immediately
that's all i want to hear
2:21:33
just like again when it comes to to arrests and whatnot uh i must say that i i like to see some of the initiatives taking place
and the guns off the streets and arresting these individuals now it's time to see our attorney general's office be more
aggressive with these cases and the courts taking swift action swift action now let's go to your questionnaire sections
three speaks to character Number one, question number one under section three for character, you responded yes, as to
having been the subject of an investigation.
2:23:20
Yet in section five, may I conclude, Mr. Chair? You may conclude, Senator. Yet in section five, job performance,
question number four, your response to being asked If you've ever been named as a party in any hearing, administrative,
et cetera, you responded no. Was this an oversight? Because by then you're getting tired with this questionnaire.
2:24:12
But was it an oversight? It was an oversight. OK. That happens to the best of us. Lastly, based on your assessment and
immediate actionable items, you spoke to redeployment of operations. However, your approach is the centralization,
bringing east and west together.
2:24:41
And like the former commissioner said, the numbers there don't change. So if you bring, not given that that's the exact
number, but if you bring in 25 from Christian said, or 25 from east and 25 from west and you're bringing them together,
the number still remains 50. So please explain how your centralization strategy will work, because again, we've discussed
this time and time again, and I continue to say that the redeployment strategy that we want to see will be more in a
proactive and preventive mode.
2:25:14
Redeployment of your resources will be key. So please, lastly, if you could just let us know how your centralization
strategy is intended to work. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, first of all, Senator, I truly appreciate the discourse that you
and I have had regarding this issue. and we're just going to have to agree to disagree as to just what the best deployment
strategy is as it pertains to my centralization by centralizing the areas we need to we centralize we bring everyone
together we don't we're not here with officers manning different stations and we continue to just utilize a maybe a desk
officer in a in a sub uh substation in a precinct we bring these officers to out under one roof and then redeployment
redeploy them right back out into specific sectors where they respond to calls for service based on their sector i would
really enjoy the opportunity for us to have and with the your colleagues for us to have even further discourse on this but
not in a part in a public setting and i and i respect that and look forward to that candid conversation of offline because
again although you see centralized colleagues again with you bringing 25 from east 25 from west the number still
remains 50 and although you bring them under one roof in a centralized location you still have to man those respective
zones that you're moving the personnel from thank you mr chair and again uh uh commissioner nominee martinez thank
you and congratulations uh thank you for accepting this challenge thank you thank you sir thank you very much senator
gittens um commissioner martinez yes sir building trust
2:25:56
First, building trust with the community is fundamental to effective policing. Building trust. For as long as I have known
myself, there has always been a lingering cloud of mistrust when it comes to the public's perception and interaction with
the Virgin Islands Police Department. Long before your time, long before any of the former police officers and
commissioners who are here in this body, I heard Senator Gittins mention something about the improper fraternization
and the likes. In saying that, in talking about trust, and listening to the discussion about improper fraternization, What is
your definition of ethics?
2:28:04
And is there, in your view, a correlation between police ethics and the lack of public trust in the Virgin Islands Police
Department? I know we had a very good and engaging conversation, I believe it was last week. But I wanted to ask that
question to you on the public record and get your feedback on that. What's your definition of ethics? And is there a
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correlation between police ethics and the lack of public trust in VIPD? Well, in its simplest form, I've adopted the
definition of ethics that I've adopted really comes from our police department, our police training academies. You walk in
there and there's a poster that says, ethics is doing the right thing when no one is looking. And I've adopted that as my
understanding, my definition of of of ethics uh is there a correlation with ethics with police um ethics and trust most
definitely and it is that you know and it is that issue that that has plagued us the department that is for years simply
because we have had hundreds of officers and unfortunately senator we just happen to live in a time where all of the good
that you do is usually and can be i should say uh overshadowed by the the issues or the um those things that one or two
do that are contrary to rules and law but i think in addition to that we have in the past just had officers who senator are
just and should not be on the force and those are the ones that we need to weed out whether we weed them out uh through
evaluations investigations or just making those tough decisions when we find that they're involved in certain um uh you
know illicit or or wrongdoings
and um so all of that builds senator towards the fact that there there appears and and at times not appears but there at
times are is this mistrust of the police department and a lot of it also as far as trust and uh and confidence and you and i
had the conversation where i said that is there mistrust with the police department yes definitely i will never hide from
them but i believe that there is a more of a lack of confidence in the department than there actually is mistrust and that
confidence lies on the fact that we have not done our best work in as as senator gittings and just about all of the senators
alluded to the fact that we can we need to do better when it comes to making a risk to investigating cases to following up
on cases and it's it's simply by just coming out and turning the windows down and saying good morning those are all the
things that contribute to the lack of confidence that then really is an overlay for the mistrust that individual speaker okay
thank you for your response i know we've heard a lot about community oriented policing over the years and it seems to
be uh some consensus and acknowledgement that that is the way to go and it is effective in terms of forging bonds and
building trust between law enforcement and communities. I have not really seen a lot of community-oriented policing in
the territory. I don't know if it's because there is a lack of manpower, and you're the subject matter expert who can talk
about that, but I can imagine. I live in Tutu Valley. I can imagine seeing a single mother living in a house down in the
valley who has a son who maybe is six or
2:31:14
seven years old who has a bike maybe the bike is there sitting he got his first birthday she has no way of putting a bike up
okay she doesn't know how to do it she doesn't have the tools I can imagine if we have in my fantasy police officers
walking the beat in Tutu Valley police officers seeing Miss Smith on on the side there with her son, the bike there in the
box for weeks. Ms. Smith, Officer Smith and Officer Talman and I are coming by there tomorrow and we are going to set
up this bike for Johnny. Things like that forges and builds relationships with the community.
2:33:07
It seems basic to me if something like this were possible to happen. Next time something happens in our community, Ms.
Smith sees something illegal and improper, Wouldn't she be much more likely to call you, a person who she trusts, who
she was able to build a relationship with? You came there out of the goodness of your heart. I mean, I am not seeing
anything like that happen. And I hear talk about community-oriented policing, but I haven't seen it. I have not seen it. Is it
just me? Am I seeing something different?
2:33:43
No. No, Senator. it's definitely not you. We have talked the COP concept for years, but we've never walked the COP
concept. We've used it more as a buzzword than actually as something that's tangible that you can actually put your hands
on or something that we need to do. And I think that these, And it's not just the COP concept, but it's the
problem-oriented policing concept and the traditional concept. And that's why I said that it's this multifaceted, Senator,
strategy that I want to implement.
2:34:21
We haven't done it, but we need to start doing those things. The dynamics of COP, POP hotspots, Intel-driven, traditional,
all of them need to be merged into one in this. And again, it goes to this multifaceted strategy I speak of. And then you
will start to see things like that. And we have to start under my leadership, Senator. You're not going to ever hear me
sitting here or in front of this body and make excuses that we were not doing it because of manpower issues. The
manpower issues that we have have been longstanding. So we need to find a way to work around it and to get these very
things accomplished. Thank you very much, sir. Final two questions. Are you familiar with the term Giglio?
2:35:06
Yes, I am. Okay. And Giglio for the general public's, what is it? That's for the general public's education. Giglio is,
certainly. So Giglio is a term that is utilized when officers have been engaged in some type of act, mostly in testifying
before the courts. And the courts make a ruling that that officer's testimony is not or will not be credible. The officer's
future testimony will not be credible.
2:35:53
Are there officers in VIPD that have credibility issues that may cause them to not be qualified to be called as witnesses in
court proceedings? no they are not you said no so are there any officers that have any giglio issues any issues yes yes we
have officers where they're in their files there is giglio type material that must be shared with the defense for instance
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maybe the officer was testifying or the officer was engaged in an action that uh may have been deemed to have been uh
unconstitutional uh or they or they made a statement that was uh may have been egregiously uh opposite of what the you
know other witnesses or other officers made however it is not everything in a file that is deemed to be giglio material or
by an officer having giglio material in their file senator does not mean that the officer is dirty nor does it mean that they
cannot testify or be a police officer okay i sincerely believe that a majority the vast majority not just the majority of all
police officers are ethical uh upstanding individuals um i believe that i would like to see a stronger a cadre of mid-level
managers who can be good role models for these young police officers who are leaving the police academy so that they
are positive, strong examples on the force as to how to do their job in an ethical and upstanding manner. Not necessarily
officers who are telling them how to beat the system, how to manipulate over time the like I you know that's me on the
outside looking in I think building a
police department really starts with building a strong core management team mid-level managers and up you can't be
every place at the same time and they are definitely essential the people on the ground who are doing the heavy lifting
who will determine the success your success your failure all of us are behind you as commissioner when you succeed and
do well it means that the virgin islands from a crime situation is doing well so i i just want to give you um you know best
wishes best of luck if there's ever anything that i can do or this body can do we are here for you i want to put you on a
little caution this body has four or five police officers four or five but ultimately You are the subject matter expert who
was appointed to serve as police commissioner.
2:38:40
So while you can get advice and suggestions and all of that, it's advice and suggestions. Ultimately, it is your call as the
head or the chief ranking law enforcement officer once you pass the confirmation process. Commissioner Martinez, thank
you very much for your time. Thank you, sir. Point of inquiry, Senator, Senator Nouvelle-Francis, you recognize me,
your point of inquiry. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
2:39:41
I just have two quick questions that I'd like to ask. And Mr. Martinez, as you know, I've been in the police department, I
did my 25 years, and I retire, and I have no interest in going back. And I don't wanna run the police department, I
certainly want you to do the job of running the police department. I wanted to ask you, what are you gonna do in terms of
providing for training and building the confidence of our young police force? quite often you hear where officers, when
they hear calls for certain things in progress, they're seen going in the opposite direction.
2:40:08
And that is very demoralizing to other officers as well, who have to then respond to these calls for service. Have you
heard about that? And how would you handle that type of situation? uh senator yes not only have i heard about it but you
know in during my original tenure i have seen it i've experienced it the um so it does exist and it goes back to my earlier
statement about cleaning up uh our house first before we want to go out to um to start cleaning up the streets even know
that we have to to run both of them parallel but um the to address that again it starts and and senator patter touched on it
and um you know and senator francis again you are quite aware you've you've held a number of positions here it all falls
back on our middle managers it falls back on our supervisors and them following through doing their due diligence and
holding everybody holding all of our officers accountable and if in fact it is the supervisors that are running going the
next way then it's the commanders and the deputy chief and the chiefs who need to hold those individuals accountable
this all starts with accountability very well and my final question to you is is in regards to our special operations team
swat unit i believe that that will help to build confidence because they know that they have help on the way what is your
position in regards to reactivating your special operations team we've started already senator as a matter of fact um i have
um uh the especially here i'm sorry in the saint thomas
2:40:45
district we have um you know our uh our special operations team has really dwindled down we've selected i think it's
maybe uh 10 to 12 young vibrant energetic officers we're training them in-house on a weekly basis to the point where i
have um directed the um the chief of police to ensure they're provided with the um the time to go out and start that
training now saint croix we're doing a little a much better job because our numbers are um are a little bigger but it's about
getting them the preparing them for certification uh you and i both know that as you stated that special operations and
understanding that they're coming out does in fact empower some of our younger officers to um to want to engage
because they know they have that backing and that is something that we need to continue to push thank you very much
Senator Villa, you're recognized for your point of inquiry. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
2:42:33
Commissioner Namine Martinez, do we have GPS installed in all the cars? Yes we do. We have, there are GPSs in 84,
sorry, 88 of our vehicles, those GPS are 100% functioning. 88 of how much of a hundred and I think about a hundred and
thirty vehicles when do we plan to have all hundred and thirty vehicles installed with GPS so that at all times you can
know exactly where offices are the um I couldn't give you an exact time frame for when we're going to um to have those
GPS is in in every vehicle because there's some of the vehicles that are going to be taken offline in december when our
new fleet comes in senator you have a target date i'm just trying to get a target so that what the previous uh senator spoke
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about uh no longer occurs if you know that um somebody is on a 12-hour shift if gps are installed in all of the cars you
can tell as to whether or not the car was parked for a long period of time or what another car was moving most definitely
and again the um the the target date i would say is once the um the new fleet arrives uh we're looking at um at probably
january or so before we have all of the um you know january before we have all of the gps's installed and on top of that
senator the uh one of the things in preparing to come here as i i figured you would ask a question i actually was updated
just yesterday regarding a gps because i require the gps to be working as well because that's a huge part of the um
real-time crime center because what occurs with that is
once we get the center in place the very same gps that you've been um pounding home to us are going to be a great part
because we can actually dispatch uh vehicles to cause for or units to cause for service uh and expedite that um that
response based on which vehicles or which units sorry are actually closer thank you very much point of inquiry senator
carrion quickly uh commissioner nominee uh i know we are also aware of the links between violent crimes and animal
cruelty and studies have shown that the link between those uh my question is what is the status of the ipd with the cruelty
animal cruelty division it's my understanding that those officers have been reassigned what's the status with that sir uh
senator i i um that is a question i can't answer right now i would have to get back to you on that i know we've got on one
or two individuals on saint croix i can't tell you what the status of their assignment is and on saint thomas we have one
and that individual was out for quite some time okay can you provide that information through the through share we
really appreciate that most definitely okay thank you very much colleagues we have exhausted our seven-minute rounds
prior to asking for motion I will ask madam clerk to please read the letter of I believe a letter of support for Senator I
mean Commissioner Martinez letter for the favorable approval for nominee mr. Ray Martinez for the Virgin Islands
Police Department it is with great pleasure that I submit this letter of
2:45:40
recommendation for the favorable approval for the nomination of mr. Ray Martinez to fill the position of police
commissioner I met mr. Martinez back in 1995 when he was appointed by the former governor Roy L. Snyder to serve as
a member of the Public Employees Relations Board. I was profoundly impressed by this young bright and very articulate
man who was a firefighter with the VI port authority who wanted to make a difference in this community. Mr. Martinez
served both as a board member and the executive director of the Public Employees Relations Board. He was later tapped
by a former governor lieutenant Governor Luz James II to serve as his special assistant he joined the Virgin Islands
Police Department where he served as the special assistant the former police commissioner Elton Lewis he then serves as
the director of internal affairs and as a director of the intelligence unit of the Virgin Islands Police Department Governor
Bryan appointed Mr. Martinez to serve as the director of the law enforcement planning commission where he made a
significant difference he is now before this body as a nominee for the position of police commissioner a job that I know
that he will execute with fidelity wisdom and humility I speak as a former employee of the Virgin Islands Police
Department and I can speak with confidence of the rigors of the job of police commissioner the job is a challenge and it
requires an individual who has tenacity who is knowledgeable, articulate, compassionate, has an understanding of his
goals and his ability to relate to all persons at all levels. I have spent many years working with Mr. Martinez to recognize
that he has the requisite temperament, skill, and academic qualifications, experience, and qualities that I have already
stated. The role of the police commissioner is to be the lead administrator of the department. He does not do the job of the
chief of police who is responsible for police operations. The commissioner sets the policies of the administration that are
executed by his staff. Mr. Martinez has served in numerous high-level positions that have prepared him to assume the
responsibility that this job presents. It is important to consider the fact that the strong leadership qualities that Mr.
Martinez possesses inspire individuals not only to respect the leader but to work along with the leader the community
should have an individual in the position of police commissioner who
2:47:36
can respect have the confidence in and who will demonstrate his commitment to the safety and well-being of all residents
there is no question in my mind that mr. Martinez and his team will make a difference within our community the
responsibility falls on all of us to give him the support and prayers and confidence for him to function efficiently. I hope
that this body will give him their vote of confidence and their full support so that our community can progressively see a
significant decrease in all categories of crime. Please take note that I speak in my individual capacity as an officer of the
Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands and not on behalf of the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands. Sincerely, Reese
E.S. Richards, Vice State Chair, Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands. Mr. Chairman, that ends the reading. Thank you
very much, Madam Clerk. Colleagues, we've exhausted this process. Do I hear a motion? Senator Payne, you're
recognized for your motion. Thank you, Mr.
2:50:18
Mr. Chair and colleagues, I move that the governor's nominee, Ray Martinez, as the commissioner of the Virgin Islands
Police Department, be favorably voted on by this committee and forwarded to the full body for further consideration. I so
move. Properly moved by Senator Payne, seconded by Senator Francis and Senator Johnson. Roll call on the nomination
of Mr. Ray Martinez to the position of commissioner of the Virgin Islands Police Department. Senator Norville E.
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Francis, Jr. Senator Francis, Jr., yea. Senator Kenneth L. Gittins.
Senator Kenneth L. Gittins, yea. Senator Franklin D. Johnson, yea. Senator Johnson, yea. Senator Karla Joseph, yea.
Senator Karla Joseph, yea. Senator Steven Payne, yea. Senator Payne, yea. Senator Milton Potter, yea. Yes, Senator
Potter Yeh, Senator Genevieve Whitaker, Senator Genevieve Whitaker not voting. Mr. Chairman, you have six yays, one
not voting.
2:52:10
Thank you. Colleagues, the nomination of Ray Martinez to the position of Commissioner of the Virgin Islands Police
Department has been favorably considered by the Committee on Rules and judiciary and will be forwarded to the full
body for further consideration congratulations commissioner martinez now we're going to offer you 30 seconds to just
give a wrap up oh yes thank you senator and um you know again i'd like to thank governor bryant for showing the
confidence to um to nominate me to this position to appoint me to this position and i also appreciate the um the questions
from this body as well as the votes of confidence to move my name to the next level uh to the officers and civilian staff of
the department and look forward to being your police commission and moving our department forward thanks again
senators for the opportunity to appear before you today thank you conventional martinez and and congratulations, you're
officially released from this session.
2:52:42
Thank you, Senator, have a good day. Thank you, you too. The Committee on Rules and Judiciary stands in recess for
two minutes. We'll be right back. Thank you. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. We'll be right back. Thank you.
We'll be right back. Thank you.
2:53:54
The Committee on Rules and Judiciary meeting is now back on the record. Mr. Clerk, can you please proceed with
reading the items in block number two? Block number two, the UVI Board of Trustees, renomination of Oren Roebuck.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Ms. Roebuck, and welcome. Hello, good afternoon.
2:58:47
All right, we are seeing you, and I think we are hearing you clearly. So we will go ahead, and first of all, Thank you very
much for accepting the task of, I guess, the renomination to the very important government board of trustees at the
University of Virgin Islands. We will ask you to go ahead and proceed with your testimony at this time. Thank you. Good
afternoon, Honorable Chairman, Senator Milton Potter, and the distinguished members of the committee on rules and
judiciary of the 31st legislature of the virgin islands and other honorable senators present my name is oren c roebuck i
appear before you today to seek your consent of my renomination by the honorable albert brian jr to serve on the board of
trustees of the university of virgin islands for a second term as a proud ubi alumna i am honored by this nomination and
humbled by the governor's confidence in my professional abilities to again serve in this fiduciary role i have thoroughly
enjoyed the last five years of service to the university and it has been an honor to work alongside such a distinguished
panel of leaders i would like to take a moment to recognize the board chair judge henry smock for his 20 plus years of
service on the uvi board his principal leadership commitment and vision has cultivated many of the university's most
significant achievements and i look forward to continuing our work together i also wish to recognize board chair emeritus
dr alexander a moorhead who i succeed as the vice chair of the board and chair of the finance and budget committee
clearly his are very large feet to fill dr moorhead's meticulous attention to detail and diplomatic leadership qualities are
attributes i strive to emulate these men have cultivated a platform of excellence discipline professional decorum integrity
and commitment that will foster the
2:59:29
growth of the university for decades i also wish to take a moment to publicly acknowledge and thank the members of my
family, colleagues, and inner circle of friends who provide me encouragement and crucial support to allow me to
continually serve our community. To my mother, Juanita Roebuck, thank you for your discipline, thank you for your
love, for your support, and your commitment to my educational and career achievement. Thank you to my children,
Kiora and Mbiko who have endured numerous sacrifices while I developed my career and participated in community
initiatives. I love them immensely and I'm extremely proud of the adults they are. I pray that I've given them the
foundation to realize their dreams and full potential. My son Mbiko is currently a student at the University of Virgin
Islands so my dedication and service to developing this institution of higher learning is personal. My relationship with
UVI started in my sophomore year of high school when I was enrolled at a part-time student and attended college classes
at the end of my school day at St. Joseph's. After graduation, I was fortunate to transfer 15 college credits to Rutgers
University to begin my freshman year.
3:01:51
upon graduation from rutgers i was a recipient of the rum industry scholarship and returned to uvi to complete my
master's of business administration the attentive faculty and staff at the university of virgin islands gave me a sound
educational base on which to build my professional career uvi has played a pivotal role in my success I currently serve as
a Senior Vice President and Region Manager of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands Region. In this role, I
manage the largest commercial banking portfolio in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. I have over 30 years of effective
leadership experience in organizational development, risk management, and strategic financial planning. i am also deeply
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committed to serving our community through my volunteer work with junior achievement virgin islands the st croix
junior bowlers the lord god of sabbath lutheran church alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated and boy scouts of america
troop 7227 when i appeared before this body five years ago to seek your consent and confirmation of my appointment to
the uvi board i pledged to be an active and contributing member of the board i pledged to work harmoniously with all
trustees to maintain the highest level of ethical standards to be a proud ambassador for the university and to utilize my
skills and knowledge to help the university achieve financial strength and stability i believe i have held true to that pledge
i have worked diligently with the board and the administration and together we have achieved numerous successful
milestones in the journey to make ubi the premier university of choice several accomplishments i'm most proud to have
collaborated are are the following successful completion of the middle states commission of higher education
reaffirmation of accreditation of the university in 2017. Soon after we celebrated our reaccreditation in 2017, Hurricanes
Irma and Maria had a devastating impact on the territory and the university campus.
3:05:07
But through innovation and pure perseverance, UVI resumed classes within weeks of the impact and successfully
completed the fall semester. The Board of Trustees also persevered and promptly resumed our business on september
28th just eight days after hurricane maria the executive committee continued to meet weekly to support the recovery and
by october 21st the board of trustees held its regular schedule meeting the dedication and commitment of this board is
undeniable in 2017 the university also implemented an online degree program in partnership with grantham university
and level playing field the online program is accredited by the distance education and training council and it is now
administered 100 by uvi faculty and staff The Board of Trustees also approved a five-year strategic plan, Greatness
Through Innovation, for the period 2018 through 2023. The Board actively monitors key performance indicators linked to
this strategic plan, with focus on recruitment, retention and enrollment, academic achievement, academic quality and
development.
3:05:50
In 2019, as legislated by this body, the University successfully implemented the Virgin Islands Higher Education
Scholarship Program, which provides every territorial high school graduate free access to higher education at the
University of the Virgin Islands. This program distinguishes UVI as the first historically Black college and university to
offer free tuition thank you to this for this truly transformative legislation and your unwavering financial support of uvi
during my first term on the board the university added 12 new degree programs in the fields of physics science
technology communication marine science agriculture social work fine arts mathematics and others geared towards
filling demand occupations within our territory and the wider caribbean uvi opened the inclusive child care laboratory
and diagnostic center on the orville ken campus and a similar center will open shortly on the Albert A. Sheen campus.
These centers provide the multipurpose of delivering research opportunities, practical teaching modules, and vital child
care services to the student community. This project is a true example of how the university can impart innovative
programs and initiatives to serve and expand educational research and economic growth within the territory as chair of
the planning committee i used my experience and lessons learned in the private sector to enhance the university's
institutional risk management plan we focused significant attention to evaluate and expand the university's list of
identified risk assessment tools mitigation
3:07:18
planning and monitoring under the main categories of operational risk, legal and regulatory risk, financial risk, and
reputational risk. The exercise of identifying and planning for potential risk is vital to sustaining the reputational and
financial stability of the University. The University also extended memorandums of understanding, establishing higher
education partnership programs and special tuition rates for students from additional entities of the organization of
Eastern Caribbean states to include the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, antiga and barbuda dominica and st vincent's and
the grenadies uvi continues its outreach throughout the caribbean to be the leader in regional education annually the
board approves the university's fiscal year operating budget and we have successfully navigated numerous budget
adjustments and constraints to accommodate reductions in our admins during the period fiscal year 2017 through 2020.
We did this without reducing headcount, without cuts to staff salaries, and most importantly, without compromising
academic delivery.
3:09:25
I was privileged to have voted with the Board to approve recommendations for five faculty tenures, granted emeritus
status to five faculty members and conferred 19 honorary degree awards to such notable dignitaries as supreme court
justice sonia sotomayal honorable loretta lynch attorney bakari sellers dr rafael warnock and dr iyanla vanzan but i am
most proud to have cast my vote to bestow honorary degrees to such notable fellow Crusions who directly impacted my
life as Dr. Stanley Jacobs, Dr. Richard Trotta, Dr. Simon B. Jones Hendrickson, Dr. Alexander A.
3:10:58
Moorhead, and the late Senator Holland Redfield. I supported the expansion of the University of virgin island center for
excellence in leadership and learning ubi cell to meet the continuing education needs and support workforce development
within the territory today ubi cell offers both in-person trainings and over 500 online degrees programs sorry online
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programs in health care education entrepreneurship regulatory compliance accounting and finance real estate grant
writing tourism and hospitality osha culinary arts and so many others and finally i am especially proud that u.s news and
world report ranks ubi the number seven top school among southern regional colleges in its 2021 best colleges list this
ranking compares ubi to u.s colleges and universities on 17 measures of academic quality this is a true testament to our
competitive standards quality education and commitment to excellence in academic achievement There are so many good
things happening at UVI, and I am so proud to be a contributor. The University of Virgin Islands' mission is to educate
and empower the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Caribbean, and the world through an environment that promotes creativity,
innovation, and excellence in teaching, student learning, research, and community engagement.
As Chair of the Finance Committee, I am committed to ensure the University maintains the financial resources to invest
in development and expansion of distinctive academic programs to meet the needs of the Virgin Islands Committee and
the wider Caribbean. I personally contribute each and every year to the Development Fund. I also lobbied my friends,
families, colleagues, and my employer to donate to the annual campaign. This year, I, along with Senate President Donna
Fred Gregory, joined Dr. Hall to proudly accept an endowment award of $50,000 from our sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha
Sorority Incorporated, as part of our national HBCU for Life campaign. We know the value of HBCUs, and we are
committed to investing our resources to sustain their legacy. Moving forward, if confirmed, I will work with the
administration and the board to achieve the following short-term goals.
3:13:37
Opening of the School of Medicine Simulation Center on the Albert A. Sheen campus. complete the planning, attain
accreditation, and open the UVI School of Medicine, which will be the first English-speaking U.S. accredited medical
school within the Caribbean, and the first HBCU medical school established since 1975. I will work to develop a
state-of-the-art facility to house our school of nursing and i pledge you to launch an aggressive campaign to reclaim and
retain our student base i'm sure you've been hearing my voice i am deeply passionate about the university of virgin
islands i want uvi to be the premier university of choice distinguished for providing an affordable educational that's
accessible to all and offering the most relevant academic programs to strengthen our workforce and the most recognized
research and development opportunities today i humbly ask for your vote to confirm my appointment to serve as a trustee
to the board of the university of virgin islands and allow me to continue to work collaboratively to achieve these goals i
thank you for this opportunity and I am available to answer your questions thank you very much for your very
comprehensive presentation and just for full disclosure I know I'm acting as though I don't really know I don't know Oren
Robach, but she was my first boss in the executive branch.
3:14:49
Although she's a lot younger than me, she's way, way younger than me, but she was in fact my first boss when she was a
chief negotiator at the Office of Collective Bargaining. She was always a very level-headed, a very driven, very
level-headed, a very talented and fair-minded individual. And just right out the gate, I'd like to say that we are very
fortunate, the University and the people of the Virgin Islands are very fortunate to have her in this very important role on
the Board of Trustees. Having said that, colleagues, we will proceed with a four minute round.
3:16:41
senator francis you're recognized for your four minutes thank you very much mr chair and good afternoon to the
renomination of miss robach how are you doing today i'm doing well good afternoon senator very well before we're
going to talking about uvi I want to thank you again for your ideas, suggestions, and in naming the casino commission
after the Judge Eileen Peterson, and we were able to do that yesterday, and certainly I was delighted to be a part of that
process, and I want to thank you for that. So yes, I hear the passion in your voice, and I want to thank you for your
contribution to the University of the Virgin Islands, our hometown. higher institution higher learning institution and you
seem to be having and enjoying your tenureship over at the university and that is that is commendable um thank you for
your enjoyment your engagement and everything that you're doing to you know move the university along what is it and i
know you talk about a lot of um pleasurable moments here but what are you most proud of in terms of of your tenureship
over at the university of the virgin islands serving on the board well first of all thank you uh senator francis for uh
moving forward legislation uh to honor my aunt the honorable eileen peterson and thank you for your confidence in me
in my
3:17:20
first term serving with the university i think what i'm most most proud of is the university continues to grow if you have
ever sat in on any of our board meetings we start out the meeting with the president's report and it's amazing to hear the
successes of our students our faculty our staff and the administration in moving the university forward there is never a
period when we are stagnant we are innovative we have been able to adapt quickly to changes following the hurricane
following the onset of covid we did not miss a semester we did not close and we we continue to deliver academic
excellence.
3:19:11
What is the frequency of meetings? And I know that you're on a very tight schedule in terms of your responsibilities over
at Banco Popular, as well as your personal life. What is your, what is it like in terms of the meeting? How frequent are
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the meetings over at the university? And talk about a little bit about your attendance record. um the meetings of the full
board of the university are three times per year uh in between that time various committees meet to review policy and
work within their scope of responsibility i have served on the planning committee as chair and currently i am serving on
the finance as chair of the finance and budget committee there and we meet i i would say twice um every quarter seconds
and then your meetings in between that i have with um the dr hall i also serve on the executive committee so i i engage
maybe uh a good 10 to 20 hours of service monthly to the university okay my time is running um closely but i wanted to
hear about some of the infrastructure improvement especially in your role as the um chair of the finance committee what
is what are some of the plans to address some of the infrastructure improvement over at the st croix campus okay so also
the infrastructure improvement is monitored and managed through our building and grounds committee i will say from
the finance committee aspect we ensure that there
is sufficient funding to provide if there is a need for to engage debt to continue progressing on the infrastructure
development right now most of what's pending is already funded through either fema or disaster recovery funding so i i
do not manage or oversee those responsibilities very well thank you for your responses my time i've been called but you
could rest assured i don't say this too often you have my full support in moving this nomination forward um i think you
have done a excellent job and i know that you'll continue to to do that job on the behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands
and St. Croix in particular thank you very much i'm mr chair for the time much appreciate thank you very much senator
francis senator joseph you are recognized for your four minutes a pleasant good day and miss oren roebuck i want to
really commend you for again putting up your heart to be a part and a nominee for the University of the Virgin Islands
Board of Trustees. I really think it's commendable all the work that you have done and also I want to applaud you for
your steadfast activities as well as commitment to the Board of Trustees. I am very pleased to see that you're an alumnus
of the university and you have not just stood aside as an alumnus but you have gotten involved and currently you serve as
the vice chair of the board of trustees so I really applaud you. I want to ask you some questions relative and this is
3:21:57
this is a really hot topic relative to the stance and the mandate that the university took pertaining to the COVID-19 and
wherein they mandated that all students and faculty had to to get vaccinated to continue to work, as well as to continue to
enroll. I know some students could also study long distance virtually, but tell us, how has that impacted the university and
of course your ideal that the university should become the premier college or university of the Caribbean region.
3:23:59
Thank you, Senator. A part of being a premier institution of higher learning is to provide a space that is conducive and
safe for learning. So I endorse, I voted in favor of the university's policy. It was a board decision. It was not a decision
that we took lightly. We received input from the faculty and staff, as well as had a vibrant discussion with the Department
of Health and experts in the health field before we came to that decision. Yes, it has impacted enrollment somewhat, But
we still have avenues for students to continue their education with our online offering and be mindful that the university,
like all other colleges and universities in the United States, always had a vaccine mandate.
3:24:56
We simply added the COVID-19 virus vaccination to the list of mandated vaccines. so a simple answer to your question
is if we want to be the premier institution of learning we have to maintain an environment that is safe and conducive to
academic success thank you 30 seconds now i want to ask you just about the planning aspect that you are heading up or
you were heading up what is on the horizon for the School of Medicine I know it's already or constructed I see the
building so tell us on the you can conclude because I'm sure my time is going to run out on the chairs time what is the
plan and when can we see it operating when is it going to be operable thank you senator there are several milestones that
have to be reached before we can actually admit students and operate the first of which major milestone is to attain
accreditation and at this juncture we are preparing our application for accreditation we hope that it will be submitted in
November to the accreditation team and then move through the evaluation process so while we do have a facility and the
facility still has some work to do it is not completely ready we anticipate and we are hopeful that we will be successful in
the accreditation process we can then bring on staff during 2022 finalize curriculum and hope to start admitting students
by the year 2023 thank you so much ms roebuck my time has been called
3:26:01
i really thank you i look forward to the school opening i as well thank you very much senator joseph um senator johnson
you're recognized for your four minutes good afternoon thank you very much mr chair good afternoon to my colleagues
and good afternoon to the viewing and listening audience and good afternoon to mr obak how are you doing today i'm
well senator good afternoon i'm gonna start out by making you comfortable and then probably a little uncomfortable the
comfortable part is you have my support you have my vote the uncomfortable part is i i I too is not in fully support of the
mandatory vaccinating. I am I'm vaccinated but I was uncomfortable with that that decision that the board made but we're
gonna agree to disagree based on our differences in belief and that holds no difference between us at all but I just wanted
to put it on the record because I think it's it have created some hardship along the way with some of your professors who
is strictly what you would call people that believe in bush medicine, people that believe in other remedies. In fact, one of
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the employees I spoke to, he said he hasn't seen a physician in over 10 years. He went to these bush doctors and people
with that type of medical belief. what's your take with the decision and how is it going in the university as far as staffing
and probably going to lose some of your most experienced staff in the agriculture area department what's your take with
that so far thank you for your honesty and being candidates candid senator the university is a community and when we
are part of a community we have a responsibility not just to ourselves
but to the community on which we live and that was my base for making the decision and i must emphasize again it was
not a decision taken lightly but it was a it was an informed decision that we made with a lot of information that was
provided not just from the faculty and staff themselves but also who overwhelmingly support the mandate but also from
health officials i will say that the policy does have respect for individuals medical exceptions and religious exceptions
and we are in the process of preparing to hear give if opportunities an opportunity to defend their position that may be in
opposition of the mandate and uh consider that we want to be respectful of all individuals of all beliefs uh at the same
time we we do have to maintain a safe environment if i may action if you can answer have anyone been dominated based
on this policy thus far uh not that i'm aware of no You have done an excellent job working during the past five years, and
there's no doubt that you have contributed and gone the extra mile for the University of the Virgin Islands. Where do you
think you need to apply your strengths to improve what is lacking with the board or the university as a whole?
3:30:09
Definitely the strength that I offer is in the planning organization and particularly with emphasis on financial strategic
planning I have recently asked the administration to work on a debt policy that would outline how the university assumes
additional debt and sets the limit on the debt capacity of the university so that's definitely my area of strength the
financial planning organizational planning and i hope to lend more of that uh support through my chairmanship of the
finance committee mr chief may i wrap up with two more questions where do you see the uvi in the next 10 years well i
dream big so i definitely see uvi operating a meds medical school that uh rises in rank to be recognized as one of the
leading medical schools in the united states i see our enrollment over 4 000. i see us developing additional satellite
campuses in the wider caribbean so i dream big thank you very much i want to say thank you very much for you willing
to serve and serving and and I quite tried to see much bigger and better things at the university thank you very much
again for your service thank you very much thank you senator Johnson thank you very much Senator Payne you're
recognized for your four minutes thank you for the time mr. chair and I really appreciate all you recognize that at large
that i'm entitled to an additional two minutes to my time i mean that that's heartfelt i appreciate you sir good morning mr
robert how are you today good morning good afternoon i'm doing well i'm glad to see i was able to make you smile a
little bit man because i know sometimes how these uh events can be um i'm gonna just ask you one question about the the
vaccine mandate uh was that decision a unanimous this is a unanimous decision by the board
3:31:47
i i'm not sure if i can release that information i don't want to call any names or any numbers nothing nothing of that nature
nothing of that nature i'm just curious um it was not unanimous it was a majority decision okay thank you um how do you
see the university's online courses programs progressing in the next five to ten years well definitely um when we adapted
the online program in 2017 we did not foresee two category five hurricanes we did not foresee a global pandemic and so
these events luckily we had the tool in place to navigate through those events but these events have taught us the how
much we can expand and utilize this platform so I expect that it will be standard in our curriculum going forward and and
degree programs and we will continue to expand on it and it's a wonderful tool and it has it is it being marketed
throughout the caribbean or even throughout the mainland uh yes we do have marketing in place for the program okay
thank you um in your testimony you spoke about the challenge of retaining and reclaiming your student base is this one
of the greatest challenges facing the board of trustees currently and if so can you give details as to what this aggressive
recruitment campaign would look like it is a challenge it was a challenge before the hurricane it was a challenge before
the pandemic uh for some reason being frank uvi has had a stigma uh by our local
3:34:12
population and i must confess even when i spoke to my son about going to uvi it was like oh no no it wasn't something he
wanted to consider um we have to change that we have to change that culture and appetite within our own to understand
that ubi is competitive at every level so it is going to entail marketing it is going to entail the support of the executive and
the legislative branch and all parties and all our ubi alum who have enjoyed and benefited from the education they have
received so it's going to have to be a team approach to move forward okay and as the first as the first branch of
government is there anything that the decision needs to do to assist you with facilitating the vision of the board of trustees
moving forward I'm so glad you asked that. We always need your support to provide additional resources, financial
resources to be clear, to assist us with developing innovative programs and challenges to further our vision. The support
of the medical school, thank you. The support of the free tuition initiative thank you and we will be coming forward with
more initiatives geared at expanding our student base extending our learning and academic delivery and if you can
support us legislatively we will be very grateful all right mr j thank you very much for the time miss roebuck thank you
so very much for your answers and you know you definitely have my
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support congratulations all right thank you thank you very much thank you very much senator payne senator whittaker
you're recognized for your four minutes thank you chairman and good afternoon to you good afternoon to my colleagues
and good afternoon to the public and good afternoon to you nominee miss roebuck and i want again thank you for your
continued service on the board and also for continuing to step up so i want to just dive right in um one of the questions
um because i'm also i'm very involved in you know ensuring that you know what you have already there at the university
that things are all driving and working together um what would you say as a board member is your vision for the rt park
what would you say is your division for the rt park its role really in workforce development and economic development
good afternoon senator i i must confess that i have not been intimately involved in the planning or strategy of the rt park
they do have a separate board that governs their direction and so i really can't say that i have a vision for the rt park more
than their success in moving forward and making full use of the technology infrastructure that the virgin islands has to
offer so i will definitely ask you to dive into that because while they do have a separate board which i'm very aware um
what has happened over the entire time that the board that the park has stood up is that while the board you guys have
oversight over their board and a lot of funds and they and how the funds are being divvied out and so on there's a problem
there. We don't have time for that during your hearing right now, but as a board member, I would really encourage you to
dive in. We can really see some areas of improvement between both the RT Park Board itself and the Board of Trustees
so that we can really see what the park and I do thank certainly Mr. Chapman for his efforts thus far, incredible efforts,
but I know that's
3:37:56
one of, that's definitely a concern. I want to jump in now to the part-time faculty. The former part-time faculty member. I
remember championing some small items such as the part-time faculty lounge and real supports for part-time faculty. In
this, is there a vision or efforts right now to address facilities? Because I remember we had the same old, you know, same
small room for all the part-time faculties and when there were, every time a vision plan is put forward, little effort was
really made to address that. So do you know of any effort to support some resource basic resources for the part-time
faculty i have not good afternoon senator and thank you i have not been um abreast of issues surrounding the part-time
faculty before you have brought this forward we have made some changes to the compensation scale for faculty part-time
included and uh so i will have to take that back and ask some questions of the administration thank you for that and i
definitely coordinated that because that's something that's um very long lingering yes their salaries and that's important
but definitely the um their their actual environment that they can do work in the other item i wanted to dive into concerns
farming one of the things i've pushed for is that our farmers participate in the process of developing agricultural plan in
your experience how valuable do you think it is staying sure that the stakeholders are part of the plan as we sit right now
the task force is only made up of the um of course dr hall commissioner nelson i don't have the board listening right in
front of me but none of the others are individuals who are farmers what is what would be your take on trying to maybe
advance the efforts for the farmers to be included as a board member.
3:40:05
DIRECTOR RIVERA- So the agricultural program and development of the program will fall under the monitoring and
guidance of the academic research and student affairs committee ARSA. I am not a member of ARSA so I won't attempt
to speak to what they may be discussing or strategic plan for that. Trustee John Welch is the chair and I think you would
get a better response from him. I can say that ARSA has brought several initiatives before the board specifically to
empowering and improving our agriculture program and I would hope that our farming community on a whole have had
input into development of those programs. It is a priority area for the university and the board and I am confident that
ARSA will continue to move it forward.
3:42:01
Just one last question, and it's really concerning transparency. One of the things, as I've noted, as I've participated in your
meetings, there really isn't a way for the public to participate, or as a senator I was actually, I guess, part of the public.
How do you visualize more public participation in your meetings and be able for the public to have a public comment
period and an ability to participate? way it's set up right now i was largely shut out i have to you know it was a little yeah
how could we um shift that so that persons can participate okay um the as i stated earlier the board meets three times a
year so by the time the full board meets it's quite a significant agenda our meetings lasts anywhere from four to five hours
and uh so yes there's not a lot of opportunity within that forum for public input or outside input uh there is an invitation
the public can attend the meeting and i i really would suggest that uh if there you any senator or any individual that wants
to have input uh contact our board liaison and coordinate to possibly participate in the committee meeting level uh where
there would be better opportunity for engagement yeah like that's an excellent suggestion so thank you and thank you um
for your service and i definitely look forward to supporting your nomination thank you so much thank you senator thank
you senator whittaker senator vila you're recognized for your four minutes thank you so much mr cheer let me first
3:42:59
commend you for the job that you've been doing thus far i'm mr obok i am happy thank you sir i'm happy that you have
been recommended to serve a next term because I read in your testimony where you said that remember SMAC have
been there for 20 years and it's important to have continuity on these colleges and it's even better when the person bring
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capacity to the table so if you have someone with capacity you want to try to keep them in that particular position so I'm
glad that you have been renominated once again I am definitely going to support your nomination I think that this gives
me a little opportunity to speak to the University and the importance of the University of the Virgin Islands in reference
to it being the only higher education resource or entity that that we have and I have always told individuals when I hear
that the university not only serves as a university but also serves as our community college because we don't have a
community college so the part-time everybody goes there and you know they have that job of of making sure that they're
able to provide a higher level of education for our community I am happy that in the last couple years the University of
the Virgin Islands have adopted a number of new program areas to study I'm very very happy with the masters and social
work program that was just started on st. Roy and how is it going with accreditation of that program good afternoon
senator and thank you for your support of developing that program I I cannot answer that off the bat again
that would fall under the academic research and student affairs committee i'm hopeful that we will get an update we're
actually meeting on saturday is our board meeting and we have several items on the agenda and i'm sure arsa will give a
update on that process but i have not been intimately involved okay and thank you so much and and colleagues the idea
behind the masses and social work is that we had a large number of students who have returned to the virgin islands i
have a bachelor's degree in psychology um don't even not sure as to what they want to do with a particular degree and we
have a need for social workers and the masters in social work is a natural feed for the bachelors in psychology and i know
that they have a number of students enrolled in the program so i'm very very happy that the program is going well and
hopefully we'll be able to get accreditation and if your msw program is accredited it carries it to a totally different level
I'm also like just super pleased every time I go to UVI graduation on st. Croix and I see those students who are able to
receive the bachelor's in nursing the BSN because we did not have that program and st. Croix it was one of the first
initiatives that I had back in in the 31st legislature and that program has been graduating anyway from 10 to 15 students
annually. And the good thing about UVI nursing program is that 90 something percent, 92, 95 percent pass NCLEX. So
when you have such a high passage rate for NCLEX, you know that the program is really sung in terms of the instructors
and the information, the knowledge they're imparting to the students. They were just recently able to start back the
3:46:55
agriculture program so I hear a lot of people say what are we doing for agriculture but we did fund the agro we start of
the agriculture program at the University of the Virgin Islands I think they're now doing an associate and they're looking
at moving on to the bachelor so there are opportunities in the Virgin Islands my only disappointment and I'll finish now
as a chair is that when we passed a free tuition bill there was an expectation that enrollment would grow tremendously so
I just want to put it out there to the public we have free tuition in the Virgin Islands a lot of states don't have that we have
free tuition right here at our homegrown University and it is up to this community to make sure that the children utilize
those opportunities because it's right here at the university so that there's no more there's no more complaint UVI was
already one of the cheapest universities across the nation and now it's free tuition all you gotta pay is room and board you
know so don't stay on the corner don't complain and roll at UVI thank you Mr. Chair thank you very much Senator Ville
well said Ms. Woba good afternoon again and welcome good afternoon i um in one of the many meetings that i've been
engaged in since i you know was elected to this office i believe it was the housing finance authority that was here before
us and they estimated that we would need like upwards of four thousand skilled individuals in order to adequately meet
the needs to rebuild our territory post Orman Maria. 4,000 plus, I was shocked. Skilled individuals talking about
3:48:48
electricians and carpenters and welders and masons and plumbers. I know UVI is not in the business of current technical
education. I know you have UVI CELL which is really a great effort at meeting some of those, you know, short-term
educational needs, positions that don't require a bachelor's degree and so forth. But I wanted to know, and I know you
made a strong case that you have really been responsive. You being the university, have been responsive to the needs of
the community. My question to you is, in light of what I just said, Is there a role for UVI in addressing the career and
technical education needs of this community? What are your thoughts on that?
3:50:41
Good afternoon, Senator. Let me just say first and foremost that it was an absolute pleasure working with you back in,
and I'm not going to say it a year. it is i truly appreciate the collaboration we had as a team and and working together and
i'm so proud of your development and success uh definitely uvi plays a role in in the needs yes there will be needs for
construction carpenters electrician but there's also needs for project management construction management for draftsmen
for the professional areas so we will um support the vocational trades as much as we can within our scope of a university
but we also are just looking at programs uh whether it's two-year programs or certification programs for the professional
aspects of the workforce that will need to be met the business management financial accounting the environmental
science with all of these federal funds coming down all of these projects have to have environmental review conducted
and who's going to do that are we going to rely on the outside force to do that no that is exactly uh opportunity for us to
engage our students and show them where our programs can lead them to support our workforce development so we are
definitely in partnership and we have a strong partnership role to play in engaging the workforce developing the workers
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thank you thank you for that mr roebuck um in terms of the medical school and i asked this question to i believe judge
smock when he was here and dr hall when he was here and i applaud your efforts in the medical school um in progress
for the medical school now going Going to a doctor's office in the territory, going to the hospital. When you look at
positions like radiology techs, and medical technologists, and lab techs, and those important allied health type positions,
that we don't have Virgin Islanders in those roles.
Those are real solid important career opportunities that are relatively high paying. So we import persons to serve in those
capacities for the most part, with some exceptions. Wouldn't it be in our best interest for UVI to consider developing like
a school of allied health where those types of programs will be offered? Absolutely. Absolutely. And that is on the table.
3:54:06
is something we're discussing even with the Medical Simulation Center there are opportunities there to expand and
provide certification and all of those are included as we look to health care and all of the opportunities that exist for us to
strengthen our academic delivery I am you know I don't know if politically good to say it or bad to say it but you know
when you talk about vaccine mandates you know I believe that UVI took the right position I really do you know I have
people who and friends and family who oppose my position on vaccine mandates but to be frank I think that as a
university the safety and the security of the people in your care is of paramount importance, paramount priority and to
you know to have a sort of roll of the dice process with you know you know having a sort of a unclear vaccine policy I
think it's a bad idea I think that you made the right choice the board along with Dr. Hall and the folks who make these
decisions at the university, I think you made the right thing, the right decision. I think it takes a level of courage to make
these types of definitive, well-reasoned decisions. You mentioned that you had the involvement of the experts, the health
and safety experts from the Department of Health, the CDC, and so forth. So, if you're not relying on objective data from
the experts in making these types of decisions, I think it would be irresponsible to take a position that is contrary to what
the established experts are saying.
3:54:42
Yeah, that's just a thought. My final question, Ms. Roebuck, is what would you say is the greatest strength and the
greatest weakness right now of our university, UVI? Without fear of hesitation, I would say the greatest strength of the
university is the the people, the faculty, the staff, the administration, the cabinet, the board, everyone that is involved in
esteemed members of the committee.
3:56:51
I don't know if somebody is speaking right now, but please mute your mic. If your name is not Oren Roebuck, please
mute your mic at this time. You can proceed, Ms. Roebuck. Sorry about that. No problem. So definitely the strength of
the people that are at the university. When I first entered the university as a student in high school, I was very intimidated
walking on the campus. And to have Dr. Simon Jones-Hendrickson say, you can do this, you got this, was such a
tremendous impact on my life.
3:57:37
And so by far, the people of the UVI are our greatest assets. Our weakness I wouldn't say it's a weakness but our
opportunity area is resources having the resources to meet our dreams as I told you I dream big Dr. Hall dreams big and
the board and there are a lot that we want to do when we talk about expanding programs expanding our facilities you
know we have been struggling to make the multi-purpose center on st croix a reality now for years years and so if we can
widen our opportunity to engage resources into our development into our our strategic plan it can make such a
tremendous difference so that that's our strength and opportunity area mr brock thank you very much colleagues i think
we have exhausted our round of questioning point of inquiry senator joseph thank you so much mr chairman um i wanted
to just ask miss roebuck a question i had an opportunity to get an article and receive an article relative to Juarez College
in Puerto Rico and the senator the chairman's questioning regarding training and workforce development for the
construction trades is what stimulated my question because you're seeing some colleges throughout the nation they are
partnering with other entities to actually, to actually train young people and train people in the construction industry. This
article referenced over a thousand persons are being trained at this college for the construction trades.
3:58:25
My question is, you know, we have such a dire need for this level of skill, who would be the best entity to take it on than
the university? And incidentally, you're talking about resources. You know what resources that they are using to do and
conduct this training? CDBG. CDBG resources are being used and capitalized in Puerto Rico to do this training. So my
question is, can this be a part of the planning ahead or even now for the university to take a serious look at being that
conduit to train our population on a mass scale in construction tree similar to what we're doing with the school of
agriculture thank you senator and as i mentioned previously ubi does recognize the workforce need in the construction
and um we are working on various programs that we can offer within our accreditation as a university to fill some of
those needs uh can we fill all of them uh no and there is the vocational and trade center that has the capacity has the
curriculum in place to immediately start filling those needs and I think that is the entity that should take the lead and UVI
will definitely support and give whatever resources we can to
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expand but the lead has to come from the vocational center and we will take on the additional programs that are equally
important because as I mentioned you cannot move forward without the environmental analysis you cannot move
forward without a construction manager so it's twofold it's two sets of needs that are immediately required to move our
reconstruction and redevelopment thank you very much mr. Robert senator VLA you're recognized for your point of
inquiry thank you so much mr. chair I just wanted to put on the record that the new degree programs that was started at
the University of the Virgin they're all a result of funding they're all a result of having a discussion with the University
and then providing the requisite funding to start so the agriculture program didn't come out of the ear it came because a
discussion was had we were able to set up a budget and then move forward if we're going to talk about vocational
training it is not the responsibility of the University to come out and say we want to do this is the responsibility of this
government which have career and technical education under the Department of Education to develop programs. We just
took $9 million and gave to a company from the mainland for workforce development that could be utilized to train our
young men in carpentry, masonry, et cetera. We have more federal monies that we could utilize. So if we want to say that
we're going to start a program, then give the university $10-$12 million and tell them to start. university can't be the
entity that is going to do everything. They're developing our academic programs. We have a vocational component. We
have a vocational school that stands empty every single day from three o'clock. They have specially designed classrooms
for auto mechanic, carpentry, plumbing, electricity, everything. People just need to do their job. We have the monies, but
we cannot sit care and just pass it on because the university is here let's get a university to do it no we have a career and
technical center now your idea mr cheer in reference and that's a cell in reference to the um the texts um the allied health
allied health i see that being done through cells but we have to fund it you know do we want dental hygienists then we
fund a cell program for x the next amount of years, we give it there, design it. But we have the capacity, but we're not
utilizing the federal funds.
4:02:44
I don't want UVI to be placed in a position absent a fund that we're saying, oh, you should be doing this, doing that,
absent of any funding or absent of any type of dialogue with the university. That's just not fair. Thank you so much, Mr.
Chair. I think you're right, Senator Vealey. I think what happens with UVI is that it's like you have employees on a job
and have that one employee that just gets things done. He does all the work, and somehow you end up giving him all of
the work. And that sort of ends up happening with UVI, because you have an idea, you pass it on to UVI, and it gets
done.
4:05:19
And it's an unfortunate reality, because you have entities in this community that should be doing things that are charged
with doing those with those responsibilities. I think the question really just speaks to UVI's ability to get things done.
Colleagues, I think we've exhausted Senator. Senator Gittins, you're recognized for your four minutes. Thank you, Mr.
Chair, and good afternoon to all. Hopefully I wouldn't take the full four minutes as I wholeheartedly support this
renomination. nomination to the board of trustees how are you today miss roebuck i'm well good afternoon senator great
thank you for your willingness to continue serving your community and the capacity in which you were nominated now i
couldn't help but to see that your questionnaire responses places is heavy emphasis on the medical school in which I was
a sponsor. This is a great step forward for our university. But given that the university is our only institution of higher
learning here in the territory, do you believe it is meeting the needs of our community? And if not, what are some of your
ideas in this regard that we can better meet the needs of our community? Thank you, Senator.
4:05:57
Yes, I do believe UVI is meeting the needs, whether through our degree programs, our online programs, our cell
programs, We are evolving and continually changing to meet those needs and adding programs to meet the needs. As I
indicated, we've added, just in my tenure, 12 additional new programs. So I do believe there's more to be done, and we're
always looking at where do we go, what next? How can we expand? How can we do it better? Just looking at agriculture,
we've moved from just basic agriculture, horticulture courses to know agriculture as a business prospect and what is
needed for our community to develop the agriculture needs into a business format. So we're continually involving, and
there will always be needs, and we will continue to try to address those needs as funding permits.
4:07:50
thank you uh now while there have been some uh improvements uh we're still looking at some of our top jobs in
hospitality and and marine industries uh going to those outside of the territory do you have any ideas as to how we can
better prepare our local students in these areas i i think the the gaps that we're seeing now uh in across the board every
single employer is having challenges right now to fill vacancies and we have a brain drain we we have a problem with
capacity right now and i don't have the answer as to how we get locals to stay or to come back or to engage i right now in
my private sector at the bank i have well over 30 positions available and my positions pay they pay bonus they have full
insurance we have a signing bonus and we are having a difficulty great difficulty in identifying resources to work so it's
it's not necessarily an issue with the university more than it's it's a community issue that all partners will have to engage
in and and how do you believe we can continue to promote UVA's identity as the premier university of choice throughout
the Caribbean while continuing with developing relationships whether satellite campuses whether it's
4:08:54
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memorandum of understandings between universities in a wider community this Caribbean additional tuition agreements
for students their different formats that we're using to pull the caribbean closer and to meet not just our needs but their
needs and create a strong a strong caribbean workforce thank you uh so much for your response i'll just say this in closing
that i have been in uh contact with the you know the the president of the university with regards to a conversation with
our public libraries as i really believe that our public libraries are at a disadvantage and does not get the attention it
deserves being under the department of planning and natural resource so i'm hopeful in the future that we'll be able to
have a conversation on this, you and I, and that you will also support this initiative as I know that the President is very
interested in taking on this responsibility. Thank you so much again for your willingness to serve and I look forward to
supporting your nomination.
4:10:47
Thank you very much, Senator Giddens. Motion, Senator Francis, you're recognized for your motion thank you very
much mr chair mr chair and colleagues i move that the renomination of rnc roebuck to continue to serve and the
university board of trustees for the district of st croix be approved by the committee the rules and judiciary committee
and sent to the full body for further consideration i so move properly moved by senator francis is seconded by Senator
Gittins and Senator Joseph, and Senator Payne and Senator Johnson. Seconded by everybody. Roll call on the
nomination, the re-nomination, Ms. Oran C. Roebuck to the University of the Virgin Islands Board of Trustees.
4:12:13
Senator Novell E. Francis, Jr. Senator Francis, Jr., yay. Senator Kenneth L. Gittins, yay. Senator Kenneth Elgitins, yay.
Senator Franklin D. Johnson, yay. Senator Franklin D. Johnson, yay. Senator Carla J. Joseph, yes. Senator Carla J.
Joseph, yes. Senator Stephen D. Payne, senior. Yes. Senator Payne, senior, yes. Senator Milton D. Potter, yes. Senator
Milton E. Potter, yay. Senator Genevieve R. Whitaker, yay. Senator Whitaker, yay. Mr. Chairman, you have seven yays.
Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Colleagues, the nomination of Oren C. Roebuck to the University of the Virgin
Islands Board of Trustees has been favorably considered by the Committee on Rules and Judiciary and will be forwarded
to the full body for further consideration.
4:13:07
Congratulations, Ms. Roebuck. I'll now afford you 30 seconds just to give a wrap-up comment. I want to say thank you so
much for your vote of confidence in me for our engagement today. Thank you to Honorable Governor Albert Bryan Jr.
for this reappointment and to all my board colleagues for the collaboration and work that we do together. And as a final
comment, I know Senator Payne had asked me earlier, what can this body do and yes this body can legislate and provide
support resources support but i would like each of you to dig in your personal pockets also and join the uvi campaign and
give to our development fund to show your commitment and your support for our academic excellence so thank you all
Thank you very much, Ms. Roebuck, for that challenge. We will meet that challenge.
4:14:01
Thank you. Colleagues, Ms. Roebuck, you are officially released. Congratulations on your re-nomination. You're
officially released from this session. Thank you. Have a good afternoon. You too. Take care. Colleagues, the Committee
on Rules and Judiciary will take a one-minute recess. We'll be right back. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We'll be right back. The Committee on Rules and Judiciary is back on the record.
Madam Clerk, can you please read the agenda for block number three.
4:15:06
Bill number 34-0074, a resolution honoring and commending Holland L. Redfield II, posthumously for his expansive and
continued contribution to the island of St. Croix and the entire Virgin Islands community as a whole, through his role in
various areas of service in the territory and awarding him the Virgin Islands Medal of Honor for public service
posthumously. Sponsored by Senator Samuel Carrion, Senator Genevieve R. Whitaker, co-sponsored by Senator Steven
D. Payne, Sr. Thank you very much, Madam Clerk. Who speaks to this bill? I do, Mr. Chair.
4:20:38
Senator Carrion, you are recognized for your introduction. Thank you, sir, and good Good afternoon to all my colleagues.
Today, colleagues, it's bittersweet. Sweet because Bill 34-007 honors and command Holland Redfield posthumously for
his expansive contributions to the people of the territory. And we are awarding him the Virgin Islands Medal of Honor
for public service. Bitter because in a few hours, Holland's body will lay and repose in this very room as we prepare to
say our final farewell. So, bittersweet indeed. I would like to once again extend my condolences to the family and to the
entire territory that is mourning his passing. Bill 34-0074 was heard and voted upon favorably in the Committee of
Government Operations and Consumer Protections on October 12th. I would like to thank my colleagues as well as the
testifiers for their unwavering support. This resolution primarily seeks to honor the countless sacrifices, contributions and
outstanding public service to the territory made by Holland L. Redfield or Dr. Redfield. The record is there and his legacy
is written.
4:21:18
Lastly, amendment number 34-372 will be presented, which adds a whereas clause stating Holland was reelected to the
22nd legislature, where he served as a Republican charge of affairs while leading the charge for the Revenue
Enhancement Act of 1998 and by changing the verb tense since in some areas. This phrase was ironically left out and it's
necessary that the bill. This truly reflects, it's necessary that this truly reflects in the bill. An accurate depiction of the
4:22:48
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great work that Holland Redfield did. My one regret is we're not able to move this measure while he was still alive. As
this was something that we introduced at the beginning of our term here in the Senate.
And I truly agree with the faith to give the flowers while the person is still alive and then you can enjoy them.
Colleagues, once again, I ask your support and thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Senator Carrion. Colleagues,
this, Senator Giddens, you're recognized for your motion. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
4:23:43
Mr. Chair and colleagues, in the essence of time, I respectfully move to waive any debate time for bill number 34- 0 0 7 4
at this time I so move properly moved by Senator Gittins seconded by Senator Francis there are no objections so order
Senator Francis you recognize for your motion thank you very much mr. chair mr. Mr. Chair and colleagues, I move that
Bill 34-0074, a resolution honoring and commending Holland L. Withdraw, we have an amendment, so the amendment.
Amendment? Amendment. Senator Francis, you're recognized for your amendment. Thank you, thank you very much,
Mr. Chair.
4:24:15
Mr. Chair, I offer amendment number 34-372 on the behalf of the bill's sponsor of Bill 34-0074, the Honorable Senator
Samuel Carrion. Bill number 34-0074 is amended in the preamble, page two, one, before the whereas clause, and line 18
by inserting a new whereas clause that reads, whereas Alan Redfield was reelected to the 22nd legislature where he
served a republican charge affairs while leading the charge for the revenue enhancement act of 1998 and two on line 18
by striking after serving six terms in the legislature of the virgin islands number three on page two by adding a new
whereas clause after the clause on line 18 that reads as as follows, whereas Haaland served six successful terms in the
legislature of the Virgin Islands and number four, by changing the verb tense of whereas clauses as appropriate. I so
move. Properly moved by Senator Francis, seconded by Senator Joseph and Senator Payne. Hearing no objections, so
ordered.
4:25:14
Motion, Senator Joseph, you're recognized for your motion. Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I move
that Bill No. 34-0074, a resolution honoring and commending Holland L. Redfield II, post-homelessly for his expansive
and and continued contribution to the island of St. Croix and the entire Virgin Islands community as a whole through his
roles in various areas of service in the territory and awarding him the Virgin Islands Medal of Honor for Public Service
posthumously, it's a big word, as amended, be moved by this committee and forwarded to the full body for further
consideration and action. I so move.
4:26:38
Properly moved by Senator Joseph, seconded by Senator Johnson, Senator Payne. Roll call on bill number 34-0074 as
amended. Senator Norvell E. Francis Jr. Yes, yes. Senator Francis Jr. Yeh. Senator Kenneth L. Gittins. Yes. Senator
Kenneth L. Gittins, Yeh. Senator Franklin D. Johnson. Yes. Senator Johnson, Yeh. Senator Collor J. Joseph. Senator
Joseph, Yeh. Senator Steven D. Payne, Sr.
4:27:45
Yes. Senator Payne, Sr. Yeh. Senator Milton E. Potter? Yes. Senator Potter, yay. Senator Genevieve R. Whitaker? Yay.
Senator Whitaker, yay. Mr. Chairman, we have seven yays. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Colleagues, Madam
Clerk, Colleagues, Bill number 34-0074. Resolution honoring and commending Holland L. Redfield II posthumously for
his expansive and continued contributions to the island of St. Croix and the entire Virgin Islands community as a whole
through his roles in various areas of service in the territory and awarding him the Virgin Islands Medal of Honor for
public service posthumously has been favorably considered by the Committee on Rules and Judiciary and will be
forwarded to the full body for further consideration, consideration, that's it, consideration. Point of personal privileges,
Senator Giddens, you recognize your point of personal privilege. MR. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I just wanted to
quickly explain that the reason for me waiving requests in the way of the debate time, the bill was heard and debated on
or about October 12th in the Committee of Jurisdiction, which I believe was government ups and today as the bill
sponsors stated uh the body of former senator redfield will be late to sit here at the legislature so therefore in the essence
of time and for preparation of the arrival of uh the body uh i move to waive all debate time i just wanted the
4:28:21
viewing and listening audience understand the reason for for doing that also a motion senator getting you recognize for
your motion Mr. Chair and colleagues, I move that bill numbers 34, that's 0047, and 34, that's 0062, to be placed on the
next Rules and Judiciary Committee meeting calendar, I so move.
4:30:31
Second. Properly moved by Senator Gittins, seconded by Senator Francis, Senator Joseph, and Senator Johnson. Any
objections? So ordered. Okay, colleagues, we've exhausted today's ... Senator Carrion, you're recognized for your point of
personal privilege. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
4:31:22
I just wanted to thank you and thank my colleagues and all the members of the committee and rules for unanimously
voting firmly on this resolution. And also to remind the public that the body of former Senator Dr. Holland Redfield will
be laying in repose here at the St. Corey Chambers from 3 to 5. And our condolences once again to the family and to the
whole St. Corey community that is mourning the passing of a great statement that has contributed so much to our
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territory. So may his soul rest in peace and thank you, Mr. Chair. Well said, Senator Carrion.
Colleagues, the Committee on Rules and Judiciary, we have exhausted our agenda for today. Thank you very much for
your contributions. And we will officially resume, not resume, but the next scheduled meeting of the Committee on Rules
and Judiciary will be in early November, where we will be hearing those two bills that were removed from today's
agenda. November 8th is the date of the next Rules Committee meeting. Committee on Rules and Judiciary is hereby
adjourned.
4:32:31
Thank you.
4:33:25
People named in this transcript
SUSPECTED, and a finding aid only. Names were matched by machine against the spellings used across all 426 of our transcripts, and the
title is the one used in the room. Being named here is NOT evidence that a person attended or spoke · only that the name was said. Speech
recognition mishears names, so a spelling may be wrong even where no alternative is offered.
22x
Senator Steven D. Payne Sr.
heard in this transcript as: Payne, Payne Sr, Payne Sr., Stephen D. Payne, Steven D. Payne Sr, Steven Payne
18x
Senator Novelle Francis
heard in this transcript as: Francis, Francis Jr, Francis Jr., Norvell E. Francis Jr, Norvell E. Francis Jr., Norville E. Francis Jr.
16x
Senator Kenneth L. Gittens
heard in this transcript as: Giddens, Gittins, Kenneth L. Gittins
14x
Senator Franklin D. Johnson
heard in this transcript as: Johnson
12x
Senator Carla Joseph
the surname alone also matches: Clifford Joseph; Karla J. Joseph
heard in this transcript as: Carla J. Joseph, Joseph
12x
Senator Genevieve R. Whitaker
heard in this transcript as: Genevieve Whitaker, Whitaker
11x
Senator Samuel Carrion
heard in this transcript as: Carrion
10x
Senator Milton E. Potter
heard in this transcript as: Milton D. Potter, Milton Potter, Potter
5x
Governor Albert Bryan Jr
heard in this transcript as: Albert Bryan, Bryan
4x
Senator Alma Francis-Heyliger
heard in this transcript as: Alma Francis Heiliger, Francis Heiliger
4x
Senator Kurt Vialet
heard in this transcript as: Vealey, Viale, Ville
3x
Senator Karla J. Joseph
the surname alone also matches: Carla Joseph; Clifford Joseph
heard in this transcript as: Karla Joseph
3x
Commissioner Ray Martinez
heard in this transcript as: Martinez
2x
Senator Collar J. Joseph
the surname alone also matches: Carla Joseph; Clifford Joseph
heard in this transcript as: Collor J. Joseph
2x
Senator Kurt Viola
heard in this transcript as: Villa
2x
Governor Luz James II
the surname alone also matches: Javan James; Marise C. James; Neville James
2x
Senator Samuel Carillon
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Bills and acts referred to
Matched by number against our own acts corpus. The number is what the recognition heard, so it may be wrong; where it resolved, the title is the one
the Legislature gave the act.
Bill 34-0047
Act 8504 · An Act requiring the Department of Agriculture and the University of the Virgin Islands to create a plan to
develop a community seed banking program to store and preserve seeds for preservation against climate change,
natural disasters and other situations that could lead to total annihilation of crops, plants and other fauna and flora ---0
Bill 34-0062
Act 8507 · November 18, 2021 · An Act amending title 3 Virgin Islands Code, chapter 5, section 65a relating to filling
vacancies on boards and commissions by adding subsection (g) to require memberships on boards and commissions to
be gender balanced ---0
Act 8504
Act 8504 · An Act requiring the Department of Agriculture and the University of the Virgin Islands to create a plan to
develop a community seed banking program to store and preserve seeds for preservation against climate change,
natural disasters and other situations that could lead to total annihilation of crops, plants and other fauna and flora ---0
Act 8507
Act 8507 · November 18, 2021 · An Act amending title 3 Virgin Islands Code, chapter 5, section 65a relating to filling
vacancies on boards and commissions by adding subsection (g) to require memberships on boards and commissions to
be gender balanced ---0
Referred to but not found in our acts corpus: Bill 34-0074, Bill 34-0007
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