While appearing on the Talking Points radio show this week, Amory said it appears as if persons judge every member of the force on what they (individual officers) have done and not what the force has done.

He said there has to be someone in the force that people can feel confident enough to talk to.

“It is not everybody within the organisation that a person is going to feel, ‘yeah, I could talk to that person’. And for me, a lot of people actually send persons to me,” Amory said.

“You need to actually find somebody that you could speak to, but like I said, we need to actually build back that trust that has eroded over time.”

One of the challenges he said must be addressed in coming to the point of restoring public trust is the approach that officers take towards persons who they encounter daily. He noted that younger police officers need to know this.

“I continuously tell younger officers [to] always ensure that the approach you have to anybody is one where, I must say, you should have for yourself,” Amory said.

He said the sociopolitical status of the people officers encounter should not matter.

“Treat that person with respect. And in terms of you treating that person [well], then that sort of respect actually comes back,” he stated.

He noted that whenever officers encounter agitated persons, they have to approach the situation in a levelheaded way to get the person to calm down.

“You are able to actually talk to a person and not shout because they are shouting and bring them down to a level that you can actually have a conversation. I think that in itself; if we actually practice things like that, then we will get back to a point where persons are willing to say anything to us,” the senior officer reasoned.