St Vincent Crime Rate: SVG ranked # 7 in the world for the highest murder rate!
Official statistics show that St. Vincent and the Grenadines has recorded 42 homicides for 2022, exceeding the number for 2016, and the rising violence appears to have stumped authorities.
Mikhail Charles, Oswald Brereton, Burnet Bramble, Marcus Samuel, and Jason Henry are among the victims as of December 2022. Additionally, two men who were shot were hospitalised in December 2022.
The year 2023 appears to be heading in the same direction as the island welcomed the new year with two gun-related deaths, Sage John and Selwyn Foye.
The violence in SVG is not limited to gun-related homicides. In a December parliament session, the government acknowledged an increase in yacht-related crimes. Added to this is the issue of domestic violence, which came to a head with the deaths of Precious Williams, Luann Roberts, and Veronica “Keisha” Small. The public’s trust in the powers that be is an important tool in helping to solve crime; however, the distrust was laid bare in relation to the death of Cjea Weekes and the wounding of Cornelius John.
Some members of the police force have been accused of escalating situations rather than deescalating. The Police Commissioner’s speech for 2022, in which he urged law enforcement officials to improve, made this clear.
“There are far too many reports of police officers acting improperly.” These range from alleged unlawful physical assaults to the way some police officers interact with civilians. There have also been complaints about police officers responding to citizen reports slowly or not at all”.
Nevertheless, the island’s police should be praised for being able to remove 35 firearms and 4,077 rounds of ammunition from the streets. As a result, fifteen (15) people were detained for crimes involving firearms.
What is responsible for the homicides?
According to the authorities, the rising murder rate in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is mainly attributed to young people falling in love with the gun culture and the cocaine trade.
The increase in young male gun ownership was emphasised by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves in September 2022, who also emphasised that “there is no opportunity in guns; it makes no sense.” 32 homicides had been reported in SVG at the time of Gonsalves’ message.
“If you didn’t work hard and smart, someone has to give you leisure, pleasure, and nice time, or you have to take it, and if you take it, there’s a place in Belle Isle for you,” Gonsalves explained.
One of the island’s correctional facilities is situated at Belle Isle.
In December 2022, one of the bloodiest months in terms of gun violence on the island, Gonsalves stated that “a lot” of the homicides on the island are connected to the cocaine trade.
A small group of people are killing each other in St. Vincent, according to Gonsalves, who is also the minister of national security.
“It is a small, minority group that is intertwined with the cocaine trade and its various offshoots, as well as everything else.”
The US has long recognized St. Vincent and the Grenadines as a significant drug transit area, particularly for the movement of cocaine from South America to other international markets.
On Saturday, January 22, more than 50 kilogrammes of cocaine were discovered in a government-run facility in the village of Owia, Northern St. Vincent.
In October of 2022, it was reported that a vessel held in St. Kitts with cocaine and marijuana was en route from St. Vincent on its way to Tortola.
In 2015, police found more than $1 million worth of cocaine at Wallilabou, on the northwest coast of the island.
How is crime being combated?
Other than increased patrols, increased stop and search, and the hiring of more law enforcement officers, authorities claim the police have implemented a number of measures that the public is unaware of to combat the worsening outlook.
On state radio in November 2022, Prime Minister Gonsalves stated that he had told Police Commissioner Colin John that monitoring needed to be increased because there wasn’t enough useful information about some crimes.
“There is still an insufficiency of actionable intelligence in relation to certain crimes, and that has to be reviewed.” The commissioner knows this, and everybody in the police force knows this. From the perspective of the police, you can’t fight crime solely with force. “You have to have the intelligence to try as much as possible to stay ahead of the curve,” the Prime Minister stated.
On December 18, 2022, speaking on WEFM, a privately owned radio station, Gonsalves said that while governments could be tough on crime and on the causes of crime, they lacked a “magic bullet” to end criminal activity.
“Everyone should take an interest in the fight against crime.” “I’m requesting that everyone do their part to reduce crime, including families, parents, schools, and churches.”
According to PM Gonsalves, fighting crime in SVG requires a “total society approach.”
Prime Minister Gonsalves, who is also the Minister of National Security, added on December 18, 2022, that people are not easily deterred from committing murder due to the unconstitutionality of mandatory death sentences and the lack of electronic monitoring of criminals.
With the island population urging the government to implement a variety of measures to stem the crime wave, it remains to be seen if assistance will be sought from foreign agencies, as in the recent cases of St. Lucia and Jamaica.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines ranks seventh in the world for homicides, at 36.5 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to data from worldpopulationreview.com.
