St Vincent PM tells Police Chief More Boots Needed On The Ground
As St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) struggle to put the brakes on rising homicide rates, the islands’ prime minister, Ralph Gonsalves, on Wednesday called on the Police Commissioner and the forces’ high command to put more boots on the ground.
Official statistics show that St. Vincent and the Grenadines has recorded 42 homicides for 2022, exceeding the number for 2016.
Mikhail Charles, Oswald Brereton, Burnet Bramble, Marcus Samuel, and Jason Henry were among the victims of a bloody December 2022.
Gonsalves said there is a need for the presence of the police on the streets in Kingstown and across the country, particularly in the area between Stubbs and Rillian Hill, which is one of the most highly populated areas of the country.
“We have enough police and enough resources for people to be more present on the ground.” “To deter someone from doing something bad and to gather intelligence to be able to move in a proactive manner to arrest those who are engaged in serious criminal activity, particularly with gun crimes,” Gonsalves explained.
Gonsalves said a presence on the ground is absolutely necessary because people have to feel safe. “It cannot be acceptable that within half a mile of a police station, “You may have somebody robbing somebody on a beach at 7:00 in the night.”
“We have more than doubled the number of policemen and women, and we have additional numbers this year in the budget—50 or something more.” Yes, just on the cops this year. “I’m not talking about the Coast Guard, I’m not talking about the fire department; the police alone are over $41 million,” Gonsalves said.
“We have about 1200 police.” We have more than ten police officers for every 1000 people. which is a big number, and we will hire more as we are going to do 53 more this year. “Very shortly, we are going to have about 115 recruits put into the training system for the next six months,” he stated.
The violence in SVG is not limited to gun-related homicides. In a December, 2022 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”.
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.
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.”
