THE Royal Saint Lucia Police Force is grappling with a string of homicides this month that has pushed the number for the year to 51, a situation that has forced the police hierarchy to call a press conference this week to address the bloodshed.
The situation is so bad that the island, just days ago, registered four homicides in 48 hours.
“I have spoken to my executive and we are reviewing our plans which we had in place for the Christmas season,” Police Commissioner Severin Monchery said, noting that one of these plans would include increased police presence in and around the City of Castries and communities island-wide.
He also spoke of deploying the force’s intelligence team to gather whatever information they can find, while his deputy, Milton Desir spoke of vacation leave being canceled to operationalize the plan to reduce criminal activity and enforce COVID-19 protocols.
Maximizing the use of the COVID wardens and special reserves and using vehicles from other government agencies to augment the police fleet are also part of the plans police have to control crime for the season.
Monchery called on Saint Lucians to be aware of their surroundings at all times, not to wear jewelry when in a midst of a crowd, hold on to their wallets or purses tightly. Do not walk around with a cell phone in their hands, etc.