Prime Minister Philip J Pierre recently revealed plans to meet with citizens to obtain ‘workable’ solutions to reduce crime island wide following widespread acts of criminality involving guns.
Pierre disclosed his plans last week at a vehicle handover ceremony which forms part of his administration’s efforts “to ensure the RSLPF has the operational, technical and tactical capacity” to address all forms of criminal activity.
Whilst government is trying to curtail the situation, Pierre noted that government does not have all the answers.
“Very soon I’m going to be having a discussion on crime where we’ll call everybody to come and speak and find solutions because everyone may have a solution; the government doesn’t know everything. Let’s discuss it in a balanced, disciplined (and) sensible way. Let us see if we can work together to solve this problem,” Pierre said.
“I call on anyone who has any workable solution to deal with the issue,” the prime minister stated.
Pierre also called for public cooperation, urging individuals to put their political differences aside. According to him, in some instances, colour should not matter.
“There is a scourge of crime which we have to deal with. We’re concerned and the only reason why we’re concerned (is) because it affects all of us. The government is doing whatever we can to solve this situation. We are working with the members of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force, we’re giving them the resources we can; we’re going to be increasing these resources incrementally,” Pierre said.
“There are certain issues where our colour should not matter and crime is one of these issues. The matter of crime will follow every government so its selfish to believe that now we can play politics or we can play all sorts of gimmicks because of a situation that is unfortunate. We will fight this scourge, we’ll work with the police force, we’ll work with the people of Saint Lucia, and we call on the people of Saint Lucia to work with us. No time for idle words, political potshots, and political gimmicks to gain points, let’s work together,” he added.
bring the hangman back. If you take somebody’s life your life is gone too. And not after years in court. This have to been executed within not more then 3 month after the killing someone.
Drastic situations need drastic measurements.
Pierre is asking St. Lucians to find ‘workable solutions to crime’ well what do you know;
May I remind the Prime Minister that he and his Party were elected to do just this and other social matters
that plague this Country, such as employment, health care, education, agriculture, trade etc. Policing is one
thing, but what we now have is way beyond the capacity of Street Policing. It must be decided to employ on contract some real tough Military style Cops for six months to clear out these monsters once and for all. Failure to do so would show weakness on your part. Mr. Prime Minister you cannot do everything at once but this is a major priority that calls on a lot of everyone’s attention. First on the list must be to reenact the death penalty, and I guarantee you, after the first execution, you will notice a complete stop for a while, but the Law must be upheld. The Country has had enough, people are in fear, bring back the noose and soon too.
The nation is being terrorized by a group of thugs who are ignorant and cold-hearted. These are the drags of society: the lumpen, serial killers, and culturally backward miscreants. No punishment is going to deter them not even the death penalty far less prison. The government ought to develop short and long-term plans to deal with those local terrorists. They are homegrown terrorists. It is the job of social scientists to interpret and understand their behavior but our role is to avoid being ensnared in their vicious web of criminality.
Most people know who those terrorists are in the communities therefore the government would have to deploy agents to surveil and infiltrate the groups. We would have to be eternally vigilant and keep watchful eyes on their activities. Community policing is also an option coupled with a rapid deployment unit. We cannot tolerate police officers at various stations complaining that they cannot respond to a crime because there is no vehicle available. Meanwhile, the victim is being massacred by the thug.
Furthermore, we cannot allow the judiciary to go unscathed. Too often, we would hear of terrorists being arrested for the possession of a handgun just minutes later to be seen walking the streets out on bail. There should be a minimum-maximum sentence for the possession of a handgun and bail should be denied for heinous crimes. The terrorists should be placed in solitary confinement with absolutely no contact with other inmates. In so doing, we may not be able to save the world but we can save some lives in St. Lucia.