Prime Minister Philip J Pierre, Monday, lauded the efforts of law enforcement efforts in combatting the scourge of crime in the country while assessing the operations of the Royal St Lucia Police Force [RSLPF] over the past year and so.
Nonetheless, the National Security Minister reiterated that the “callousness and highly irresponsible” actions of the former regime in destroying the old Custody Suites put the officers in a very precarious position, while dealing with the suspects in their custody.
He said the officers had to travel through the length and breadth of the country to seek temporary detention cells at various police stations to accommodate persons apprehended by the police, and in some cases the officers were left with no other option than to release these suspects.
The prime minister stressed that this situation placed an added burdensome expense on the ‘public purse’, since the officers had to travel extra miles in an effort to get a place to detain these suspects.
“I want to thank the police for having to deal with that inconvenience, it caused an increase in the use of our resources, police vehicles had to be used to transport detained people and it caused quite an issue with our national security,” PM Pierre told reporters.
He said, the situation is currently being rectified with the “construction of the custody suites” among other things to enhance police operations.
The National Security Minister further updated reporters on the infrastructural upgrades to some police stations on the island. He cited construction works on the Northern Headquarters, at Gros Islet as well as, renovations to the Vieux Fort Police Station, where there were reports of mold infestation.
He said that while “no work was done” on at least seven other police facilities “we are going to be repairing them, we are going to be renovating them to ensure that the police have a better environment to work in.”
He said “Work will also be undertaken at the Bordelaise Correctional Facility (BCF). What work was done at Bordelais? What was the condition of Bordelais when we took government in 2021? These are the things we have to consider.”
While expressing his concerns for the crime situation in the country, the National Security Minister said he was nevertheless heartened with the decrease in criminal statistics towards the latter part of 2023.
Said PM Pierre: “For the latter part …in the second half of 2023, the homicide rate decreased substantially when compared to the first half.
“The measures that we put in place, these measures are going to be strengthened this year, and hopefully we can continue that downward trend that was seen in the second half of 2023,” he declared.
Commenting on queries relating to the current status and operations of the City Police Constabulary within the Castries Constituency Council (CCC), the National Security Minister stated that though the city police was not a creation of the St Lucia Labour Party (SLP) administration and the matter would be reviewed.
Stating that he has requested the Minister for Local Government to look into the matter, PM Pierre said, “a professional assessment” of the city police will be undertaken.
He commented that it is a priority of the government to make resources available to the police to undertake training and other things to perform their duties more efficiently, he added: “This is why we have been using the Health & Security Levy to make these resources available to the police.”
PM Pierre informed that the authorities will increase the resources allocated to the police, “and before the end of this year, we will have another batch of police recruits…they will be training with the staff shortly, and right now the recruitment process is underway.”
The national security minister asserted: “We had the RSS -Regional Security System, in Saint Lucia, fighting (undertaking) three tours of duty …that costs money. And the Health & Security Levy helped with these expenses.
“The Health & Security Levy also helped with the work done (undertaken) at Bordelais, which is part of the security apparatus. All that work, the Health & Security Levy is used to fund all these projects,” Pierre added.