TWO days after he was appointed Acting Police Commissioner (COP), Verne Garde revealed that he intends to meet with Prime Minister Philip J Pierre, to present a plan that outlines how he will deal with crime. That meeting will take place on Monday.
Garde, who met with the press on Wednesday, said a multi-sectoral approach is needed to deal with crime.
The Acting Commissioner of Police said he doesn’t plan on paying “lip service”, but rather, is one who is “minded to action” and the plan will reveal this much.
“It is a job that I intend to do in a very organised and systematic way. We have had some challenges in the past and I’m happy to say that we have now constructed a plan… to deal with the reduction of crime and other criminal offences,” Garde told reporters.
But while his plan is ambitious, police commissioners, time and time again, have echoed similar sentiments with some missing the mark completely.
Will Garde’s appointment make any difference? Will this Commissioner be yet another who fails to make a dent in serious criminal activities on the island?
“I will tell you this much: the plan that I’m going to present is a plan that (has) been discussed with my Senior Command. It includes road safety and everything else. It is certainly not a rehashing of plans that we’ve had before,” Garde declared, adding that he’d spent sleepless nights putting the plan together.
But whether or not he can execute this plan within six months (the time allotted to him to act as COP) will soon be revealed.
Garde said that he will put his best foot forward, and is one “who believes that to maintain a job you must show results. This is essentially how I operate.”
“I believe that persons should be given an opportunity to show these results and if the results are positive, then persons could be offered an opportunity to continue. Six months with respect to crime is a very long time. A lot of things can happen in six months,” Garde said, noting that it is a “good opportunity for persons to show their performance and to see what we could do in regards to the reduction of crime.”
The Acting COP has his work cut out for him, evidenced by widespread gun-related activities plaguing the island (though the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force recently reported that crime had decreased by 20 per cent); Garde will have to prove that he is efficient enough to do the job.
He too acknowledged that it is not an easy task.
“The job of Commissioner of Police and policing in general is not an easy one and it is one where the public must come on board to assist us. It is only with the help of the public that we will be able to move this plan forward,” Garde stated, adding “I am only a conduit.”
Garde said he believes in capacity building in that if something is working, one should build on it.
“Obviously, something has been working over the last six months that caused a significant reduction in crime by 20 per cent so there are a lot of good and novel things happening in the police force. I think the police now needs to communicate more effectively because there’s a lot of work that the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force has done over the last 20 years and this work has not been catalogued (in my opinion) to the point where the public can assess the work that has been done. At a future press conference I will be in a better position to highlight and celebrate some of that work,” Garde said.
He added, “My plan would essentially surround looking at all of the proper mechanisms that are working and the ones that may have some challenges to build on them to see how we can have a refined crime strategy in Saint Lucia.”
The Acting COP said he intends to work with all stakeholders including the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and plans to look into all cases of interest including the Operation Restore Confidence (ORC) killings.