My fellow St Lucians,
I come before you tonight as a father, a brother, and a son of this beautiful island who shares your fears, your frustrations, and your deep concern for the future we are leaving our children.
Tonight, I speak to the mother in Marchand who locks her doors before sunset. I speak to the father in Vieux Fort who walks with his daughter to school because the streets are no longer safe. I speak to the grandmother in Gros Islet who prays every night that her grandson will come home safely. I speak to every St Lucian who has watched our beloved country descend into a state of lawlessness.
Let me be clear about where we stand today. St Lucia is experiencing the worst crime crisis in our nation’s history. In 2024, we recorded 77 murders, the deadliest year we had ever seen. These are our neighbors, our children, our future, cut down in their prime.
Under the current administration, firearm-related murders have surged from 5 out of every 10 murders to just under 8 out of 10 murders. This tells us that our streets have been flooded with illegal weapons while our police force has been starved of resources. The police budget was actually cut while crime soared to record levels. In 2024, our beloved St Lucia had the sixth-highest homicide rate in the Caribbean at 42.8 per 100,000 people. With its homicide rate only about 7% higher than St Lucia’s, Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency, yet our leaders remain silent on our own crisis.
Beyond the numbers, crime places an enormous burden on our mental health and an already strained healthcare system, with gunshot victims and assault cases overwhelming our emergency rooms and diverting critical medical resources
from other patients who need care. Every shooting, every stabbing, every violent crime sends victims to our hospitals, consuming limited medical supplies, operating room time, and the expertise of our doctors and nurses who should be delivering babies and caring for our elderly. Crime doesn’t just destroy the lives of its direct victims, it puts every St. Lucian’s health and well-being at risk.
This administration has not only been silent but also so disorganized and soft on crime that they forgot to even appoint a Minister of National Security for months after taking office. They disbanded the K9 unit that was crucial for drug detection and crime prevention then Tyson, the single remaining K9 was mysteriously poisoned. They failed to maintain our police scanners, leaving our officers operating blind on the streets. Where we had built a network of over 1200 CCTV cameras across the island, they have allowed this critical infrastructure to fall into disrepair.
And our crisis goes deeper than the crime rate. It strikes at the very heart of our justice system.
We have witnessed not just a surge in crime but the collapse of the justice system with the mysterious disappearance of evidence in critical criminal cases. When evidence vanishes from police custody, when the very foundation of our justice system crumbles, we are not just failing the victims, we are betraying every law-abiding citizen who depends on that system for protection. This is why we will establish a dedicated CSI unit that will handle ALL evidence collection and preservation, ensuring the chain of custody is never compromised.
Even more disturbing are the multiple sexual assault allegations against a senior police officer, allegations that have been met with deafening silence from those who should be ensuring accountability. When those sworn to protect become those we fear, when those who should uphold justice become those who pervert it, our society is in grave danger.
Most shocking of all, they brought Richard Frederick – whom they themselves identified as associated with criminal elements – into Cabinet and have allowed him to compromise the independence of our institutions. This has gone far beyond poor governance; it is a betrayal of the public trust and sends a clear message that government has become a facilitator of crime rather than its enemy.
When government is seen as a facilitator of crime, when those with criminal backgrounds or associations are rewarded with high office, we have lost the moral authority to ask our young people to choose the path of law and order.
What may be most troubling of all is the silence. The silence from the highest levels of government when our people cry out for safety. The silence when evidence disappears. The silence when serious allegations surface against those in positions of authority. The silence when asked about their plan to fight crime – because they never had one.
This silence is complicity. It is an abdication of the sacred responsibility that comes with leadership. This administration has been soft on crime, with no accountability and only excuses.
My fellow St Lucians, it was not always this way. In 2019, under the United Workers Party administration, we recorded 51 murders, 1 fewer than the SLP’s deadliest years. And when crime increased, we increased the police budget from EC$88 million to EC$102 million. We installed over 1200 new CCTV cameras across the island, creating a network of eyes that helped deter crime and solve cases. We maintained a fully operational K9 unit. We equipped our police with working scanners. We established protocols to protect evidence and maintain the integrity of our justice system.
We understood then, as we understand now, that fighting crime requires more than just good intentions – it requires resources, technology, strategy, and most importantly, the political will to make the hard decisions and to never be seen as facilitating crime.
Two years ago, in December 2022, I wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister. In that letter, I set aside partisan politics and offered specific, concrete solutions to address our growing crime crisis. I proposed the establishment of a Crime Command Centre, modeled after the successful COVID Command Centre. I recommended fast-tracking CCTV installation, implementing mandatory vessel monitoring systems, instituting rewards programs for information on illegal weapons, and addressing court backlogs.
Most importantly, I offered the full support of the United Workers Party to work together, across party lines, to protect our people. Because crime should never be political. Crime affects all of us, regardless of our political affiliation, our economic status, or where we live.
That letter was ripped to shreds. Those recommendations were ignored. And in the two years since, our situation has only gotten worse.
Tonight, I want to share with you not just what is wrong, but what we can make right.
I want to share with you how we can make pregnant mothers safer on our streets, how we can make young boys graduate and find pride in classrooms, trades, and businesses, not get killed on street corners. Where justice is not a privilege for the well-connected, but a right for every St Lucian.
This is an achievable reality if we have the courage to pursue it. The United Workers Party has a concrete plan to restore safety and trust in our justice system, and beyond that, a bold vision to make St Lucia the safest, most prosperous island in the Caribbean.
First, we will restore resources to law enforcement. We will reverse the budget cuts and ensure our police have the equipment, training, and support they need. We will
re-establish the K9 unit, provide working scanners to all our officers, and restore our network of 1200 CCTV cameras with modern technology integration.
Second, we will secure our borders. We will implement mandatory vessel monitoring systems, strengthen our customs operations, and cut off the pipeline of illegal weapons flowing into our communities. We will make polygraph testing mandatory for customs and police officers to root out corruption.
Third, we will reform our justice system. We will fast-track court cases, implement bench trials to reduce backlogs, and establish a dedicated CSI unit to handle ALL evidence collection and preservation, ensuring that when evidence is collected, it is properly secured and can never disappear. We will have zero tolerance for the disappearance of evidence or any other compromise of our justice system.
Fourth, we will demand accountability. No one, regardless of their position or connections, will be above the law. Allegations of misconduct will be thoroughly investigated, and those found guilty will face the full consequences of their actions. Unlike this, we will ensure that government service is reserved for those of impeccable character.
Fifth, we will engage our communities. We will create a civilian oversight body for crime fighting, similar to NEMAC during COVID, giving our citizens a voice in keeping their communities safe. We will implement rewards programs to encourage citizens to report illegal weapons and criminal activity.
If the current administration will not act, if they will not break their silence, if they will not provide the leadership our country desperately needs, then it falls to us, all of us, to demand better.
My fellow St Lucians, we can continue down this path of rising crime, disappearing evidence, and government silence, where leaders spend more time attacking the opposition than protecting our people, where they forget to appoint security ministers and bring persons whose characters they themselves have excoriated into Cabinet. Or we can choose a different path – a path of accountability, transparency, and genuine commitment to the safety of every Lucian.
I want to make you a personal promise tonight. If you give us the opportunity to serve you again, we will treat the safety of every St Lucian as our highest priority. We will not be silent when evidence disappears. We will not ignore allegations of misconduct. We will never allow known criminal elements into government, and we will ensure that government is always seen as the enemy of crime, not its facilitator.
We will work every day to earn back your trust, to restore safety to your communities, and to build a St Lucia where every child can walk to school safely, every mother can sleep peacefully, and every family can build their future without fear.
The United Workers Party is ready to lead. We have the team, the vision, and importantly, the integrity to guide St Lucia through this crisis and into a more secure future. We are not compromised, so we can be tough on crime.
We can accept the unacceptable – rising crime, government silence, soft approaches with no accountability and only excuses, and a justice system in crisis. Or we can choose to fight for something better.
I believe in the strength of the St Lucian people. I believe in our capacity to overcome any challenge when we work together. I believe that our best days are not behind us, but ahead of us.
But we must act. We must demand accountability. We must insist on transparency. We must vote for leaders who will put your safety first, who will speak truth even when it is uncomfortable, and who will never, ever be silent when our people are in danger.
Leaders who will never be facilitators of crime.
The time for silence is over. The time for excuses is over. The time for half-measures and empty promises is over. The time for being soft on crime while bringing criminal elements into government is over.
The time for real leadership, for real solutions, for a real commitment to your safety is now.
Together, we will restore safety to St Lucia. Together, we will rebuild trust in our institutions. Together, we will create a secure future for all St Lucians.
“Gone the days when strife and discord dim our children’s toil and rest. Dawns at last a brighter day, stretches out a glad new way.
May the Good Lord bless our island, guard her sons from woe and harm” May God bless each of you, and may God bless our beautiful St Lucia.