Premier of Nevis meets with Police; pledges continued assistance from NIA
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Premier of Nevis the Hon. Joseph Parry
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CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (JANUARY 18, 2008) -- Premier of Nevis, the Hon. Joseph Parry called on the Nevisian public to give their full cooperation to the Police in their fight against crime, as he reiterated the Nevis Island Government’s promise to support the law men in the interest of Nevis.
In an exclusive interview with the Department of Information on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 the Premier underscored the importance of a low crime rate to Nevis.
“Let me say to everybody that our tourism depends on a low crime rate. The lower the crime rate the better our reputation,” he said.
Mr. Parry told students that their habit of loitering in Charlestown after school in particular on Fridays should stop and they should make their way home promptly. He also appealed to parents to monitor their children and sought the assistance of persons who congregated to discuss gang related activity or use drugs to desist from those activities.
The Premier said the Administration had placed the matter of crime as a high priority area in 2008 and he had announced the intention to do whatever it could to better position officers of the Nevis Police Division to further reduce low crime rate on the island.
“In my New Year speech I indicated that we [NIA] will be working very closely with the Police this year to keep crime under control. I must say it [crime] increased marginally over last year and over the year before but it is still very low. We want to have improvement this year so I have done two things at the beginning of the year. ~~Adz:Right~~
“Firstly I had a meeting with the Strategic Committee of the Police a few days ago reviewing the statistics in regards to the crimes that were committed and solutions to the crimes and then this morning I met with the police to tell them our plans, what we hope to achieve and to hear from them,” he said.
Mr. Parry stated that the Federal Government had the responsibility for the Police but assured the Officers that the Administration would ensure that they were comfortable to better perform their duties.
He also addressed a number of concerns raised by the Officers during the meeting.
“The Nevis Island Administration will take the necessary steps to improve those conditions immediately! We had a very good meeting! They raised issues like two jobs; the conditions of the Newcastle Police Station; a stove in the Police Headquarters that was not really working. What I have done immediately, I came back to my office and I had a stove ordered and that stove has been sent to the Police Station.
“The Police Force in Nevis is serving the people of Nevis and they are supporting us with the programmes that we are implementing so we will not even worry about the responsibility and where the authority lies. We will do what we have to do to make sure that the Police are comfortable at the Charlestown Police Station and at the out-stations and generally in their operations, that they have the fullest support of the NIA,” he said.
The Premier further disclosed that the police were actively working on the acquisition of another police dog to expand the K9 Unit which would to assist in their crime fighting efforts.
