Political will and civil society partnerships with Police can curb crime
By Pauline Waruguru
Nevis Reporter, SKNVibes.com
 |
|
A cross-section of guests at the Awards Ceremony
|
CHARLESTOWN, Nevis - SUCCESSFUL partnerships with the Police Force that would help to fight crime depend on a serious political will that would invest heavily in national security, President of the St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce Franklin Brand said on Saturday night.
Brand made this pronouncement as the feature speaker at the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force Nevis Division’s Awards Ceremony for police officers held at the Old Manor Hotel, Gingerland.
“What is needed to improve policing in St. Kitts and Nevis will call for a serious political will on the part of the government to invest in national security. I am convinced that when the people of the country can attest to such a political will to prioritising law enforcement, the social partners will confidently step forward to reaffirm their partnership with the police.
“Without partnership we will all sink, drown and fail separately and collectively,” Brand told the gathering.
 |
| Franklin Brand, President St. Kitts and Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce |
He said most crimes are committed by “young, misguided men lacking proper male role models” who are raised by single, young and often unskilled mothers who have the burden of being both mother and father to children with absentee and often, different fathers.
Brand said some of the factors that breed crime include materialism, greed and a desire to get rich quickly in order to “keep up with the Joneses”.
The Chamber of Commerce President noted that all these factors were leading people into theft, fraud, debtors’ court, bouncing cheques, and running away from creditors. He noted that the youth are graduating from using marijuana to snorting and shooting hardcore narcotics such as cocaine, heroin and other recreational drugs, “habits which are easy to start, costly to maintain and difficult to drop”.
Brand told the gathering that the changing character of crimes poses challenges to the Police Force. “This mammoth undertaking of maintaining law and order, ensuring public safety, bringing criminals to justice, and preventing and reducing crime can never reasonably be expected to be done by the police in isolation. Partnership with the police in crime fighting and prevention is imperative. Today and tomorrow’s criminals are our neighbours, our children, our relatives, our staff, our customers and even some of our students.
~~Adz:Left~~ “It stands to reason that partnership with the police, business community, religious organisations, community groups and government should be an accepted practice and not something to be lobbied for.”
Brand called on stakeholders to partner with the Police Force to maintain law and order as this would enhance and protect tourism. “We need look no further than to Aruba with the Natalie Holloway case, and to St. Croix with the Fountain Valley murders to realise how fragile an industry tourism happens to be – especially in an information age where worldwide communication is instantaneous, and negative and influential press coverage could spell doom for our tiny economy in a heartbeat.”
He recommended several partnership models that were tested in other parts of the world and found to be effective. One model he recommended involves e-mail alerts about criminal activity that could potentially affect specific businesses or communities in a geographic location. Such emails must only be sent by the Police Force and the members’ e-mail addresses should not be shared or divulged to anyone outside the partnership base.
Other recommendations he listed were year-round crime prevention seminars, literature and audio-visual products on crime prevention, installation of electronic surveillance systems, and investing in Global Positioning Systems (GPS), which will assist the police to monitor criminals and the vehicles they may use.
Brand also said police should be equipped with cameras in order to accurately record arrests, stop and search exercises. Also recommended by Brand is fitting two police cars in the Federation with mobile computer terminals to help patrol officers to enter crime report, accident, and offender, noting “mobile data computers also enable officers to communicate without radio transmission”.
Brand urged Caribbean governments to establish an OECS or CARICOM Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Centre where funds could be pooled for joint procurement or equipment. Such centres, he said, could establish and promote technologies that enable the police to map and track offenders from crime scenes to their likely residences.
Brand called on phone companies to partner with the Police Force by using the existing cellular phone technology. He said an electronic surveillance unit that uses cell phone seizure devices to extract and download cell phone data and photos that could be useful evidence should be established.
Brand charged all officers of the Nevis Division to continue to pursue excellence in the execution of their duties: “Doing everything in your power to improve yourselves personally and professionally.
“Such improvements could come from simply investing in a subscription to a respected law enforcement magazine, to enrolling for an on-line degree in policing from reputable institutions such as Boston University and our own UWI Centre for Continuing Studies, to perhaps using your vacation wisely by attending an international law enforcement conference,” Brand advised members of the Police Force.
The theme for this year’s Awards Ceremony was “Building on Five Years of Partnership”.
