While having lunch at the Green Valley Pub I was visited by two FBI agents. They were both Caucasian. The tall one asked if I am Sergeant Greaux and I answered, “Yes, I am.” They both sat and we began talking. They told me that the Cayon Police Station, based on their investigations, has made progress in dealing with the crime situation and the short one asked me what my intention is for the New Year.
I responded, “The theme the Cayon community and the Police of the Cayon Police Station will like to embrace for the New Year is Community Policing.” I continued: “When one considers the ever-increasing challenges and responsibilities being placed on the Police at Cayon, one is under no illusion that the strategies of Police will never be truly successful unless and until they enjoy extensive community support.”
This is not to say, however, that community support alone is a panacea for effectively dealing with the level of violence, crime and criminality that the Cayon community has been experiencing. There are a number of socio-economic and socio-cultural factors which contribute significantly to the crime dynamic, as are being experienced in Cayon.
The short one said, “Explain!”
In my explanation, I said: “Some of these, as have been popularly proffered, include the lack of parental guidance, poverty, negative peer pressure and a breakdown in societal values, or just poor policing.”
The tall one jumped in and said, “According to the statistics and intelligence, you and your men have removed nine firearms and over one hundred and fifty rounds of ammunition from the community. The Green Valley Festival this year was a success and the Cayon High School Queen Pageant was incident free.”
In response, I said: “It is because of a collaborative approach that we were able to address the gun crime situation and also police the community activities.
“You see, all stakeholders in the community must become engaged in the struggle to ensure that crime-causing conditions are reduced or removed totally from the community. It is imperative, therefore, that greater emphasis and attention are place on the circumstances and the environments, which provide individuals with the proclivity to commit crimes.”
The tall one responded: “Mr. Greaux, the horrible event of 911 in the US having very strong notice that the lawless and criminal elements in our midst are prepared to go any lengths to disrupt the peace, order and stability of civil society. And while these acts of terrorisms have so far been committed many miles from your beautiful islands, you have nonetheless been directly affected by its certain consequences.”
I told: “That’s a fact!” And I echoed the cry that our Federation and the Caribbean region on a whole are dependant, to varying degrees, upon tourism as a contributor to our gross domestic product and consequently our economic and social well-being. So with the growing propensity of criminal elements to engage in acts of terror upon innocent men, women and children, the challenges for law enforcement and other civil society institutions become greater every day.
The short said to me, “In the context of the military conflict in the Middle East, there is a very strong possibility that terrorists will seek to focus on soft targets wherever they exist.” And he reminded me of the recent killing in Pakistan, where the Taliban slaughtered 132 children at a military-run school.
He said, “It must be a constant reminder of the distinct possibility”, to which I replied: “Our relatively peaceful and tranquil Federation and the wider Caribbean could at any time very easily become the focus for acts of terror. And this scenario presents additional challenges to our ability and capacity to address the more traditional crimes which we have to continue to deal with, in Cayon and elsewhere on an ongoing basis, such as housebreaking, firearms possession, money laundering, robberies, and other violent crimes.”
The FBI agents then asked what message I would like them to take back to my High Command.
I paused for a moment and said, “I wish to urge the High Command to be ever-vigilant and alert in identifying the factors, circumstances and conditions which can possibly give rise to being a threat to the safety and security of our country that we serve with integrity. In this regard, I will like to encourage all officers to continue to work with and to build partnerships with others. It is only through these partnerships that we can develop the capacity to truly protect, serve and reassure the people of Cayon and of this fFderation that we are in this fight together and together we shall overcome.
