BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AFTER its fourth annual summer camp concludes in the next couple of days, the work of Operation Future (OF) would end. This is according to founder and president of the organisation, Officer Lauston Percival.
Years ago, particular police officers were attached to different schools across the Federation and had responsibility for maintaining contact with the schools and ensuring that their presence is felt there as a means of bridging the gap between the police and community.
It was out of this initiative that OF was birthed 12 years ago by Officer Lauston Percival. And as the initial initiative fizzled out, OF continued and grew in scope to include after-school programmes, summer camps and field trips among other things.
In previous interviews with the media, Officer Percival had indicated that the movement is aimed at tackling crime from a proactive standpoint; reaching the younger generation and steering them in the right direction from a tender age.
In a recent interview with SKNVibes, Percival explained that keeping the movement running has been and continues to be a struggle.
“Operation Future has been up and running now for 12 years and it is a struggle. It is a struggle in organizing, in getting assistance, in getting the authorities to take Operation Future as it is especially from a policing standpoint. It’s a good community initiative and it is also a good way to keep our young persons in check for want of a better expression. And also it bridges the gap between the police and the community.”
He said while there has been some success in this regard, there is far more that needs to be done. He added what needs to be done can only be realized if the required support is given.
“To date that has not yet been done and it’s been a struggle for me as the president and founder of Operation Future. So I decided that this year it shall be the last summer camp and also for Operation Future.
“This thing is not about finances but one of the things that I am asking for is more officers because once we have more officers we can do more; we can go to the schools more, do more community outreach, we can do so much more if we only dedicate a group of officers to this cause. Because the general public sees and knows what the outcome is once there are police officers interacting on a daily basis with children. Children become friends of the police and once that happens, you are able to win over the community. That has worked for me but as I said this is not about me, this is about our nation’s youth.”
The officer, who is currently attached to the Sandy Point Police Station, said he is confident that the programme would see more success and would have a farer reach if other officers were assigned to it.
“So we need to get much more…I know definitely once we have more officers involved we would be able to stop some of this crime and violence that is going on. They are not going to stop tomorrow but we have to stop the young ones from going in and continuing in it. This is what we have to do.”
The Operation Future founder said he simply cannot continue with the way things are and although he has been approached by several individuals and asked to reconsider, he maintains that the status quo has to change if the programme is to continue.
“I think it is time for me to pack up and call it a day. If things don’t change, if we don’t get the authorities on board, if we don’t get certain things put in place so we can do this on a regular basis, it cannot work…I know a lot of persons are saying that I can’t finish away with it but I cannot continue the struggle. I definitely can’t continue the struggle anymore.
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