BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CRIMINALS across St. Kitts and Nevis have been set on high alert that the government “shall not back down” in its crime fighting efforts and will relentlessly pursue all perpetrators in the name of justice.
“I want to make the point that our latest strategy in fighting crime must continue to be persistence. We must continue to fight crime. The government wants to make clear that we shall not back down. And we continue to…search to find the relevant solutions to the issues that are affecting crime here in St. Kitts and Nevis”, leader of the country, Dr. the Hon. Denzil Douglas told members of the media during his monthly press conference held on Wednesday, August 18, 2010.
The Prime Minister, as he has done on countless occasions, reiterated that the war against crime continues to remain a high priority for his government, so much so that in the not-too-distant future the criminal justice system would receive needed legislative assistance.
“And we therefore continue to ensure that our agenda to fight crime remains at the top of the list. And we shall do all within our power to ensure that we detect, bring to justice and, where appropriate, carry out the necessary sentences for those who would have been committed according to the court system.
“By the beginning of September, the Attorney-General would be rolling out a package that would assist the criminal justice system in fighting crime. He has given a commitment to my government, my Cabinet that he would revisit, in particular, the Department of the Public Prosecution. He would want to make sure that that is strengthened in every way.
“He is already almost ready with regard to new legislation that would assist the gathering of evidence to be used in trials and to preserve that evidence, even in situations where the person giving that evidence may not be physically present to deliver that evidence in court. And so apart from strengthening in terms of the manpower in the DPP office, he is also determined to bring legislative support as part of the package of…reviewed criminal justice programme in fighting crime here in St. Kitts and Nevis.”
Complementary to this and other measures implemented in the recent and distant past, Dr. Douglas explained, is his government’s continued search for “opportunities to have external assistance”.
“Just on Monday in Cabinet, this matter was being discussed. But we are also impacted by the observations that have been made in countries where we have brought into the Caribbean region, persons from abroad to head our security forces. My Cabinet is strongly in favour of bringing in the appropriate leadership at the appropriate levels within the police force to fight crime; bring in the equipment and resources generally to fight crime. Just this week, we had in our country the consultant from the European Union who is working with our government to put in place a multi-million dollar package of assistance for National Security purposes alone.”
