By James Milne Gaskell
It was good to see the happy face of Omel on the front page under the heading “HTA honours tourism trade practitioners”. She was given her award by the Premier. It is not before time that this award was made. People may not realise the importance, yes the importance, of the work that Omel, ably supported by sister Julie, has been doing for more years than she may care to remember at the Nevis Airport. For those years she has been the representative of Carib Aviation, and therefore also of LIAT when Carib was responsible for their flights to Nevis. To so many tourists the friendly welcoming cheerful Omel was the first impression of Nevis. There she was as the tourist stepped on to the tarmac. First impressions are most significant. We say that we are a friendly people. Omel gives that process a head start, and that impression encourages tourists to return. When at Montpelier I remember many guests saying with feeling, “And there was Omel to greet us again.” At the hotel it was not only the greeting that mattered, we knew that in all difficult situations, delayed flights etc., Omel could be relied on to do her effective best to ensure that our guests arrived or left as required. Many of them felt that Omel was the Airport, and might not have been entirely surprised to find that the Newcastle airport had become the Omel Wilkin Airport.
Awards for the late Jim Johnson and for Winston Crooke were well deserved. Winston has been responsible for the surge of support for cycling and for the triathlon competitions. Something new for tourists and locals alike. His enthusiasm is catching. Kudos to Winston. May interest in these pursuits continue to grow.
Criminals may be rejoicing that Joseph Liburd has left the Police Force. One may hope that they celebrate too early and that from an active retirement he will still be able to rupture their nefarious plans. It was good to hear so many callers to the ‘Let’s Talk’ programme when Joseph Liburd was the guest, almost all wishing to contribute their simple ‘Thank you’ to him for his 32 years service. Only one caller, whose identity I do not know, but he always prefaces his remarks with ‘My Queen and I’, produced a politically loaded question. It was about Cable TV. The caller should appreciate that our police cannot be seen to have any partisan politics. Their duty is to the community. Nor should they be questioned in public about their colleagues. It was interesting to hear that the Royal St. Christopher & Nevis Police Force used to take all the regional honours, and, another matter, that the leadership is looking into the organisation of driving tests, and in particular the very high rate of failure. My impression, without much evidence, has been that candidates are sometimes tricked into failing, and that the tests have not really been held, as they should have been, genuinely to find out whether the candidate is a good enough driver to allow on the road. We do not want unsafe drivers. When I was young, I was failed first time by a Miss Wood in North Yorkshire. I learnt later that this lady passed very few, and that the Authorities were concerned about this, and sent a senior driving test examiner, posing as a candidate to take a test with Miss Wood. She failed him too. So, you see, it happens elsewhere.
I add my personal thanks to Joseph Liburd for his 32 years of service, and I wish him an extremely active and long retirement, and may he continue in whatever way suits him best, to thwart the criminal classes.
NTV showed a series of pre-opening interviews at the Four Seasons. Clearly everyone is very pleased and optimistic that this jewel of the Caribbean will again be showing resorts in other islands how it should be done. However, the manager did give a grave warning. As I understood him, he said that uncontrolled crime could cause not a two year break in Four Seasons business but could destroy tourism, our livelihood, for twenty years. Everything is dependent upon tourism, not least the construction business, and the revenues of Government, whereby public services and the salaries of civil servants are maintained.
The Nevis Hotel Association gave their own warning to the then Premier, by letter almost twenty years ago. I know, because I drafted the letters and have copies. The main letter was dated May 28th 1991. In a follow up to that letter, headed Crime and Tourism, we said:
‘The key to crime prevention and crime solution is a free flow of information from the public to the police. We are a small close community, where it is difficult to do anything without someone else knowing about it, theoretically an ideal community for good policing. However, before this will work in practice, (1) the public must realise that their own livelihood is put in jeopardy by criminal activity, and that it is in their interests to supply information to the police if they have it and, (2) the public must trust the police. This trust has to be earned every day, by competence, and fair and reasonable treatment of suspects, within the Law at all times. If the perception is one of ‘them and us’ little information will be given. If individual policemen and women are well known, respected, approachable, and perhaps liked, it will not be easy for the criminal to hide knowledge of his crimes.
The job done by the leaders of our police force is more important than anything we do or any politician can do for the preservation of our society at this crucial time. These leaders, if able men and well supported, can guarantee, or if incompetent or corrupt, destroy, our existing peaceful law abiding way of life, and with it our prosperity. They must be backed by us, by the politicians and by the community. Support of the police by the community begins in the home and the schools.’
We also suggested that:
1. The force be always kept up to strength. And that our Assistant Superintendent should, with the Commissioner make annual reassessments.
2. The pay structure be adequate to encourage local recruits and discourage middle and senior officers from leaving.
3. There must be a serious and continuous Government-funded public relations campaign to increase the community’s co-operation with its police force.
4. It be made possible for officers to go on training courses whenever that training was available and that funds be set aside for the purpose.
Crime on this island is not new. In 1991 we said that one of our member hotels reported that there had been about sixteen burglaries or attempts on it or on the neighbouring four foreign-owned houses in the last five months. At that time we had a meeting with ASP Fahie because we were concerned about the proliferation of drugs and guns.
Now, not only has the scale of the crime problem become greater, but guns are, in comparison to 1991, widespread, and the Internet means that criminal events, which would not have been picked up by the International Press in 1991, are now posted on the Internet for all time.
An encouraging sign was the interview with the Four Seasons employee who was a part of the FS March Against Crime. She told us, as far as I can remember, that the only way to defeat crime was by community involvement. Twenty years ago no one would have been interested in participating in such a march.
All the work put in by the Omel’s, the Winston’s and other hotel and tourism workers will come to nothing if crime wins. Nevis should not be difficult to police, if the community is truly a part of the fight against crime. What does that mean? It means that you are either for crime or against it. For crime means that you shelter, feed, do not discourage, do not inform upon those who you know or think may be involved in crime. Against crime means that you realise the existence of Nevis, as we know it is under threat from crime, and that you and your fellow citizens have a responsibility to prevent and discourage crime, and inform the authorities and provide evidence if you have any. It means that you withhold food, shelter, sex, money and approval, and try to persuade the miscreant to adopt a less harmful and a more worthwhile life.
People need to take that statement of the Four Seasons’ manager most seriously and discuss with their friends what life would be like if all the hotels closed because not enough tourists were willing to come to an island where they would not feel safe. Where would the money come from? How would we eat? How would we ourselves keep safe? It was reasonably alright during this Four Seasons closure, because that closure was for a limited period and there was every prospect that Four Seasons would re-open within a short time and Government was able to borrow to maintain services. Remember the twenty years’ warning, not given lightly.
It is up to us, every one of us, to play our part in the community against crime. The community, plus a good police force, will defeat crime. The choice is ours.
I cannot help thinking that if our force was comprised of Joseph Liburd’s at the bottom, middle and top levels, our problems would be lessened.
