Claudia Liburd
Nevis Reporter - SKNVibes.com
~~Adz:Left~~Superintendent Joseph Liburd has announced that there has been an increase in the reporting of crimes as well as in the crime detection rates in Nevis resulting in an overall decrease in crime for the year 2006.
This statement came just after the close of the Christmas holiday which was celebrated in Nevis. According to Liburd the increase in crime detection rates has led to an overall decrease in crime in Nevis.
For the past year there has been an overall decrease in crime. At the end of last year we had two hundred and ninety one reported crimes in Nevis. In our plans and strategies for crime-fighting in 2006 our aim was to reduce crime by at least 5 per cent and also to increase our detection rate which was 40-something per cent last year.
He continued: "These figures are pertinent up until the end of yesterday and we are hoping that by the end of this year that we are able to achieve our goal to reduce reported crimes in Nevis by 5 per cent. Last year we had 291 crimes reported and up until the end of last night we had 268. We are behind by 23 and that is looking good. Our detection rate is presently exactly 50% meaning that we have detected half of the reported crimes which is commendable."
Liburd said that according to international FBI standards, if you can detect 1 out of 3 crimes you are doing a good job.
"We in Nevis have always been above that 33% standard. So far we are rounding it off at about 1 out of every two not only this year but for every year after that."
Further he highlighted that nationals had a Christmas free of any major incidents and he attributed this to the hard work of the police division.
"The Christmas season was fairly good in terms of crime in Nevis. We had about three or four incidents of stealing and one incident where someone was found in possession of marijuana and was arrested. That was from the evening of Friday 22 December, up until the morning of Wednesday 27 December and I would say that is not a bad figure for the Christmas season." ~~Adz:Right~~
Liburd admitted that the police officers in Nevis work very hard especially those in the Criminal Investigation Unit as well as those in the Task Force and those on the beat.
The superintendent also explained that the establishment and maintenance of a good relationship with the general public also assisted in the overall decrease in crime on Nevis.
"The measures that we put in place basically are that we started to build a closer relationship with the public so that we can have heightened intelligence coming to us in terms of people coming to us and reporting criminal activities."
"We were able to increase our patrols both foot and mobile and we were also able to do some enforcement in terms of targeting known criminals and to do enforcement based on the intelligence that we receive from our intelligence agents and those who would give us information," said Liburd.
He acceded that renovation and refurbishment of police headquarters would better help to accommodate police and intimated the need for additional police equipment to better fight crime.
Building and renovating police stations will not be enough to assist in crime-fighting right now; it will help to accommodate the police and better living conditions. The equipment needed would be vital to crime fighting and for detection of crime.
Presently there is an AFIS (Automated Finger Printing System) and it is being used in St. Kitts and it is of great use. In terms of DNA we have been using DNA. All we have to do is color the evidence properly here and then we get the evidence off to a forensic lab whether it is in Jamaica, England or the U.S.A.
Liburd said: "We have a Canine section now in Nevis where we have a dog that can detect by sniffing all sorts of narcotics drugs, firearms and explosives. With these we believe that we have sufficient equipment that is needed. There is other equipment that has been in use that can help with detection but we know that these things come with money but we can wait to find out."
He explained that the Canine Unit was an initiative of the police division in Nevis as well as a community-minded group.
"The Canine Unit was an initiative of the police division in Nevis as well as certain members of the community who raised the money for two police officers from our division to train in Miami in dog handling. All the monies raised were from this community-based group. They have really helped to get the Canine Unit up and running. In the years to come we hope to get more dogs as well as more officers trained to add to the unit."
Finally, Liburd expressed his gratitude to the general public, stakeholders, as well as the past and present government for their invaluable assistance over the past year.~~Adz:Right~~
"I must say thanks to the general public for assisting the police. Usually when people get vex with the police they say that, 'I am not saying anything to help the police'. But we try to tell them it is not about helping the police it is a matter of helping the police to help the community and helping us to help you. I must say thanks to the public for helping us to help them and helping to keep Nevis as peaceful and as quiet as possible with as low crime as possible and for helping us for being able to boast of an increase in reported crimes.
"Additionally, we want to thank all the stakeholders who came on and assisted us by donating vehicles and other equipment. We also want to thank the government both past and present for coming on board to help us get refurbished accommodations, so I must say thanks to all. Next year we expect the police to work just as hard as we have worked through 2006 and even harder to further reduce crime while we keep our detection rate close to that 50% if not even higher."
