Security Minister says youth gangs, youth-gang violence major threat to National Security
…advises security personnel to be aggressive and assertive

By Stanford Conway
Editor-in-Chief-SKNVibes.com

Minister of National Security, the Hon. Dwyer Astaphan

Astaphan told the security personnel that while he held the post of Minister of Tourism, he realised that a tourism industry could never run unless the national security apparatus was in place, noting it is the matrix within which everything either works or fails.

“We did everything we could back then to support national security agencies. Upon becoming the Minister of National Security, I took what was considered to be a pretty eccentric step and visited all of the gang holes in the country. I had a number of meetings with these young men and young women, private and public, some live on television and radio, in order to get the community to sense the impact of this problem. In my view, it is the major threat to national security in my country and I would not be surprised if it is the same in yours…youth-gang violence, youth gangs.”

He said youth gangs arose out of something and there is need to assess the causation while treating with the problems.

A section of the participants at the opening ceremony of the Caribbean Heads of Special Branch Conference

“These are youngsters who are not motivated to reap the benefits of a free education, which is available in this country.
 
There are parents who may become parents too soon, who may not have the financial, physical, emotional and spiritual maturity to parent. And so, the parents, while they are already a liability on the community, [with the greatest of respect] they add members to the community who themselves compound the liability issues and put extra pressure on your physical and social infrastructure; not to mention your legal and justice infrastructure.”

Minister Astaphan also blamed some fathers for contributing to the formation of youth gangs. He some men like to father children but they do not like to be fathers. “We like to boast and say we have nine children but we don’t pay for the children. We want a free ‘ride’. That inculcates a lot of anger in our women and they brutalise the children.”

The Security Minister reminded his audience of the 2007 World Bank UN Report on youth gangs and violence in the Caribbean, which stated that the murder rate in the English-speaking Caribbean is higher than that in any other part of the world that has the same macro-economic situation.

He declared that the intelligence gathering network of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force has been strengthened over the past four years, and urged that discussion be held on some of the programmes that were very helpful in identifying problems and problematic individuals.  ~~Adz:Left~~

Astaphan said the problem of crime in St. Kitts was compounded with the closure of the sugar industry. “A lot of lands that have been used for sugar are now seen as very enticing areas for the production of marijuana. It’s as if these folks want to establish a marijuana plantation in the Northeast Caribbean to match those in the Southern Caribbean. This is something we need to resist stoutly.”

He said the youth gangs are well-organised and some people may be surprised to know how many of them are in “little St. Kitts and Nevis and how organised they are”.
“They sell drugs, they are involved in prostitution, they extort, they contract kill…they do everything. This is not just the movies, this is happening here and I am sure it is happening in your countries,” Astaphan told the security personnel.

He posited that the strategies to be used to combat this situation hang critically on aggressive intelligence gathering and aggressive problem solving. He also informed the gathering that the Federation had implemented a number of programmes to promote a structured social setting to assist gang members and certain categories of people with their self-esteem and job acquisition.

One of those programmes [The Circle of Peace], Astaphan however pointed out, was not particularly successful but he and others continue to work on it. Another programme, Men at School, he noted, was designed to send upstanding men in the community into the schools once every three weeks to bond with the children and teachers and to be a support component in that setting.

Minister Astaphan told the security personnel that as of September the government would implement a Close Circuit Television Programme, where a number of cameras would be erected in some sensitive areas “so that people will understand that what they do will be seen”.

He explained that while the Police are trying to cultivate support and informers from within the community, “we also have to deal with the fact that people are afraid of the repercussions of seeing and telling. So we will have a clinical system in place, and that helps”.

Astaphan also informed that plans are afoot to have a forensic lab in the Federation so that it could service the Northeastern Caribbean and stop them being dependent on Barbados, Trinidad, Jamaica and the FBI, all of whom have been very helpful to the local Police Force.

He further informed that the government wants to establish a Police Development Centre, a centre of excellence to train not only enlisted officers but recruits and members of private security firms, among others, “so that we can inculcate in our people a sense of professionalism and pride in the security work”.    ~~Adz:Left~~

Astaphan reiterated that youth gangs are the major threat in the Caribbean. “They are ruthless…you heard of the Shower Posse from Jamaica; these people are taking their mandates straight out of the Shower Posse. They kill you and they don’t care; they extort and they don’t care; and if we don’t stop it, because they are recruiting people eight to nine years old to stand up at the corner and be their watchmen and spies…and if we don’t get into the meat of this and stop it now, it is going to get worse”.

The Minister told the participants that the local Police would be unyielding in the application of curfews for people under 16 years. “There is no need for them to be in any nightclub or in any jiggy Friday where adults and adult activities are taking place. We have raised the drinking age to 18…they have no business there! The Police must stop them from going to these places and close down the operation. If a child under 18, or whatever your drinking age, is in a bar, get the child out, prosecute the parent and close down the bar”.

He urged the participants to hold hands during the Conference and continue the intelligence gathering process, which is a legacy of the 2007 Cricket World Cup. “But the application of policing must be stepped up and it must be consistent so that the Jamaican criminal seeking haven in Grenada can’t get it, or a Kittitian criminal seeking safe haven in Trinidad will not get it.

“To borrow a phrase from President Bush, ‘smoke them out’; it’s the only alternative because they will smoke you out. Five Policemen have been killed for this year in Jamaica…five too many.”

Astaphan said that is no longer a threat today and advised the law enforcement officers to be assertive and aggressive consistent within the law, which would motivate the support of 90 percent of the community.

The three-day Caribbean Heads of Special Branch Conference is hosted by the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force in collaboration with the Ministry of National Security under the theme: “Promoting stability, security, democracy and economic development through intelligence led policing to reduce the upsurge of youth gangs, drugs, firearms and ammunition”.