Thursday, January 21, 2010

UNITING TO FIGHT CRIME

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8 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's what I'm talking about, hit those thugs where it hurts, get the snakes out of paradise.

Thommo said...

The title of this article betrays the concept of a united effort to battle crime. What unity is being spoken about here? Is anyone seeing a fresh, innovative and collaborative approach in this strategy? It is the same old khaki pants. Nothing new to tout about in this approach.

Government and Police making bold declarations of intent to fight crime. Blah, blah, blah for a week and soon enough we revert back to the same hew and cry.

There is no denying that government must take the lead in the effort to battle crime, as this is the preeminent function of government, the safety and preservation of citizen and property. I have said it before on this blog NO GOVERNMENT alone can be successful in such an endeavour.

The UWP has a the opportunity to secure in a watershed moment in crime fighting by calling on the Labour party, the NGOs, the Chamber of Commerce, the religious bodies, Civil Society, the judiciary, the Lawyers Association, the Police and the wider society, and perhaps experts (foreign and or local)in Criminal Justice and national security for a national consultation on crime. The object of such a consultation should be a comprehensive report that would form the basis for a new crime fighting strategy/policy for the country.

Here is a chance for King and the UWP to put Kenny and the Labour party to a test to determine whether they have the safety and protection of the people at heart.

Here is a chance for the Labour party to show some magnanimity, and for both Kenny and Kind to display a rare monment of statemanship and comity in the face of the country's ractious and dysfunctional politics.

Instead we see the same one-up⋅man⋅ship being displayed here on the part of the government. We run things. We have all the answers. Stay back, we got this.

Perhaps too Kenny should have taken the initiative to suggest that approach and in so doing show St. Lucians that he too cares very much about the deteriorating crime problem and wants to do something about it.

We continue to practice the divisive politics of winner-takes-all, and that does nothing but make our country more and more ungovernable and dysfunctional.

This is the essence of collaborative crime fighting. Not what is being porported by this article.

Anonymous said...

Very good piece, i agree with you, but on one point i will differ from is when you said we must bring all these people and groups together to discuss crime. What is there to discuss? There is nothing more to discuss, the time for talk is over, it is time for action. It does not take any group of people to know that we just have to provide security in the country for our citizens and visitors. We all know we cannot stop crime completely, but we can reduce it with proper security. All we hear is, we do not have enough policemen, but on the other hand i am hearing the government saying it is ready to provide or to send security/policemen to Haiti, if it is called upon to do so. Where will they find these policemen, will they manufacture them? If we have these policemen in reserve and they are being paid, why can"t they provide security to the country?

Anonymous said...

This is just a load of gesture politics to satisfy the tourist industry.

Wait until the end of the season and we who live here will be back to fending for ourselves as usual.

For goodness sake, they are so desparate they are making officers and inspectors work a beat rota. Shame that more police are not routinely visible to the public without needing a cattle prod up the proverbial to get out of their police stations drinking beer and watching television.

Another example of failed Lucian Govt. The bad news headlines will resume at a torrent and yet more tourists will pull out of coming here. Then after them investors will do the same. Then what?

Oh well, we have bananas eh!?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps you need to take a break and have a banana.

Anonymous said...

How can we take a break, eat bananas and pretend things are alright, when we live in fear in St Lucia, because people are being kill at random in the country, we have a murder every week so far, on top of that we have our tourist being robbed, which is threatening the economy and livelihood of the country, cruise ships are pulling out of St Lucia. We have to talk out loud so the leadership of the country, will take action as soon as possible.

Anonymous said...

To Anonymous #1, to "hit those thugs where it hurts", we have to start hitting those thugs at the top, so that, (hopefully - if the train has not left the station, yet; and I rather suspected it has) it may filter down...

I do not condone this man's behaviour, but when we have "big time thugs" in government, what do you expect the regular thugs to do; when the examples are being set for them with impunity...by those in government...

To really kill a snake, the head has to be removed - CUT OFF!!

Anonymous said...

Tell them and tell them again. This is the first time in the history of St Lucia and in my life time, i have seen THREE (3) ministers of government being being ARRESTED for breaking the law of the country, one minister has been found guilty in court for defrauding the government another minister is still in court for defrauding the government. A minister refuse to follow proper protocol at our international airport another one refuse to acknowledge the immigration officers at the airport, "saying you do not know who i am?". A minister is suing the government, which he is part of for money. We have and ex convict in cabinet as a minister, so what do you expect , if our government is in such a mess, with no example to be set, how can we expect better from the citizenry?