Members of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, along with community volunteers who work with them to form Operation Future, came to Gingerland Secondary School and made a presentation to students from Assembly time until after 11 am on Tuesday, March 23.

The group, which was established five years ago, is dedicated to the following mission: "To interact with, educate and embrace our nation's youth, in our concerted quest to positively guide and nurture their young minds to heighten their awareness about crime and keep them on the straight and narrow path."

Constable Lauston Percival shared words of inspiration with the students, such as encouraging them to be grateful for the lives and utilizing their natural talents for to engage in activities like singing. He then sang a song for the audience.

Woman Police Constable Lyndita Powell works in the Criminal Office, where she has interacted with many young men in the students' age range who have experienced at least one conviction. She informed the young audience that violence is not the way to go.

"Gangs are not the answer," she warned. "Guns are not the answer."

She also advised students to read 1st Corinthians chapter 13 as the passage carries a message that would hopefully prevent them from doing anything bad. Powell also pleaded with the students to have manners and show respect.

Mr. André Phipps, from Toronto, Canada, is an active member of Operation Future. He shared his views on how serious the Federation's gang-related problems are. He warned the audience that joining gangs would get them killed before the age of 20. He also spoke about his father, a police officer, who was murdered in St. Kitts.

"It's a jungle out there, you all need t know that," he said. "You may be asked to kill someone just to prove that you deserve to be in a gang. Picture someone coming into your house killing your mother, sister, aunt, father - just because they feel that they deserve to be in a gang."

Mr. Phipps also touched on how a criminal record can prohibit a person from entering countries like Canada, where a visa is not needed to enter. In addition, he spoke of life in jail and he painted a very grim picture.

"You walk in straight, you come out walking funny," he said, informing that inmates tend to show no mercy to young males who have never been in jail before.

Viewing gun violations as very series offenses, Mr. Phipps said that in his opinion anyone caught with a gun in their possession should receive an immediate sentencing of 50 years, noting that in the Federation people get away with many things which are illegal.

In relation to teenaged mothers, he opined that the situation has contributed to the gang problem, in that many young parents are not fully equipped to raise their children properly.

"That's why they become gang members," he said. "They are getting love in the wrong places."

Mr. Phipps final words to the students were: "Choose your friends, don't let them choose you," and also, "Show me your friends and I will show who you are."
A PowerPoint Presentation was shown by Mr. Dan McMullin entitled, "Gangs & Violence: A Dead End."

Mr. McMullin told those present that he has spent a lot of his life around tough criminals, and for the past four years has been a member of Operation Future since relocating to Nevis. He took it upon himself to paint over graffiti on various structures around the island. He has since been working with Mr. Stephen C. Walwyn, who is Chairman of the Nevis Community Anti-Crime Initiative. One of his primary motivations is to wake up the community and its children.

In his presentation, positive messages like, "You are in charge of your destiny" spread a message of hope for everyone to make a good life for himself or herself. One slide informed that knowledge is the difference between making positive and negative choices - the more one knows about the possibilities of making certain decisions, the less likely they are to make an unwise choice.

However, there were also images of recent murders in the Federation; some in their caskets, others where they were shot and lying on the ground. This displayed how gang activity affects the families of the deceased, the communities in which they live and the local schools.

Co-founder of the Crips, the late Stanley 'Tookie' Williams, was featured toward the end of the presentation. As a gang member, he had reportedly killed to support his drug habit. The convicted felon was charged with four counts of murder, but then turned his life around while he sat on Death Row in a California prison. He wrote books focusing on anti-gang and violence themes. He apologized to the entire world, although his apology couldn't save him - he was executed by lethal injection on 12th December, 2005. Mr. McMullin informed that 'prison redemption' is a common thing which occurs through art and poetry.

An array of items that were confiscated from individuals during 'stop and search' operations were viewed by The Observer. Among them were spliffs (wrapped in bambu leaves); a makeshift clay pipe; chalice; marijuana (popularly known as weed), crack, and cocaine all held in dime bags. Four coloured bandanas: red for Bloodz, blue for Crips, purple for Grapestreet and black for Blacknight, which hails from Tabernacle.

The Observer spoke to Constable Lauston Percival on Operation Future's success in fulfilling its mission.

"We have seen it working especially in the primary schools," he said. "We have seen a decrease in the fights in the primary schools and stealing…less complaints are coming from the principals of primary schools.

"Children are always easy to relate to and most of the times, you find the older ones have already been exposed to the negative; that's why we spend most of our time with the primary schools before they get caught up.….. The major complaint from parents of primary children in the beginning was marijuana use but now they are complaining of gang involvement."

The Constable expressed hope for high school students and felt that everyone deserves at least one chance.

"Nobody is too bad to change," he posited.

Operation Future is a12-member group. They visit the schools within the Federation on Mondays and Fridays but are at work everyday. Constable Percival sent an appeal to persons who are willing to get involved to contact them via their Web site, www.sknoperationfuture.com.

Concerned Parents in the Nevis Community Speak Up

Speaking out against the recent deadly shooting of Karim 'Sleepy' Browne next the Gingerland Secondary School (GSS), Mrs. Carmella Lawrence and others took to the school with placards as their way of saying, 'Enough is enough!'

During the school assembly on Friday, March 19, the protesters came to send a strong message to the community and to the detested criminals, as well as to denounce the thoughtless killings of the island's young men.

"As parents, we are concerned. Somebody needs to take a stand! These things should not have to be accepted as the norm," she said to The Observer.

"You send your children to school to be educated, not to be shot at. We don't condone this type of activity. We don't want this type of activity," she added.

While at GSS, Mrs. Lawrence encouraged the students present to say out loud "WE NEED PEACE," which was spelled out on a placard held in front of them.

Nearby supermarket, Best Buy (Gingerland Branch), got involved by placing two freshly made placards on their front wall. The posters read, "STOP THE CRIME!!!" and "BADNESS OUTTA STYLE!"

As a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis, Mrs. Lawrence is troubled by the fact that too many of the murder victims are male, and that at the current homicide rate grown women may not have any available men to marry.

"There needs to be an awakening…This is a serious problem; it is all our problem," she said.

Many of these shooting murders are believed to be gang-related. Mrs. Lawrence posited that to be killed over a colour was simply ludicrous, and wondered where the good judgment was in any of it.

"What is the logic? What is the sense?" she questioned.

A clarion call was sent to anyone who might have information concerning the killings to pass it on the Police, so as to expose and apprehend those responsible in order to make the community, and country on a whole, a much safer place to reside in.