By L.K. Hewlett
St. Kitts Reporter
During a Cabinet meeting on Monday, it was revealed that St. Kitts and Nevis is experiencing difficulties in getting forensic work done at labs overseas.
A six-member team from the High Command of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force, led by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Astona Browne informed Cabinet of the problem of securing forensic testing at labs in Jamaica and the United States.
Browne also said that alternative avenues were being explored in order to guarantee the timely continuation of these vital tests.
At the following post-Cabinet press briefing, Minister of State for Information, Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty said that both labs currently being used by St. Kitts and Nevis cited increasing demands on their own resources as the reason for delayed forensic testing.
“The security commanders outlined that the FBI lab in the United States had indicated that with its own resources being stretched because of the Iraq war, it is no longer able to respond as timely to external demands on its resources. The crime lab in Jamaica has also cited that increased activity in its own jurisdiction had presented similar challenges and was not in a position to give more urgent support to requests from other countries.”
In stark contrast to the reported forensic work challenge, was the revelation by National Security officials that crime had decreased almost 30% for the first six months of 2007 when compared to the previous year.
According to the report there has been an overall 28.7% reduction in the major areas of criminal activity (wounding, shooting, robbery and house-breaking) for St. Kitts, compared to the equivalent period in 2006. The number of incidents of criminal activity dropped from 970 incidents in 2006 to 692 incidents in 2007.
Carty said although the number of shootings had increased by a ‘few incidents’ there was an increase in the resolution of criminal cases so far for the current year.
The National Security officials also unveiled a multi-dimensional plan of action for further and more rapid response to crime and related issues. This plan, they said, is an attempt to continue in a proactive and aggressive way to confront the issue of crime and national security in the federation.
Acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, Stafford Liburd of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and Major Leroy Percival of the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force outlined the 25-point strategic action plan to include improved management of staff and staff related-issues, improvement in the organizational structure of the police force, improved management of all police stations, the provision of the necessary crime-fighting equipment, and continuous local and overseas training and skills upgrading for officers.
In relation to overseas training, attachments have been arranged with the Miami-Dade Police Department in Florida and training will now focus on ‘cyber crimes’, forensics and customer service response.
The High Command also cited low productivity, low crime detection capability, issues related to the deployment of manpower, a backlog of court cases pointing to the need to increase effectiveness in the judicial system and forensics, have presented enormous challenges to the security forces, but that these challenges are being slowly overcome.
The senior law enforcement officials also discussed plans to improve the visibility of the police in all communities in the Federation by strengthening its community policing programme, recruiting more suitable personnel, and through the use of modern technology.
Minister Carty quoted the law enforcement agency heads as saying that they ‘pledge to continue and improve coordination on joint intelligence operations involving the special branch unit, the drug squad and the Defence Force’.
The security chiefs suggested that the media share some of the responsibility for the prevailing perception that the security agencies were not doing enough and asked government to articulate the need for greater support from the media (both print and electronic) in presenting a more balanced and more factual picture to all our citizens, residents and visitors.
