By Steve Thomas
Observer Nevis Editor
(Charlestown, Nevis) – Nevisian Premier the Hon. Joseph Parry is calling on the public to back police in the fight against crime, while a member of the opposition party is calling on the government to keep up the heat on criminals and expand its efforts.
Officials from the ruling Nevis Reform Party and the opposition Concerned Citizens Movement have expressed concern about the growth in crime on Nevis.
In a Jan. 16 interview with the Nevis Island Authority Ministry of Information, Mr. Parry outlined some of the recent steps taken by the government it the fight against crime.
“In my New Year speech I indicated that we [NIA] will be working very closely with the Police this year to keep crime under control,” Mr. Parry said, according to a ministry press release. “I must say it [crime] increased marginally over last year and over the year before but it is still very low. We want to have improvement this year so I have done two things at the beginning of the year.
“Firstly I had a meeting with the Strategic Committee of the Police a few days ago reviewing the statistics in regards to the crimes that were committed and solutions to the crimes and then this morning I met with the police to tell them our plans, what we hope to achieve and to hear from them,” he said.
According to the ministry, “Mr. Parry stated that the Federal Government had the responsibility for the Police but assured the Officers that the Administration would ensure that they were comfortable to better perform their duties.
“He also addressed a number of concerns raised by the Officers during the meeting.
“’The Nevis Island Administration will take the necessary steps to improve those conditions immediately! We had a very good meeting! They raised issues like two jobs; the conditions of the Newcastle Police Station; a stove in the Police Headquarters that was not really working. What I have done immediately, I came back to my office and I had a stove ordered and that stove has been sent to the Police Station.’
“’The Police Force in Nevis is serving the people of Nevis and they are supporting us with the programmes that we are implementing so we will not even worry about the responsibility and where the authority lies. We will do what we have to do to make sure that the Police are comfortable at the Charlestown Police Station and at the out-stations and generally in their operations, that they have the fullest support of the NIA,’ he said.”
In response to the premier’s remarks, Stedmond Tross of the opposition Concerned Citizens Movement, issued the following statement:
“We are pleased that the NIA has pledged its full support to the police, and has made the issue of crime a priority in 2008. Indeed all of us, nationals and non-nationals alike have a vested interest in keeping our island crime free. We expect however that what we are hearing from the NIA is not mere rhetoric, but that we will see some meaningful steps being taken by the NIA to aggressively address the issue of crime on Nevis,” Tross said.
“It is our hope that when the government talks about crime on Nevis that they are referring to crime as a whole and not merely referring to those related to guns, knives and drugs, because there are much more subtle crimes that are not often spoken about, but have just as deadly an effect on our society,” he said. “We are to hope that issues such as fraudulent registration will also form part of the 2008 priority of the NIA.”
