CNG Editorial
The prior assurance that Commissioner of Police, Crusita Descartes-Pelius, a decorated police officer with more than three decades of experience in law enforcement, who previously served as the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) responsible for corporate services and strategic operations, hitherto solidifies that ‘St Lucia police are out of their wits and wanting in many aspects’ and as previously affirmed, that the then acting police commissioner should be fired the current Commissioner of Police, Crusita Descartes-Pelius, should return on retirement because the top cannot hold.
The state of cognitive dissonance has conflicted between knowing what is right yet doing and talking the opposite, flunks with paper tigers and well-decorated public servants and police officers with no ability to take back the streets.
Related: ‘There seems to be anarchy in our country’, says senator Jean ~ 2022
Who fired the K9 Unit? ~ 2022
The government of Saint Lucia announced the K9 Unit started in April 2021 – an agreement to provide dogs and dog handlers by the previous administration cost taxpayers XCD$40,000 monthly.
“I have asked the attorney general to look into returning the dogs to the Customs to stem the flow of guns into the country through the barrels,” Prime Minister Pierre added. “We are going to speak to the owners of the dogs to see if we can return them to the situation. At least if it can help stem the influx of guns into the barrels,” he stated.
Commissioner Pelius subtitle, statement, “The Royal St Lucia Police Force [RSLPF] reminds that such practices will not be tolerated,” January 26, 2024, on recent homicides in Saint Lucia’ bears further witness that – the top cannot hold – to determine how bad lawlessness and homicide are on the island, and how to proceed with eight homicides at the time of publication January 31, 2024.
Castries should have been ‘designated an ‘escalated crime area’ with three homicides heading into the third week of January 2024 and taking into consideration historical analysis of crime statistics, the fault lines are beginning to draw, from successive years of 75 homicides and under-reporting, to take action within the ambit of the law.
That was not done with any degree of precision. But with inexperience and incompetence at the top in both policy and policing, the worst continues to fall through the cracks.
Let’s rehash Commissioner Pelius statement:
“From the commencement of the year, a total of seven homicides have been recorded. This figure is unacceptable. The blatant disregard for the law and the clear intention of the few to cause mayhem and instil fear with the commission of these senseless retaliatory-fashioned murders must be stopped.”
To be clear, things started to fall apart early in the year. The mere anarchy simply continued and was conveniently applied to the instability of the moment. A degraded RSLPF – outmatch by thugs on the streets of Saint Lucia.
Embattled Commissioner Pelius continued:
“There has been a concerted effort by the men and women of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) to increase operations and detection rates, along with broadening of preventative measures, through collaborations with various stakeholders. These efforts have produced results, as this year our successes in terms of firearm and ammunition seizures have continued to be on the incline. Major operations have been spearheaded in several communities which resulted in the arrests of numerous suspects, seizures of prohibited and restricted items, cash, and drug trafficking interventions, to name a few. There have also been strides in deterring crime, as officers utilize critical information obtained to prevent incidents of crime. Intelligence-driven tactics have been deployed to avert numerous instances of violence.”
The commissioner continues to uphold, nothing but failure to the challenges faced by the St Lucia Police Force: A colonial dinosaur of political repositories.
Despite the quest, the said results are going nowhere. The agony of keeping public safety and security in check is distance to the sophistry of ‘sweet talk’. And whereas this is not a sporting event where medals are distributed, the streets of Saint Lucia have optimal conditions that are still unstoppable.
The continual gunfire and deaths at Westhall Group in Vieux Fort and the setting of roadblocks by thugs within 600 yards of the police station convey law enforcement weakness and possible compliance from being compromised. There are also ample ‘exchanges of gunfire’ on the streets and communities of Saint Lucia.
There is the idiom: He who pays the piper calls the tune!
“For commitment to safeguarding the citizenry,” Commissioner Pelius says: “I say thank you to all officers and urge you to continue your endeavours. We will place even greater emphasis on our community policing drives and not allow miscreants to disrupt our accomplishments in guaranteeing peace in every corner of the country. I urge each of you to continue to render impartial service, where ultimately our integrity will always be maintained.”
The clichés of “community policing drives” “guaranteeing peace” and “our integrity” have lost their original meaning -and its allure relevant to the RSLPF.
The RSLPF is deficient in routine beat and patrols. Community policing is not efficient in safeguarding and deterring lawlessness in an environment where everybody knows –who is who– police officers are more concerned about moonlighting. Reputation and integrity are matters of authority being the bossman.
“In the streets and communities where the police officers live it is a matter of discretion. What should I do seeing and knowing and not acting? Family safety comes first … in my absence,” said a source. #see not evil #hear no evil #do no evil.
Commissioner Pelius highlighted challenges in dealing with crime, strategic operations, and improving detection rates.
“Despite all these positive strides, a small percentage of the population has continued their criminal operations, in what can only be described as targeted attacks on the security of the country. Collectively we will take a stance against this lawlessness. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. It is time for a resounding outcry and stern admonishment, accompanied by forceful reminders that such practices will not be tolerated. We have seen that crime has far-reaching tentacles; no area is immune to its effects. So, it is everyone’s responsibility to contribute to the fight against crime. The belief that the mammoth task of crime reduction is solely that of the police to shoulder, is one we quickly need to dispel. Such notions only serve to embolden persons who commit unlawful acts and who feed off the “hands-off attitude” of the public.”
Emphasizing the need for citizens to actively contribute to efforts to curb crime and lawlessness, Commissioner Pelius should be reminded that most citizens are not trained in law enforcement, and should be cognisant as explained by the prime minister and minister for national security, Philip Pierre: “I am not a policeman, my father was.”
Ideally, Commissioner Pelius should explain civilian methods and procedures to suppress escalating crime and violence, and how the state will be in lockstep with civilians who take on such responsibility and become victims.
Except to say:
“I implore you the public, our most critical partner in this, to cooperate with us. Utilize the various reporting platforms such as our crime hotline (555), our crime hotline app, or otherwise, to provide information regarding crime to the relevant authorities. It is impossible for the police to know and act unless you stand up and report it. Let us cease the practice of enabling a cycle of violence. As a nation, we cannot allow ourselves to become a population grappled with fear; we are Saint Lucians! We are proud, we are resilient, and we are not victims. Let us not allow criminals who contribute little by being nuisances, to control our national security narrative.”
It is well-known that the RSLPF cannot be trusted. It is commonly known that wide sections of the RSLPF are compromised, and polically exposed. The hypocrisy is extraordinary, with calls on the public to cease enabling violence when the encumbrance of hypocrisy permeates crime in Saint Lucia.
However, Commissioner Pelius, summarised that, “The RSLPF will continue to make persons who engage in this outright criminality uncomfortable. We will continue, within the parameters of the law, our efforts to find you and make it impossible for you to have a sense of peace. Note that the law empowers the police, now more than ever, to destabilize and dismantle your operations and that we will achieve.”
Expressing deep concern over the escalating violence, a population grappled with fear, making persons who engage in this outright criminality uncomfortable, and police powers, Commissioner Pelius expressed her inability to exercise the rule of law, command and control over what is practical and not done.
St Lucia’s killing fields continues
What has changed?
“ … Crime is big business in Saint Lucia and it is driven by people who are way up in the hierarchy of this country …”
Operation Restore Confidence (ORC) suggests that “the crime problem in Saint Lucia is facilitated by corrupt politicians/government officials, business persons and police officers.” Kenny Anthony added, “We cannot continue in a situation where we are viewed as a pariah state by our partners in the fight against crime and lawlessness.”
No one is safe in St Lucia
“Crime is becoming more sophisticated. The criminal elements out there will take every advantage they get to instil fear in members of the public. But our job as police officers is to confront those individuals when they would want to instil that fear and to ensure that in confronting them that we put a nail on their heads of those.” ~ Acting Commissioner Benson Deterville, ~ 2022:
By Commissioner Pelius own admission, the top cop cannot hold and should be fired for all the right reasons, as would any other jurisdiction adjudicate. The horse has bolted from a dinosaur RSLPF not fit for conscripts. The prolongation is of crisis proportion for Saint Lucia where no one is safe from bullets, lawlessness and potholes.
