On Tuesday, Regional security chiefs who arrived in Saint Lucia to visit their officers deployed here to assist in the country’s anti-crime battle met with Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre and top brass of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF).
The Security Chiefs were from the Royal Police Force of Antigua & Barbuda, the Antigua & Barbuda Defence Force, the Barbados Police Service, the Barbados Defence Force, and the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force.
According to the RSLPF Facebook page, the visitors met Pierre, responsible for National Security, Police Commissioner Crusita Descartes-Pelius, and the RSLPF Executive for a briefing session.
The regional security officials also visited their officers deployed to Saint Lucia to assist with maintaining law and order in Vieux Fort.
Regional Security System (RSS) officers began arriving in Saint Lucia last month.
They came in response to an invitation from the government as Vieux Fort experienced a deadly gun violence spike.
The government also declared Vieux Fort an escalated crime zone under new legislation granting extended crime-fighting powers to the police.
In addition, the RSLPF summoned officers from vacation to beef up boots on the ground.
This week, acting Governor-General Cyril Errol Melchiades Charles spoke in the Throne Speech of the Pierre administration’s resolve to end gun violence.
And Charles told parliament that Saint Lucia would continue to engage the RSS services ‘for as long as it is necessary’.
The Governor General’s remarks came one day after two people were shot dead and four others sustained injuries in separate incidents in Babonneau and Gros Islet.
2 years in from their grabbing of power with lies, racism and xenophobia the SLP’s response to an escalating crime rate ( not just murders) is more meetings, more press releases, more lamentations. The only people they have not met with is Bozo the Clown.
Pierre hillaire fredericks king have yet to articulate a serious responce to the breakdown of law and order in the country.
Nothing on police force issues or gangs in every community or linkages between drug running and prominent persons or security in residential areas.
What amazes me is how Lucian politicians cannot seem to see the writing on the wall. They keep obliviously indulging in the same failures year in and year out then 9 months before the elections get nervous and are booted out on election day.
This SLP administration is following that trajectory.
I hope they shared ideas with him because he has NOTHING to offer them unless they find confusing gibberish and hackneyed meaningless phrases useful.