The leader of Saint Lucia’s National Green Party (NGP) has advocated a robust regional witness protection programme, asserting that citizens would be reluctant to give crime information, regardless of the reward.
Andre ‘Pancho’ de Caires spoke against the backdrop of a $50,000 reward offered this week by Vincentian police for information leading to arrest and conviction in last month’s multiple homicides.
Five people, including a thirteen-year-old male, died in a hail of gunfire in the Saint Vincent and the Grenadines capital, Kingstown.
“We live on small islands with small populations where everyone knows each other, and there is no place to hide or keep a secret. We all know that someone will spill the beans,” Andre de Caires told St. Lucia Times.
The NGP leader said as a result, citizens are very reluctant to give information to the authorities for fear of reprisals, regardless of the reward size.
According to de Caires, citizens know if they divulge information, the authorities will be unable to protect them.
“So, it is necessary for the region to come up with a robust witness protection program if citizens are going to be confident enough to give any information at all. And we are far from achieving that goal,” the NGP leader told St. Lucia Times.
He explained that solving crimes, especially murders, has a dismal record throughout the region as homicide rates within the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) soar.
“Nearly all the murders are a result of guns,” de Caires observed, adding that almost everyone seems to have easy access to firearms and young men possess sophisticated ‘killing machines’.
The NGP leader noted that many killings are gang or drug-related.
” Drug deals gone wrong. Revenge killings. Dirty business. Solving these murders requires intelligence, which means that the police need solid information,” de Caires explained.
“Therefore, information has to come from the public,” he declared, noting that the police are rarely present when shootings occur.
In addition, de Caires stated that solving the root cause of the killings was ‘a long story for another day.’
Where there is a will there is a way – an individual can keep quiet and find innovated ways to provide information without putting themselves at risk. If not, all the Caribbean islands, their citizens and every family member will be held hostage while living in fear 24/7 by gang bangers. If addition, the islands will be placed on a DO NOT TRAVEL list by the State Department if this continues and your tourism industry will suffer.
Do the math is it that simple – if you are absolutely certain who the murderers are without a doubt…
Ex: How about typing letters and mailing to the Vincentian office @ the United Nations in NY and also in Washington, DC. – you do not have to put a return address – use a post office in another district
Bro De Caires I agree with you to an extent- only as it pertains to giving information anonymously. However, that does not always help the police and they always want people to testify. Its when you testify them fellas cannot protect you and the informer get killed most times. In other instances you have to go in hiding and them police cannot even well pay rent for you. You have to be begging them for a little money to buy food. If it comes at all it’s always late. All you hear from is excuses how government don’t give any money yet. You end up losing you job, your family and sometimes your like. In other instances you have to run overs to start a new life. At the end the only loser is you. The state just pretending to care about you but actually they see you as a burden when you in witness protection. I bet if you ask anybody you know in so-called witness protection right now, they will tell you how much that it has affected them. So my bro being a witness for the state en worth all that suffering. Dem police and politicians will never want their families to go through that so why expect that kind of sacrifice from us.