Amid continuing gun violence in Saint Lucia, which has recorded seven homicides so far for the year, Police Commissioner Crusita Descartes-Pelius issued a statement Friday imploring the public to ‘stand up and report’ crime.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing,” Descartes-Pelius declared.
“The belief that the mammoth task of crime reduction is solely that of the police to shoulder is one we quickly need to dispel,” the Police Commissioner observed.
She said such notions only embolden people who commit unlawful acts and feed off the public’s ‘hands-off attitude.’
Descartes-Pelius noted a concerted effort by the police to increase operations and detection rates.
She said it resulted in the arrests of numerous suspects and seizures of prohibited and restricted items.
” 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,” the Police Commissioner advised.
“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,” she asserted in Friday’s statement.
The complete statement appears below:
Ma’am I have called the police for infractions in my area. It has gotten to the point where they no longer take my calls. And yes I am risking my life reporting those things. FIx the attitude of your subordinates then they get the public support.
Commissioner, I have said this many times before, unless the bail system is revisited and changed to keep criminals behind bars, it is very unlikely that you will get much support and cooperation from the community. The public is just fed up with criminals and murderers being bailed for “chickken feed” just to commit another crime thereafter. People that are on bail for murdering are still killing upon release. Take a page from other countries of how to deal with criminals. A killer has no place in society and should never be on our streets. You could preach all you want but education, jobs, and fixing the judicial system is where to start. In addition people are scared to talk cause we don’t even know who the criminals are, no photos, no addresses, half way information, no follow-ups. only hand cuffs are shown. Are we protecting the criminals?
If this continues at the current rate expect 98 homicides this year. Clearly whatever y’all doing ain’t working.
Safe houses out of state. Increase rewards leading to arrest and convictions.
More police in volatile locations
Zero tolerance
Longer sentences for perpetrators of possession of firearms and violent crime.
Bring back capital punishment .
Bring back capital punishment for murder.
Totally agree with Haiti. When you call it seems like they are more interested in interrogating you. You will think your are at a job interview. I once told one that they have caller ID and all other means to track me if I made a bogus call so just take my information/complain and act accordingly. She actually hang up on me. And I was only providing information to a crime being committed. Some police offi ers are spectacular, others need to get a job testing mattresses. Lazy to the core with poor work ethics.
Some of your corrupt officers are part of the reasons why the public refusing to cooperate. You have a few officers acting just like criminals, so explain to me why would the public help the police solve crime. Some of your officers are going out there disrespecting the public and you asking the community to cooperate with them, smh just smh
Madam Commissioner, we all appreciate your efforts in the war against those criminal elements among us. Listening to your choice of words in your address give us nothing but hope and confidence. This war cannot be won without the public and some of your focus must be shifted in that direction. Asking the public to come forward with info is not enough – at this point it will not happen. Encouraging the public to call the hotline with anonymous tips will not happen. This is as a result of the trust relationship between your subordinates and the public. This needs to addressed and corrected. It is bigger than the war with criminal elements. For every homocides the public seems to know the criminal actor and they speak among themselves with all the required info. Only the police is outside of the communication ring. You cannot win the war without the public. Regardless of your efforts this war can only be won with the public as you main source of information. The public is quite aware of the bad actor who shot the young man in Fond Assau. The public is aware of the bad actor who shot the young man in Balata. You need to find a way for the public to communicate with the police. I have a few ideas which might be helpful to you and I am sure there are lots of other people who might have just as many ideas. Can you setup up a public website which is not hosted in slu but accessible by you and a few trusted of your subordinates. They should only have access to read the info. In that way they cannot tell who is posting the info and that will not be leaked. Of course there will be garbage posted but the info needed will be there. You should have a link where anonymous info can be sent to you. I am sure ideas will be sent to you via this Channel. This will help you quite well.
Too many corrupt cops out there. It’s a fact
Madam Commissioner, what become of the police who was caught with the guns in the barrel in VF? We are not hearing anything about this, please give us an update.
I just waisted a few minutes of my life watching this “dog and pony show” time I will never get back, same ole garbage. I am sorry but this entire show needs to be revamped and overhauled. The comments are so “heartbreaking” you can literally feel the frustration, contempt and disdain the citizens are having and also feeling toward this crime situation they are facing. I am so sorry Lucian families. But I can tell you this “no one is coming to save us”. We need to figure out how to fix this like yesterday, because we are so far behind the curve ball on this crime business.