Saint Lucia’s opposition leader, Allen Chastanet, addressed a Trinidad and Tobago town hall meeting on a hopeful note amid a spike in crime in several Caribbean countries.
“As bad as the statistics are about crime in our countries, there is hope,” he told the event that Trinidad and Tobago’s opposition United National Congress (UNC) organised.
He recalled the crime issues that New York City, Washington DC, Miami, Los Angeles, London, and Paris faced.
The former Saint Lucia Prime Minister said all those places at one time had the label of the most dangerous cities in the world.
Nevertheless, Chastanet said they broke the cycle of continually doing the same things and found solutions.
“We must find the solutions to crime in our region,” he declared to applause.
The United Workers Party (UWP) leader said the solution lies with more than one person.
“I am pleading with you. Open your hearts and feel the pain of the people who are being affected because today it’s them; tomorrow it is going to be you. You will be the mother saying, ‘He was a good boy!'” the Saint Lucia opposition leader stated.
Chastanet explained that one of the first changes to accept is that crime is no longer national.
He said the gangs creating the most problems are regional and international networks.
In this regard, the UWP leader suggested that individual countries could not successfully fight ‘those corporations of evil’.
“They are bigger than all of us,” he said at the town hall meeting, adding that “they have more weapons and technology than we have.”
As a result, Chastanet urged funding for the Regional Security System (RSS) to make it better equipped than the criminals and for a border control system that facilitates inter-regional communication.
Chastanet noted that when the RSS dispatches officers to a country in the region, the officers who are picked have never spoken to each other.
“So all they are doing is showing force. They are not going to go and solve any problem,” he said.
He recalled that as Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, he supported each country, allocating one dollar of its airport tax towards funding the RSS.
Chastanet called on Caribbean leaders, many of whom he said were in government when he was PM, to do the right thing now by funding the RSS to protect everyone.
He also called for resolving the case backlog in courts, establishing command centres to deal with crime, polygraph tests for police officers, GPS for commercial seagoing vessels to know where they are heading, and facial recognition cameras.
In addition, the UWP leader suggested that culprits with guns should not get bonds.
“It has to be much more serious than that,” he stated.
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HOPE? HOPE? HOPE? Chastenet, you mentioned New York, LA, Miami, London, Paris have made a turn around with their crime situation in the past, but what you fail to mention or notice is that these cities are in countries that are very rich… Also known as the developed countries….and they have huge resources of cash and assets at their disposal and therefore they were able to invest in crime reduction strategies…. secondly, they have the world’s best scientific minds coming up with innovative ideas to combat crime …there DNA tracing technology is second to none…their surveillance tech is top notch….you can hardly commit an offence in these country and not be caught….you are guaranteed to be caught if you commit an offence because they have built the infrastructure to do so….CCTV coverage of vast areas, number plate recognition tech to catch uninsured drivers, smart water tech, facial recognition tech, and they have a vast network working behind the scenes fighting to protect their national borders. Soon A.I will be on the scene adding another level of crime fighting strategy making it increasingly difficult for criminals to get away with their crimes……thus, these countries are always 5 steps ahead of the criminals….it is almost near impossible to commit a crime now…cause you will be caught eventually…so yes they sorted out their crime issues by getting off their #£# and innovated….not talking talking talking….and what does Saint Lucia have?… I don’t mean to talk down my country but look at the evidence, it’s clear for all to see….these leaders have no vision….they are functional illiterates. . backward thinkers, small brained homosapiens…..I do wish that we solve this crime issues but with the current sack of jack potatoes we have there, I don’t see even a silver lining beyond the horizon….
You want to reduce crime? Crated an agency task with men and women well trained and equipped with all the modern technology they need….if all countries in the Caribbean can do that, then each country can create a link and share intelligence that will make it impossible for criminals to commit crimes….you guys a slow and just talking and not acting…..the Caribbean is not innocent anymore. Time to up your security game cause your sweet little tourism dollar will soon dwindle for your lack of foresight and tunnel vision…..
There is hope for those who put their trust in the Almighty,even at the last minutes !
Question: What is the present GOVERNMENT doing to help combat crime? Chastanent is the opposition LEADER & NOT THE PRIME MINISTER OF ST LUCIA. Phillip J Pierre & his administrative team should come out to inform us citizens of ST LUCIA, what is the way forward in trying to address the high crime rate. Not just providing vehicles that the officers can use to take civilians for a LIME. The CCTV cameras are being placed in Castries an ornament. Are there trained agencies monitoring the events as they are about to or happening?
To help solve the high crime rate, everyone is involved in making St Lucia a better and crime free country. Our children are being left at home with tablets, games, android mobile phone, etc unsupervised, parents do not know who their children friends are. Do they check the bags before the leave home and upon return? WHAT IS IN THE SCHOOL BAGS?? Our children are coming from broken homes, is there a social worker assigned to each classroom? What is being done about the bad behaviours and misconduct on school premises? Everything beings from the home!
Tourism, Tourism! What about helping farmers to bring back farming (banana) the prices of everything is going sky rocket!
Courage, courage, courage ❗
Dearly St Lucians 🇱🇨❤️
The only hope of St Lucia, GOD ❗
May piety be our confidence and our BLAMELESS ways our Hope !!