On September 2, 2024, Verne Garde was appointed Commissioner of Police after three decades in law enforcement, bolstered by extensive leadership and management training. He stepped into the role driven by a deep commitment to Saint Lucia, vowing to tackle crime and strengthen national security.
Yet Garde acknowledges the challenges ahead, chief among them, the country’s rising homicide rate. He has taken decisive steps, restructuring and rebranding key units within the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF). These include divisions focused on gangs, narcotics and firearms, community policing and road safety—all critical fronts in the fight against crime.
In a recent interview with St Lucia Times journalist Keryn Nelson, Garde opened up about the state of crime and the police force. While some of his insights were featured in the last St Lucia Times weekend edition, now we present a follow-up Q&A covering previously unreported aspects of the discussion.
KN: From the police’s perspective, is the often-talked-about ‘six’ and ‘seven’ gangs, and gang culture prevalent?
VG: Well, the proliferation of gang activity is one of the major challenges in law enforcement. That is from time immemorial. It’s kind of academic where law enforcement have to deal with gangs, groups, and of course, criminal syndicates that do things to weigh on us not having a good natural environment and an environment of crime. So indeed, the rise of certain gangs does affect the criminal ambience of the country. We have seen it throughout the years with a number of informal groups. And we now have a formalised group of individuals. I refrain from calling their names and giving them further justification. But we do have an issue with some gangs.
KN: It’s been known that there’s an accumulation of cold cases dating back years. What are your thoughts on whether there’s improvement in terms of crime investigation?
VG: There is significant improvement in the investigation of crime and criminal activity in Saint Lucia. The RSLPF brought in equipment and also tools to try to help us fight and combat crime. We’ve brought in the police management system, which is a comprehensive database to direct us in the right direction when it comes to crime and the commission of crime. And we also have various tools at all levels to support and to assist us. That has caused us to be in a better position in regards to both prevention and investigation of crime. Actually, the police management system has now taken up most of the former cases from the crime management system and we are able to merge some of them to form a better picture of some of the influences of crime. So yes, we are in a better situation.
KN: What is the police’s perspective on public trust in the RSLPF?
VG: My opinion is that indeed in Saint Lucia there is a high level of trust in police officers. And we see that in the sharing of information from the public. They are the ones who assist us to solve a number of crimes.
KN: The use of force and intimidation. Is this an issue you are concerned about having worked in the force for 30 years?
VG: The RSLPF operates on a standard order from 1990 that speaks generally of the continuum of force. And force sometimes is necessary to manage a situation, especially when the situation confronts you in an urgent manner. There’s a place for force in law enforcement. However, force should be applied in a continuum and it should be proportionate to the amount of force that is used towards you. So police officers utilise force to ensure the safety of themselves and the safety of the public. And in some cases, they utilise force to maintain compliance.
I know a lot of people have seen clips of persons who are being managed in one way or another. It is very challenging to depend on small snippets of information and make conclusions. In most cases, it’s a situation of overgeneralisation because you have an event that may have transpired for over several minutes and then you get one second of appreciation of that event. I think this is one of the reasons why in my younger days as a police officer I leaned on agencies like The Voice, The Crusader and also The Star, really to tell me the depth of the story rather than depending on just the sound bite or the video bite and for me to form an entire conclusion on it.
We had a situation recently in Babonneau where an assailant was coming after somebody in church. And that was a very, very difficult situation for the officers because it involved biohazards, blood and the rest. And the officers had to utilise a level of force to manage that matter. Let’s say for example, that matter was catalogued in the latter end. The public would only appreciate what they were given to see in those five seconds. I appreciate hearing the full story, rather than just the video bite.
KN: Investigations matter here. We know the RSLPF does internal investigations…
VG: We do thorough investigations and the investigations are not to pin down anybody, but the investigations are designed to elicit the facts of the matter. So we are not judges, jury and executioners. We investigate to elicit the facts, what exactly happened. And when we find out what exactly happened, then we take the necessary action as the case may be.
KN: Many feel like the outcomes of investigations aren’t made public, which some might say erodes public trust…
VG: It also lands on the lack of interest by some of the authorities in finding out what has transpired in the investigation. So, you have, for example, individuals who may follow a hot story, right? A hot story like the police being accused of assaulting an individual. After the hot story, you don’t find the follow through on it. So after the investigation, there’s general disinterest in what has transpired. It is not hot enough to report. But generally, on every investigation, there is the conclusion of that investigation. And all the media house has to do is to get the copy of that investigation and find out what really transpired and then they could bring that information to the public.
KN: There are a number of investigations pending, like the four sexual assault allegations against a senior police officer. Are you able to give an update?
VG: Well, I was quite clear with the media that I had spoken to the Director of Public Prosecutions who further guided me that in cases of such a nature we should stay away from making comments because there would be heavy litigation not only against the police but also from the media houses who actually go contrary to that. And I did say that we had a situation recently where a media house had to pay heavily because of, I think it was either defamation or whatever it was, you know. So matters like this one, I would not even endeavour to comment on it in line with section 138, I think it is, of the criminal code of Saint Lucia.
