BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE homicide and break-in rates have increased over the past years, specifically homicide, and many of them have remained unsolved. Additionally, a significant number of officers in the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force have received advanced training in various aspects of crime detection and prevention at world renowned training institutions in England and America, but there seems to be a void in their ability to solve certain crimes.
Is it because the Force lacks the modern-day sophisticated equipment that would enable its specialists to successfully solve the escalating homicide and break-in rates? Or is it that the officers lack the ability to effectively employ strategies with the limited resources available to them?
The Federation normally seeks the services of Barbados-based forensic pathologist Dr. Stephen Jones to conduct autopsies on the bodies of those individuals killed in gun-related incidents, with the aim of not only ascertaining the cause of death but also to find clues leading to the arrest of the perpetrators.
This is an expensive venture and many people have been asking on what terms of condition is Dr. Jones employed, at what cost to tax payers is his every trip to the Federation, and how much longer would he be employed?
SKNVibes therefore asked, “What if we stop the importation of forensic pathologists and have one or more of our young medical practitioners trained in this field of specialty?”
The responses were few and only two of them lightly touched on the question asked, while the remainder addressed the crime situation and cast blame on the government and the inability of the Police Force.
According to Joe, “If we do that, it means the government, who takes no responsibility for crime, or whoever provides the training, has finally awaken from a clueless sleep.”
And Fed Up, who also targeted the government, said, “That is an example of the lack of initiative the Gov't is showing. If they had made this budget a Crime Budget we wouldn't have this problem. Take the lead, man.”
Tash thinks that the idea of the Federation having its own forensic pathologist is “great”, but believes that some officers in the Police Force are dumb.
“That would be GREAT!!! But, train them and then bring them. You all worried bout Pathologists? Worry bout crime fighting technology. Here is the next What If Question "What if St. Kitts had more technologized equipment to investigate crime"? Besides the equipment, we still need well trained personnel cos some of them police officers dumber than the three stoogies. No offence to the sensible ones. Me just stay talkin de tings dem!!”
Skywalker and Objective have both offered recommendations to better enable the Police Force in carrying out its mandate.
“It is common knowledge that most criminals start out with petty issues. I have always found it baffling why we do start with the basics concept of finger printing. This would put a dent in the smaller nuisance crimes as well as providing some detection practices, which would also impact larger crimes. Have anyone even looked at the cost of building a criminal database of finger prints, you would think this would be a lower cost resolution in comparison to using DNA,” suggested Skywalker.
Objective, on the other hand, directed his comments to the Top Brass in relation to the quality of officers being recruited.
“Part of the problem has been our inability to recruit highly educated persons to join the force. The days of hiring school leavers who are able to pass basic subjects are over. Policing has become more demanding and we now need persons with analytical skills and of a certain level of education to be able to respond to the needs of this profession. I have listened to some of the officers and they are clearly not what we need. We have allowed the force to go to the dogs and this is the result!”
These are some of the comments received on the topic; you are now invited to yours.
