PM Philip J Pierre to implement measures for crime reduction & citizen security

Castries, Saint Lucia: The Prime Minister, Philip J Pierre looks forward to implement measures to detect and solve criminal activity in the country. It is to be noted that he stated this information during his New Year Address 2024.

Notably, PM Pierre and his government continue to empower the Saint Lucian Police with technical, physical and human resources.

“We will continue to empower the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force with the technical, physical, and human resources they need to detect and solve criminal activity”, the leader of Saint Lucia remarked.

Further, some of the provisions introduced for crime reduction and citizen security are as follows:

• Provisions of Drones, dash and body cameras
• Provision of 40 new police vehicles
• Increased penalties for illegal possession of firearms
• Reinstatement of police training vote
• Renovation and construction of police stations

However, even after implementing such measures, criminals find their way to do crimes or obtain money by false pretence. Noting this, Saint Lucia recorded its first homicide case of 2024 on January 6.

Omar Francis, was identified as the first homicide victim of Saint Lucia and he was killed in a fatal shooting in his own residence. The second homicide in the community of Gros Islet was reported on January 16.

It was considered as the 5^th Homicide in the country. The police investigate the matter and try to maintain peace within the region by excluding such crimes.

Fortunately, according to the Saint Lucia Police, there is an Eighteen per cent drop in firearm offences and almost 198 cases were solved in 2023. The efforts made by the nation’s officials towards crime eradication bear positive results.

Noting this, the nation’s authorities took several measures and conducted various exercises in order to seize the illegal firearms. The exercises include traffic checks and executing warrants.

Furthermore, the maximum number of firearms that were recovered by the island nation is pistols. The officers recovered 74 pistols in 2023.