Four to 6 gangs operating in SVG — ACP Bailey

Head of crime fighting in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Trevor “Buju” Bailey says reputable agencies have identified between four and six gangs operating in the country.

He, however, noted that while there are no anti-gang laws in SVG — meaning that one person associating with another is not a crime — the police would not allow gangs to control any public space in the country.

Bailey’s comments come even as Commissioner of Police Enville Williams and Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Ralph Gonsalves maintain that the groups operating in the country are not gangs.

“I’ve seen and read report that was generated from agencies outside of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who refer to as much as four to six and the names that were mentioned in the report and names that are known to us as law enforcement,” Bailey said on Boom FM.

The officer, who has 34 years of experience in law enforcement, said a gang is a group of persons who associate themselves together, there is a command structure, identification marks such as a colour or a symbol that they claim as theirs, may be involved in criminal activity, and things may not necessarily be done without the leader’s approval.

“So, if Boom is labelled as a gang, and Boom holds as a symbol a big stone, you will see Boom members wearing a t-shirt with a big stone,” Bailey said.

“You will see a stone, or stones may be placed on your building — the graphic depicting a stone — and you will hear even when they speak, the reference will be made of stones.”

Bailey said the agencies that identified the gangs in SVG are reputable and did “their homework”, meaning that their information did not necessarily come from the police as their source of reference.

Police have ‘a good appreciation’ of the gangs, their leaders

As regards the leaders of these gangs, Bailey said that the police have “a good appreciation as to who operates and where they operate”.

He said SVG has laws to deal with a wide range of offences but noted that police cannot arrest someone for associating with another person.

“So, in other words, we just can’t meet people arbitrarily on the street and just arrest them. They have to commit an offence,” Bailey said.

“So even though you know John or Jane associates themselves with the big stone, by virtue of an association, it is not a criminal offence. So, I just can’t lock up [a person] to say, well, ‘[This person] is associated with the big stone’,” Bailey explained.

Bailey was confident that long after he retires from law enforcement the police in SVG will not allow gangs to control territory in SVG.

“… there’s some young people in management coming through, in the middle ranks, and I think I have a good appreciation as to their thinking, and they will never allow any of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to be given up to any such gang or groupings. No time. That’s not going to happen,” Bailey said.

In the absence of anti-gang laws, police are taking steps to make gangs uncomfortable.

“In making their lives uncomfortable, we disrupt, as far as practicable, their way of life, the areas of the operation,” Bailey said, adding that police raided Rose Place two weeks ago.

“We didn’t make a press release on the raid, but we raided Rose Place two weeks ago,” he said, adding that police found “lots of drugs”, namely cocaine and marijuana, parcelled out for sale.

The chief of crime-fighting said police will continue with their targeted and random home searches. 

“We will continue to patrol,” he said, adding, “I want the people who are living in the areas that have been labelled as hot spots to know that the police are not your enemy, and we don’t see you as our enemy”.

Bailey said the police are concerned about the safety and security of the people in these areas and wanted to rid the communities of criminally-minded people.

“And we don’t want you to put yourself in harm’s way. So, we don’t want you to come out on the road and say, ‘Boy, stop sell drugs on steps!’ because there could be retaliation.

“But if discreetly, you get the information to us, let us come and do it on your behalf. That is what we want. We want the citizens to relay information to us and allow us to do that which we are paid for.”

Respect for citizens vital in crime fighting

Bailey said that while police are asking people in hot spots to cooperate with them, the respect must be mutual.

“We cannot come in areas that is deemed to be a hot spot and kick down everybody’s door and turn over everybody’s pot and punch hole that the ham can’t be boiled and don’t expect that the citizens will react.”

He said that police officers are taught to be respectful but firm when necessary “because there are times when you have to demonstrate in no uncertain terms who is in charge and on whose turf this is.

“The turf does not belong to any group, any gang or any sort of people who figure that they can associate themselves or congregate in any area and lay claim, unless it is registered Inland Revenue, where you pay taxes … you can’t lay claim to no part of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“And I want to re-emphasise that point, that law enforcement will never surrender any turf or territory to any gang groupings or any affiliates whatsoever in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

“So, we don’t allow gangs to claim any street, or a street is no longer accessible to wider St Vincent. No, that is not going to happen.”

Bailey said that this is why he sent police officers to remove a roadblock set up by residents of Paul’s Avenue sometime recently.

Residents of that Kingstown community had complained about the actions of the police during that operation, with one of them telling iWitness News that an officer discharged a gun “over” another resident’s head.

Disrupting can activity vital

In general comments about disrupting gang activity, Bailey said police have arrested gang members for various offences, including unlicensed firearms, robbery, and murder.

He noted that Trinidad has anti-gang legislation.

“We don’t have that on our records. Maybe the time will come when we may have to get to that stage. And we’re not there as yet. … But if law enforcement, if we are not continually vigilant, we run the risk of seeing increased membership in these gangs and groupings.”

He said that if police are not proactive, the country could be at risk of seeing “more reprisal, meaning more crime, not necessarily limited to murders only” when there are disagreements among gangs.

Bailey said that gangs, like everybody else, need money. “So we have to be careful that we don’t see a spike let’s say in robbery activities or burglary activities, where they get their hands on monies or items that they can sell or trade for the purpose of getting money.

“And if you have cash, there’s some power in the sense that you can spend, you can buy what you want. So, we have to be continually vigilant,” Bailey said.

Bailey said that police in SVG have seen that some groups in the country are affiliating themselves with other groups that are notorious for crime in other countries.

“So, we know that that connection exists,” Bailey said.

“That being said, our vigilance always has to be high, and we rely heavily on our partners, immigration, to be vigilant as well, … to give us that heads up … because all of us are in the business of national security.