By Kenrick Quashie
When we consider the leadership of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, the implementation of announced reforms and the apparent absence of sustained action against the drug trade that fuels so much criminal activity in our communities, it is sometimes easy to wonder whether we are really serious about fighting crime in SVG.
More than six months passed between the Minister of National Security announcing personnel changes to the police force. That process was completed earlier this week with the formal announcement of promotions within the police force. Even so, the promotions themselves are even more concerning. Frankly, it is disappointing and leaves a whole lot more to be desired.
A few weeks ago, my brother Ronnie Daniel wrote about the possibility of using emergency powers to address the violent crimes we have been experiencing. But before we go down that road, have we exhausted other options available under our existing laws?
Have we properly examined our policing strategies, the deployment of officers and the organisation of the force itself? After all, if the organisation responsible for fighting crime is not properly sorted, it is very difficult for it to carry out its crime-fighting responsibilities.
One of the longstanding problems with the police force is that its leadership too often appears more concerned with policing officers than policing the country. Too much attention is focused on taking leave away from the males in junior ranks, “picking” on the ones they don’t like, and denying them promotions and other opportunities, while our young female officers are preyed upon by senior officers entrusted with their care.
Meanwhile, friends and favourites receive special treatment and promotions. The shepherds are attacking the sheep they have been charged to protect.
Police leadership must manage officers, but that cannot become its main business. The force’s leaders must focus on preventing crime, investigating offences and protecting the public. A leadership that is quick to control junior officers but fails to confront abuses of power within its own ranks cannot command public confidence.
Consider the organisation of the force. Why should specialist services such as the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Rapid Response Unit (RRU), the Special Services Unit (SSU), the Coast Guard and traffic enforcement be so centralised that communities outside the main centres struggle to access them?
Perhaps it is time for each unit to have a proper operational base in the different districts, with enough officers to respond to local needs and initiate operations effectively.
This is not about placing one officer in each district and calling it a unit. It is about having a proper cadre of officers who can respond to incidents and carry out operations without every community having to depend on resources based elsewhere. When essential services are concentrated in one location, people in the outer districts are left waiting for support. Serious policing should not work that way.
Growing up, I remember when the “raiding squad” made random patrols through communities. Those patrols were a visible reminder that the police could turn up at any time. Today, we know the drug pushers and sellers in our communities. They are our neighbours. We see them, we know where they operate, and we see the consequences of their activities.
Knowing who is involved does not give the police permission to arrest people on rumours or community gossip. Enforcement must be lawful and supported by evidence. But that is the work of policing: to turn credible reports and intelligence into evidence, and investigate the people and networks involved. The need for proof cannot become an excuse for doing nothing while the same sellers continue to operate in plain sight.
As a farmer, I have a particular interest in the relationship between drug use and praedial larceny. In my experience, the people with drug addictions are the main ones responsible for stealing agricultural produce.
Farmers invest money, labour and time into growing food, only to have their crops stolen and sold cheaply. As a result, farmers lose income, food production is undermined and the wider economy suffers. We cannot continue to treat these offences as isolated incidents without examining the criminal markets that sustain them.
Recently, I heard of a 14-year-old female student in the interior of St. Vincent who is allegedly so hooked on cocaine that she has to purchase her daily supply and take it to school with her.
If that account is accurate, it should alarm every parent, educator, police officer and policymaker in this country. How does a child reach that point? Who is supplying her? How accessible are these drugs to our schoolchildren, and what are we doing to identify the adults who profit from introducing children to dangerous substances?
This is not simply a matter of arresting users. It is about protecting children, disrupting supply networks and ensuring that prevention, treatment and enforcement work together. Underneath the drugs, guns and violence is a trade that fuels them. We have to go after the traders and disrupt the transactional part of it.
That means investigating the people who supply the drugs, the networks that distribute them, the proceeds generated by the trade and the channels through which illegal firearms enter and circulate in our communities.
It also means asking difficult questions about our maritime environment and ports of entry. Have we examined whether there is a relationship between periods of calmer seas, the location of our calm waters, the movement of illicit goods and the locations where gangs operate?
Are our maritime patrols, intelligence gathering and border enforcement being coordinated effectively? If there are identifiable trends, they should inform where and when enforcement resources are deployed.
We must decide whether we want a police force whose leadership is preoccupied with controlling its officers, or one that is structured and equipped to prevent crime, investigate offences and disrupt criminal enterprises. Having senior officers directing traffic in Kingstown may be a useful public relations stunt, but it cannot be the measure by which we judge the effectiveness of our national crime-fighting strategy.
We need to see effective reforms implemented within the police organisation, specialist services deployed where they are needed, intelligence-led operations sustained, communities protected and criminal markets disrupted. The public should not have to wait for another shocking act of violence before demanding action. It is time for real and lasting change in how we fight crime in our beloved SVG.
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