By Caribbean News Global contributor
CASTRIES, St Lucia – Commenting on the sidelines of parliament, on Tuesday, prime minister, minister for finance, economic development and the youth economy and minister for justice and national security, Philip J. Pierre, revealed that Crusita Descartes-Peluis, formerly acting police commissioner, has been appointed police commissioner, until June 2023.
The seriousness of this appointment and the manner of communication to the Saint Lucian public, says much about the connotation and the significance of national security.
At the time of publication, no official communication was available from the government portals. Business as usual!
The pattern seems similar to government reporting on crime and matters of national security. Saint Lucia’s national security says nothing and everything; relative to the unmanageable and unprecedented increase in criminality over the years, and a dysfunctional judicial system, tells the story, beyond present-day reality.
The ‘very helpless’ situation of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force [RSLPF] on the backdrop of a bloody 44th independence celebration, summoned the continued weakness to the appointment of a new police commissioner, until June 2023.
The strategy and message point to weakness and short-term planning and as previously reported – the RSLPF needs to be downgraded to a conscript.
As of February 28, Saint Lucia records 12 homicides, including two police shootings.
Following Saint Lucia’s bloody 44th independence, filled with gang warfare, adult entertainment, multiple homicides and vehicle collisions; the gun violence continued last Sunday, with two men sustaining gunshot injuries at Faux-A- Chaud.
The obvious is true. Crime and lawlessness have taken over the country. “The RSLPF is clueless on response mechanisms. The government is unconvincing governing in a squall,” as previously reported.
The national security apparatus, their methodology for crime management and the RSLPF are perceptible to a zero-sum, amid outward signs dealing with gang warfare and lawlessness, that have come full circle.
According to home affairs minister, Dr Virginia Albert-Poyotte:
“What we have noticed is that the age range keeps going down. So it means that our young people are the most vulnerable. They are the ones that are populating our correctional facility.”
Albert-Poyotte also observed that prevention is the key, rather than treating or curing criminal activity, and that most inmates on remand, indicating that the wheels of justice are ‘a little too slow’.
Distinctively, this is contrite according to comments attributed to the prime minister and minister for national security, Pierre:
“If you notice, it looks like revenge. It looks like retaliation, but we are working on it,” Pierre continued. “We’re trying our best. The crime situation does not please anybody. The crime situation does not make anyone happy. What we are doing is we are giving the police force the necessary resources. It is a work in progress. It didn’t start now. It has been there for a long time,” he explained.
The long and short of dealing with gang violence, crime and lawlessness in Saint Lucia seems ‘up a creek’ – ‘helpless’.
