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.... Guest Editorial

07th January 2010
Guy Mayers Must Deliver

It was a welcome sight last month to have beheld the men and women who work so hard, most times under difficult circumstances, adorned in fine apparel getting recognized for the thankless job they do in protecting and serving the citizens of this country.
It was the second Annual Police Awards Ceremony and the members of the Police Force who attended took time out to celebrate in a small way their achievements and to honour individual members who were outstanding in their chosen areas.
But with the challenges of a new year before them and with the knowledge that their task could only get tougher, more demanding and in some instances awkward the Force could only look forward to the Government to put in place the necessary resources it has been perennially clamouring for.
This is where Home Affairs Minister, the Honourable Guy Mayers must step in and produce what the Police Force needs in its fight to combat crime on the island.
At the aforementioned ceremony he said he would be appealing to Cabinet this year to grant the Force the resources it needs to perform adequately. Of course we have heard such rhetoric before not only from him but his predecessors. The situation has not changed for the better.
A typical example of things promised by the Minister that have yet to see the light of day is the provision of taser guns or stun guns to the police in their efforts at apprehending or bringing under control certain individuals in situations that do not require the use of high-powered firearms.
One would have thought that the police would have been equipped and trained in the use of those less deadly guns after having found themselves ensnared in gun-related fatalities of their own making.
 
 
And with three fatal police shootings registered for the just concluded 2009 the Minister should be shouting enough is enough and forthwith make available his government’s plans to produce the stun guns in the shortest possible time.
The Minister, speaking at the ceremony noted that for his part as Minister, he will continue to give the policy guidance that is required and work assiduously to get Cabinet and parliament to approve legislative changes, which will be required in getting the Force to perform at a certain level.
Said the Minister at the time: “I will also endeavour to ensure that whatever is strategically required to enable the police force to achieve its mission will be provided by the government of St. Lucia according to our financial ability to do so.”
The Minister, we believe, knows that all Saint Lucia will be watching him, expecting him to live up to his words.
For too long have politicians not lived up to their promises and for too long have the people’s faith in politicians stayed at the lowest ebb.
Minister Guy Mayers should by now know that crime, almost overnight, has the ability to bring this country’s tourism based economy to its knees and that he is in an all important position to do something about it.
In 2010 he has to deliver, anything else is non- acceptable, more so now that he is challenging the Police Force to reduce crime by 50 percent. (M.G.)

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