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05th
January 2010
“No
Excuses”
Stan Bishop
 With
the challenges of a fresh, new year before it,
the Royal St. Lucia Police Force seems likely
to receive the additional resources it has perrenially
been clamouring for.
And if promises are kept, the minister with
responsibility for the Force is expected to
play a key role in ensuring the Force gets what
the Force wants.
Speaking at the second annual Police Awards
ceremony held last week Tuesday at the Gaiety
on Rodney Bay, Minister for Home Affairs and
National Security, Sen. Guy Mayers, said this
year he will be appealing to Cabinet to grant
the RSLPF the requisite resources it needs in
order to perform adequately.
“For my part as minister, I will continue
to give the policy guidance that is required
and work assiduosly to get Cabinet and parliamentary
approval for the legislative changes that will
be required,” Mayers said. “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.”
However, the minister issued a direct challenge
to the Force, saying it will take more than
just resources to realize a more dynamic crime-fighting
organization such as the RSLPF.
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“All I
ask is that the police (force) be resourceful
in the use of the resources that are available
for you to do your duty. I do not want excuses.
At all levels, we need to think outside the
box. Our country does not have an endless
supply of finance. Remember, it is not always
what you have or do not have but, more imporatntly,
how well you are able to utilize what you
have to achieve the results that you want,”
Mayers told the honorees and other guests
at last week Tuesday’s ceremony.
Mayers also indicated that the Force should
set “a 50% reduction in the crime rate
for 2010,” adding that “if you
want to achieve something you have never achieved
before, you have to do something you have
never done before.”
Mayers’ comments came at a time when
the Force says it is doing its utmost to step
up efforts to stem the sharp upsurge in the
island’s crime rate. Numerous senseless
violent crimes, coupled with the high incidence
of serious road fatalities, both the minister
and the Force’s top brass admit, are
trends that need to be reversed in the new
year.
Last year, the island recorded a total of
thirty-nine homicides, equalling the total
recorded for the previous year.
Discuss
Story
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