(stluciatimes.com) Police Commissioner Milton Desir has acknowledged the need for outside help amid Saint Lucia’s current violent crime wave.
The country has recorded 41 homicides this year, including three fatal police shootings.
“At that point I think we need some help whichever way whether it is in the region or internationally to solve these issues,” Desir told reporters yesterday.
“I know a lot of the homicides cannot be prevented but however I think the police action should be to solve those homicides. Persons identify the individuals and bring them into justice,” the Police Commissioner explained.
He disclosed that the Regional Security System (RSS) is assisting in investigating some cases.
But in terms of RSS officers who were here to assist in patrols and searches, Desir said the 12-member contingent left on Sunday after their three-week stint in Saint Lucia.
“They added to the numbers that we had,” he stated.
He acknowledged that stiffer penalties for gun-related crime should serve as a deterrent but asserted that the effect might not be immediate.
“When those persons have been arrested and taken to court and the court administers those penalties then you may see the deterrence,” the Police Commissioner told reporters.
Desir spoke against the backdrop of the circulation on social media of a music video in which individuals, some of them masked, issue explicit threats.
The Police Commissioner, who told reporters he had not at the time seen the video, asserted that criminals were becoming bolder.
At the same time he spoke of the need for a holistic approach to dealing with crime.