Basseterre, St. Kitts, November 17, 2015 (RSCNPF): Prime Minister, the Honourable Dr. Timothy Harris told the nation today (17th November), during a presentation in the National Assembly that he was pleased with the actions of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force with regards to the fight against crime and in particular the counter drug efforts.
“I am pleased to report that over the last eight months considerable progress has been evidenced in our efforts to reduce incidences of serious crimes in the Federation. I am pleased to report the following: For the month of October 2015, overall serious crimes were down 16.7% percent. For the period January to October 2015, serious crimes comprising of such broad categories as offences against the person, offences against morality, offences against property and offences against unlawful authority are down 20.1 percent relative to 2014.”
Prime Minister Harris noted, that while the trend for overall crime was in the right direction, concern remained about the number of homicides and gun related incidents in the Federation, and stated, “that although the rates for homicides is unacceptably high…”since the launch of our six point plan, the homicides rate dropped from an average of three per month to one per month. We would wish to bring this to zero,” he stressed.
The Prime Minister also underscored that the success of recent is a demonstration of the efficacy of the ‘Six Point Plan’ and these recent events have demonstrated their (Police) ability to work in unity with the other members of the law enforcement community, the Defence Force, the Coast Guard, Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise Department and Her Majesty’s Prison Service. He highlighted examples, “in the past three (3) weeks alone the Police have demonstrated their commitment to the cause. The utilization of intelligence-led policing combined with targeted operations have realized significant quantities of foreign compressed marijuana totalling 547 lbs…. cured locally grown marijuana totalling 95 lbs….a and 1.064 Kilo of Cocaine.”
Prime Harris noted that, “indeed many of the violence and homicides are linked to drug production and trade. Every law enforcement officer knows that, Lieutenant Colonel Wallace, Commissioner Stafford Liburd, ACP Queeley and Henderson have repeatedly said that there is a strong correlation between drugs and guns and homicides.”
And against that backdrop, he again echoed his Government’s commitment, “the Team Unity Administration has been giving all resources we can to restore the safety and security of our Federation. We will never shirk from this primordial responsibility,” said Prime Minister Harris.