ST. VINCENT-Opposition wants regional and international help to address the crime situation.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – The main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP), is calling on St. Vincent and the Grenadines government to seek regional and international assistance in dealing with an upsurge in crime here.

Opposition spokesperson on national security, St. Clair Leacock, who is also calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, said assistance could come from the Barbados-based Regional Security System (RSS), a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) agency, which was created out of a need for a collective response to security threats, which were impacting on the stability of the region in early 1970,s and 1980s.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines has recorded eight murders here so far this year, and in a statement earlier this week, the NDP said “crime is out of hand” and that the island is on course to break the 2022 homicide record of 42

“We are headed in the wrong direction. But we are yet to hear of a plan to fight crime from the current regime, including the Commissioner of Police,” the NDP said, adding that the government’s “refusal to acknowledge the depth of this crisis shows that they are overwhelmed by it and lack solutions.”

The NDP said that crime here is “a national crisis that requires a federal response.

“Therefore, the New Democratic Party is renewing our call for the ULP (Unity Labour Party) administration to collaborate with other social partners and us in the development and implementation of strategies to address the crime epidemic,” the party said.

Leacock, an NDP vice-president, said that this year, two people had been murdered here.

“And I felt that in addition to the call for his (Gonsalves) resignation, St. Vincent needed to go outside of its borders and request assistance from the Regional Security System that they should come into St. Vincent and turn the country up.

“Because the stop and searches and the placement of mobile stations, important as it is, must be more widespread. And it needs to be deepened,” Leacock said, adding it needs to be “a day-to-day job for the Minister of National Security to be on the bridge.

“Yes, it’s the work of the Commissioner of Police. And yes, they are having some results,” Leacock said, adding that one can see the evidence that specific communities have been “virtually under tighter management.”

But he said despite the police implementing a 24-hour presence in some communities, not all areas are benefiting from that policy.

“I do not want to call and put mouth on other people’s community,” Leacock added, “but obviously, we need assistance from the Regional Security System.”

Leacock said that there are many unsolved killings here. At the start of the month, Police Commissioner Colin John said police had brought charges in “between 10 and 12” of the 42 homicides last year.

“There are still too many unsolved murders. So, concerning that, we still need to ask for international help from Interpol, the FBI, or whoever we figure is sufficiently resourced to come and help us,” Leacock said.

He said he has gone beyond the RSS “because if we had the capacity, we would not have bad outcomes in Trinidad and Tobago, where crime is running away, we’d have better results in Jamaica, where crime is also running away, we would have better results in some of our neighboring countries — St. Lucia next door which doesn’t have a perfect picture either, and St. Kitts is also a case of concern.”

Leacock said, “even Barbados is struggling” to be on top of the crime situation.

The opposition lawmaker said that the United States must and are doing “their bit” because “a lot of procedures are taking place in America even though the gun culture in America is out of order.

“But we must deal with what’s on our doorstep. And what’s on our doorsteps means we must have a preventative aspect. What can we do in our society to reduce the temptation to respond to every infraction, every difference, every diversion, every adoration as we call it, every bassa-bassa with a stabbing or chopping or shooting, more often the shooting.”

Leacock said that “in the good old days,” when people had a problem with each other, they used to have a fistfight.

“And I’m not promoting that. But obviously, people are resorting now to guns. And it is a situation which even I and you and others have to be careful to be involved in,” he said, adding that he has reduced the time he spends socializing on blocks and shops in his constituency for fear of becoming an unintended victim of a shooting.