Articles - Guy Mayers addresses St.Lucians worldwide on crime situation in St.Lucia‏ by Sheralin Monrose

On the evening of Tuesday 23rd February, Minister with responsibility for Security in St.Lucia Mr.Guy Mayers participated in the Live Chat of the St.Lucia Week to address the rising crime situation in St.Lucia.Various St.Lucians from all over the world participated in this highly intense discussion and chat. The discussion focused on governments response to the crime situation and as to what plans were being put in place to address the situation going forward.
 
The Minister was quite forthcoming in defense of the government's strategy in allaying the already out of control situation. AS per the Minister, the Police force is currently training 60 new policemen who will shortly be joining their ranks, with plans to train a further 60 in the next few months. They have also stepped up patrols in the city and surrounding areas thanks an additional fleet of 5 new police vehicles. There are also plans in the work to tackle the drug situation and the Government is working with the United States in enquiring additional boats which will be used for tackling the drug problem. The Minister also indicated that government via NTN has been reaching out to the public on the issue.
 
St.Lucians from all over the world participated. The St.Lucians who participated in the discussion seemed to be greatly concerned about what was occuring in their sweet island St.Lucia. Certain topics mentioned in the discussion included the need for reintroduction of Capital Punishment as a deterrent to criminals, need for Vocational training as opposed to strictly academic training in our school, an increased need for more resources in the communities that may assist in keeping the youth off the streets, need for greater intervention from Government ministers in the constituency. Some participants also touched on other social factors such as single parent families, absence of fathers in the home, lack of spirituality as factors that may contribute to the crime in our country.
 
All in all, it was a great discussion and the Minister was encouraged to use this feedback as a stepping stone in creating the necessary strategy and policy needed to alleviate the crime issue. The Minister thanked everyone for their contribution and reminded the participants that this crime issue was a St.Lucian issue and that we all needed to work together to reduce such incidences. In his closing remarks the Minister reminded us of the theme for this years's 31st Indepence celebrations: Tout Sent Lisyen Se’ Yonn. We would like to use this opportunity to thank the Minister for his contribution and because this is a topic that is so close to the heart of all ST.Lucians,  St.Lucia Weekly has invited Mr.Mayers to be with us again this Sunday at 3pm. WE encourage all of you to participate in this chat. Let us all stand united, to save Sweet St.Lucia and return it to its rightful place.

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