CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC -Opposition Chief Allen Chastanet says the principle opposition United Employees Get together (UWP) is ready to work throughout social gathering strains to take care of the rising crime state of affairs in St. Lucia.
In a radio and tv broadcast on Thursday evening, Chastanet stated that crime ought to by no means be a political concern because it “impacts all of us, no matter our political affiliation, our financial standing, or the place we dwell”.
In his broadcast, Chastanet, a former prime minister, stated that St Lucia is experiencing “the worst crime disaster in our nation’s historical past” and that final yr, the island recorded 77 murders, “the deadliest yr we had ever seen.”
He stated beneath the present St. Lucia Labour Get together (SLP) authorities of Prime Minister Phillip J Pierre, firearm-related murders have surged from 5 out of each 10 murders to simply beneath eight out of 10 murders.
“This tells us that our streets have been flooded with unlawful weapons whereas our police pressure has been starved of sources. The police price range was minimize whereas crime soared to document ranges. In 2024, our beloved St Lucia had the sixth-highest murder fee within the Caribbean at 42.8 per 100,000 individuals.”
Chastanet stated that with its murder fee solely about seven per cent greater than St Lucia’s, Trinidad and Tobago has declared a state of emergency, “but our leaders stay silent on our disaster”.
He stated that past the numbers, crime locations an infinite burden on the nation’s psychological well being and an already strained healthcare system, with gunshot victims and assault circumstances overwhelming emergency rooms and diverting crucial medical sources from different sufferers who want care.
He stated that the federal government has not solely been silent but in addition “disorganised and comfortable on crime, that they forgot to even appoint a Minister of Nationwide Safety for months after taking workplace”.
He advised the radio and tv viewers that the authorities disbanded the K9 unit that was essential for drug detection and crime prevention, and that “Tyson, the one remaining K9, was mysteriously poisoned.
“They failed to take care of our police scanners, leaving our officers working blind on the streets. The place we had constructed a community of over 1200 CCTV cameras throughout the island, they’ve allowed this crucial infrastructure to fall into disrepair,” Chastanet stated, including that the crime state of affairs “strikes on the very coronary heart of our justice system.
“We’ve witnessed not only a surge in crime however the collapse of the justice system with the mysterious disappearance of proof in crucial felony circumstances. When proof vanishes from police custody, when the very basis of our justice system crumbles, we aren’t simply failing the victims, we’re betraying each law-abiding citizen who depends upon that system for defense.”
He said that if the UWP wins the following common election, scheduled for subsequent yr, it’ll set up a devoted CSI unit to deal with all proof assortment and preservation, making certain the chain of custody isn’t compromised.
Chastanet stated that much more disturbing are the a number of sexual assault allegations in opposition to a senior police officer, including that “when these sworn to guard develop into these we concern, when those that ought to uphold justice develop into those that pervert it, our society is in grave hazard”.
Chastanet stated that regardless of public information of the rising crime state of affairs right here, there’s “ silence from the best ranges of presidency.
“The silence when proof disappears. The silence that follows critical allegations in opposition to these in positions of authority is commonly deafening. The silence when requested about their plan to battle crime, as a result of they by no means had one.
“This silence is complicity. It’s an abdication of the sacred accountability that comes with management. This administration has been comfortable on crime, with no accountability and solely excuses.”
Chastanet stated that two years in the past, he wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Pierre wherein “I put aside partisan politics and provided particular, concrete options to deal with our rising crime disaster.
“Most significantly, I provided the complete help of the United Employees Get together to work collectively, throughout social gathering strains, to guard our individuals. As a result of crime ought to by no means be political, crime impacts all of us, no matter our political affiliation, our financial standing, or the place we dwell.
That letter was ripped to shreds. These suggestions had been ignored. And within the two years since, our state of affairs has solely gotten worse.”
Chastanet stated that the UWP has “a concrete plan to revive security and belief in our justice system, and past that, a daring imaginative and prescient to make St Lucia the most secure, most affluent island within the Caribbean”.
Chatanet stated he was giving the St. Lucian inhabitants “a private promise…when you enable us to serve you once more, we are going to deal with the security of each St Lucian as our highest precedence.
“The United Employees Get together is able to lead. We’ve the crew, the imaginative and prescient, and importantly, the integrity to information St Lucia by means of this disaster and right into a safer future. We’re not compromised in order that we may be robust on crime,” he stated, insisting that the inhabitants should demand accountability.
“We should insist on transparency. We should vote for leaders who will put your security first, who will converse reality even when it’s uncomfortable, and who won’t ever, ever be silent when our individuals are in peril. Leaders who won’t ever be facilitators of crime.
“The time for silence is over. The time for excuses is over. The time for half-measures and empty guarantees is over. The time for being comfortable on crime whereas bringing felony components into authorities is over,” Chastanet added.
