With the territory now tallying 32 homicides for the year, the tragic events that unfolded over the weekend — with five killed on St. Thomas in back-to-back shooting incidents running from Friday to Sunday evening — just underscored the need for an increased police presence and a zero-tolerance policy on crime, officials said Tuesday.
After laying the groundwork Monday, with police top brass following a meeting at Government House with a public press conference that put out a call for more community involvement, Gov. John deJongh Jr. said he would soon be sitting down with the government’s legal minds — including local judges — to keep suspects out on bail from committing more crimes.
"As I said yesterday, we will continue to work against those individuals who are involved in these acts of retaliation and street justice," deJongh said during another press conference held at Government House Tuesday. "These violent individuals, some of whom are out on bail, some of whom are outfitted with electric monitors, are concerns that I intend to address with the Judiciary when I sit down with them, my attorney general and the commissioner of police."
After Tuesday’s press conference, Police Commissioner Novelle Francis said the department’s first line of defense at this point is "high visibility," or saturating the streets with officers to patrol high-crime areas at peak hours during the day.
Recent traffic stops have helped net scores of weapons, but they also need to be stepped up, Francis added.
"We’re looking for any probable cause that would allow us to do a more intrusive search of these vehicles," he said. "Unfortunately, it seems like every other car has a firearm in it, so that concerns us."
The goal of what Francis described as more "intrusive" stops is to get people to at least leave their guns at home, so they’re not available for shootouts on the streets.
Meanwhile, police are also working with the heads of other departments and agencies — such as Licensing and Consumer Affairs — to target hot spots, or areas of frequent criminal activity.
"We’ve realized there are contributing elements to this crime, such as nearby bar activities, vendors and poor lighting," Francis said, adding that overgrown trees and bushes also provide a convenient cover for illicit activities. "We’ll be working with other government agencies to clean up these areas and help give our officers a better view of what’s going on."
Nightclubs, convenience stores and gas stations where people may congregate or loiter are also included in the crackdown, and officers have already been stationed outside a few to keep an eye on what’s going on, Francis said.
He added that even the officers are under scrutiny, and will also be watched to make sure they’re doing their jobs.
"Even if we have to ask the assistance of the Legislature in helping us deal with some of these establishments, we will," Francis said. "We’re going for crime prevention by environmental design."
diego, Good for the governor he is finally going to take the streets back from the dealers, gamblers and killers. At least we all hope he will. Although it may be expensive at first but certainly cheaper in the long run cameras should be installed, they should be working and monitored. Cameras have been a great crime buster in cities like New York. If there were cameras positioned all over the territory they could also monitor the foxes (police) that are guarding the hen house. Sadly, that in some cases, not all or even most but, some cases is necessary.
The territory already has the distinction of being not only having the highest murder rate under the US flag but globally other than war zones.
George L Johansen
Peekskill, NY
St Thomas, VI
The high crime rate on our island has been a problem for many years. The political bosses give the same lip service after every news article on the subject. The bottom line is the police must be trained and led by a proferssional. The police dept is filled with political friends and top heavy with do nothing chiefs and commisioners. Get rid of the incompetent leadeers and train the officers. Adopt a zero policy for all crime and if properly applied you will have a change in the attitude of the public. Right now the island needs marshall law before some innocent people are killed in these reckless shootouts. The good thing is they are killing themselves.
In regards to the comment made by GJohansen, you are wrong innocents are being killed. Do your research before you make “reckless” comments regarding things you OBVIOUSLY know nothing about. Regardless of owns actions change is available to everyone. No I dont condone what they are doing to the islands and its people however when is the cycle going to stop. When will the law and step up and do what they are paid to protect the people Yet everytime you turn around another “law enforcer” is on the other end of the law. Its just sickening.
diego, I totally disagree with G.L. Johnson in regard to his statement, ” The good thing is they are killing themselves.” that statement is horrific and not accurate. Each and every time a human being is gunned down for whatever reason a mother, brother,wife, child etc., loses a loved one. Albeit they may be guilty of a crime or not, certainly no one deserves to be gunned down in the streets.
What they do deserve is their day in court, one day one verdict and then freedom or jail.
Most appeals should be left to the appeal process.
Myself and 14 other people just cancelled a trip to St Thomas after this last bit of violence came to light. Some of us had lived there in the past(me, I moved away 20 years ago and it seems that nothing has changed for the good), and others were taking our word that the beauty of the place would take them away. Well, the beauty isn’t worth being killed for now is it?
Let’s do the math: 15 people x 14 days x hotel$$$,+food$$$,+taxi and rental car$$$…..WOW! Not to mention what would be spent on Main Street and with vendors at the beach. That’s a lot of cash!
Who is missing out here, besides having their own citizens dying in the streets?
Some things really never change. We’re going someplace where the chance of survival is a bit better.
Hello Readers,
I discovered in my many years in law enforcement, that crime will always occur. The way law enforcement leaders address the problem is the most important decision a law enforcement leader can make.
The levels of crime in our islands have reached momentous levels that can not continue. I welcome the saturation of police in high crime areas and traffic stops of suspicious vehicles. This is a method that helps in reducing crime. The police can not stop every vehicle or person walking in the street even if they suspect some sort of criminal activity without reasonable suspicion or probable cause. This often ties the hands of the police when trying to address the level of crime we are experiencing.
Criminals know the laws just as good as the police that enforce them. Now is the time to seek community support and show them that you care about their welfare and safety. If the communities do not trust the police, they will not get involved and this is all the criminals want; freedom to take over the streets. It is time to use new tactics to fight the level of crime we are experiencing in our islands; the communities have a right to feel safe in their homes and when they go outside.
Law enforcement leaders have to take a new look at their crime fighting plan and look at reinventing the wheel and begin to make changes that address community involvement and their social relationship with the police. It is one thing to ask for the community’s help, and it’s another thing when they turn their back. Its time to empower the community to get involved and be a major partner with the police to help solve the problems we are faced with.
I am an advocate of community- oriented policing and problem solving- COPPS. This is a dominant strategy of policing being used by law enforcement agencies across the United States. It is an approach that provides police officers and supervisors with new tools for addressing recurrent problems that plague communities and consume a majority of law enforcement agency time and resources. COPPS promotes proactive problem solving and police –community partnerships to address the causes of crime and fear as well as other community issues.
It is important for law enforcement leaders to identify the problems we are faced with and conduct an assessment and analysis of the problems we are faced with and the responses that were taken. If the responses were not effective it is important for the leaders to identify the reasons why they did not work and formulate new strategies based on information obtained from the community, patrol officers, victims, and examining the underling causes. Once the problem has been identified it is important for law enforcement leaders to encircle the problem. Remember that there are three elements for a problem to occur: the suspect, a victim, and a location. By removing one or two of the elements from the triangle the problem will be eliminated. It is important for the police to maximize their resources, so if they eliminate one of the elements instead of using their resources to eliminate them all, will give the department more resources at their disposal.
The police department could take back the streets but it will take more that putting police officers on the street. It is also going to take retraining the officers and supervisors to become more community oriented to develop the trust of the people that have been lost in many communities. When you can have criminals murdering individuals at the rate they are doing it, there is no fear of prosecution, but we have to change that. The Police leaders have to let the criminals know that the safety of community is paramount and change is at hand. The police leaders should let criminals know that we are not conducting business as usual.
The climate for change is hear, the people of the Virgin Islands should be part of a partnership to get control of our community and the police leaders should be held accountable for communicating this change and implementing strategies to maximize community involvement and the law enforcement ‘s commitment to reducing crime and providing a safe environment.
Kevin Hewitt MSCJ