Government officials, members of the media and students from several schools were on hand on Wednesday September 28th for the launch of the United Against Crime campaign.
The initiative is a bold new approach to fighting crime in Saint Lucia that involves getting citizens more involved in the crime fighting process. The programme seeks to create direct linkages with the police and the public and educate St Lucians about how they can protect themselves from being victims of crime. The programme is also community and youth centered with sustainable ways of curbing crime. As they were ushered into the Sandals ballroom members of the audience received brochures with information about the campaign as well as bookmarks, key rings and notepads all bearing the United Against Crime branding.
Chairing the launch was Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Esther Brathwaite who explained that the campaign was part of a crime-fighting strategy of the Home Affairs Ministry with the support of the Government of St Lucia.
UAC, said Mrs Brathwaite, is about building partnerships and collaborations. “We are excited about the programme which focuses on a campaign geared towards empowering communities and the youth. We want to attack the root of crime. The evidence is that a disproportionate number of crimes are performed by the youth. We need to deal with the issues of truancy and unsupervised youth after school and late at night.“
Following the Permanent Secretary’s introduction to the programme, Minister for Home Affairs and National Security, Guy Mayers, gave a breakdown of the efforts of the police force in curbing crime. The in depth presentation educated the audience about the state of crime using statistics, patterns and the way forward. Said the Minister: “The complex and multi-dimensional nature of crime requires a multiplicity of interventions that are effectively coordinated in order to achieve meaningful impact. National responses to crime cannot be piece meal and cannot work in isolation from other social development interventions. It is the recognition of crime as a major social development issue that has brought us to this forum here today. St Lucia needs to weave a new social fabric that is robust enough to withstand the stresses of rapid changes taking place in this liberalized and unregulated society. The constant disregard for law and order, the breakdown in family values, the lack of respect for authority, the wanton use of alcohol by minors, the indiscriminate violations of traffic regulations, the high tolerance of stealing from each other and the high level of domestic violence demonstrate a society in decay. We must do better as a society to get our citizens to act more responsibility. Crime prevention is the initiation of proactive, cost-effective measures to reduce the threat of crime or eliminate it all together. I daresay that crime prevention may very well be the only issue on which we find political consensus because we all perceive that safety and security are critical to our psychological functioning and overall wellbeing as a society.” Senator Mayers called the launch of the UAC campaign “a historic occasion the quest to propel our country forward.”
He gave an overview of the objectives of his ministry and some important information about the causes of crime. In closing the Minister extended an invitation for all to unite against crime.
Following the Minister’s presentation Mrs Jacinta Annius-Lee, an active member of a neighbourhood watch group in the north, read a poem about the UAC campaign.
The Prime Minister’s address then followed. Mr King spoke about unforgettable lessons he had been taught when it came to crime.
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