CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (January 04, 2007)
Top Cop in the Nevis Police Division Superintendent Joseph Liburd said the island’s Tourism Industry and the economy, by extension, stood to benefit from the declining crime rate on Nevis.
Mr. Liburd made the observation on Wednesday January 03, 2007 during an interview with the Department of Information at his Charlestown office. He said at the end of 2006, the Police had recorded a 7.2 percent decline in crime over that of 2005 and the crime detection rate had moved from 46 percent in 2005 to 50 percent at the end of 2006.
“I would say the reduction in crime augurs well for the island of Nevis, the tourism industry and the economic situation because if crime is increasing and it is out of control than the tourists would not want to come to anyplace where crime is out of control and it would affect the economic situation of any country.
“Around this time when almost everywhere [in the world] you go, people are crying out about an increase in crime, Nevis can boast there is a decrease in crime and not only a decrease but also more importantly, an increase in the detection of those crimes that have been reported,” he said.Mr. Liburd described 2006 as having been a very productive and successful year for the Police on Nevis and cited that they had set goals at the beginning of the year under the theme: “Success through Partnership ““ A time for action” with the intension to reduce crime. He said in 2005 there had been a total of 291 crimes which was reduced by five percent to 270 in 2006 while the detection rate was 46 percent.
Now that the Nevis Police Division is faced with the challenge of safeguarding its track record of success in 2005 and 2006, Superintendent Liburd said they would continue to work hard and was hopeful that all stakeholders would come on board since their success could not have be achieved in isolation.
“We expect that we would be able to get the support from the public”¦to spread the information of keeping Nevis as crime free as possible [through] the various media and that we would be able to find social activities for persons who tend to get themselves in anti social behaviour. We believe that, that is the way to go to help to keep Nevis as peaceful and as quiet as possible,” he said.
According to Mr. Liburd, most of the crimes committed in Nevis that have been detected are by young people between the ages of 18-30 most of whom are repeat offenders while the percentage of juvenile crimes detected was five percent of the crimes detected in 2006.
Meantime, Mr. Liburd in response to the question of the existing morale of the police on Nevis said, there were clear indications that there was an upward movement from the low morale that had obtained in the latter part of 2006.
“We have seen an improvement in the moral of the officers even though most of their concerns have not yet been addressed. We have seen where they are quite willing to work and work hard in order for us to achieve the goals that we set early in the year,” he said.