St. Lucia Receives International Assistance in Fight Against Crime

St. Lucia is receiving international assistance in fighting crime from the governments of Taiwan and Britain, according to a report from the St. Lucian Ministry of Home Affairs and National Security.

The government release said that law enforcement personnel has received five new mobile patrol vehicles from Taiwan while Britain is providing training to local police in operating CCTV cameras, which National Security Minister, Guy Mayers, says will be received by the end of the year.

The government has also recently procured two high-powered speed boats for the marine police. Meanwhile, Britain’s new High Commissioner to Barbados and the eastern Caribbean, Paul Brummell, said he looks forward to continuing working with the government and the people of St. Lucia on matters of common, including crime.

Mr. Brummell pointed out that the trafficking of illegal narcotics in and out of St. Lucia is one of the areas which will receive special attention.

“There is a lot of evidence to show that [crime] is closely linked to the drug trade. and so the flow of cocaine from South America through the eastern Caribbean to countries like the United Kingdom is indeed part of the problem, because cocaine hitting the UK causes immense economic and social damage to us as well ... and that’s why the UK is very keen to work with St. Lucia and other governments in the region to combat the flow of cocaine,” Brummell said.

The British official added, “This area of work is important on two fronts: firstly, because it targets the profits of drug traffickers, and also because the monies which are seized can be used by the government of St. Lucia in a very broad-based way to combat crime and its causes and consequences.”