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  by pltm
• Jan 17, 2017
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Disposing a host of solutions made by the public to solve the crime situation in the British Virgin Islands, Commissioner of Police, Michael Matthews refuted the most popular of them all, noting that the availability of more guns to police officers will not decrease or solve the Territory’s crime. “Some suggest having more armed officers on the streets around the Territory; just arming police officers will not solve the problem.” Matthews was at the time speaking at the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force’s community meeting in Long Look on January 16th, where residents came out to discuss the plan to end crime in East End/Long Look and the Territory as a whole.

(PLTM) - He went on to say, “Arming a police officer is about protecting themselves and the public, not about going out there acting as an execution squad. Our job is to bring people to justice, safely, and we should only use lethal force when it is absolutely necessary to do so. It should be the police to do so; we shouldn’t be arming the public and expect them to do it for us.” The Commissioner also made mention of suggestions to increase police patrols on the streets and to have more spontaneous stop and searches, to which he noted that although they sound good, they are not the best plan. “Having our officers out would look good and more persons might feel safe, but it is not an effective use of resources just to have officers out to be seen. I accept that visibility is a real challenge that we must work on, because it does give assurance.” This led the Commissioner straight into his plan of action for the months to come, which is to invest in the resources of the force, by improving the mobility of the officers, enhancing the training of officers in different fields and encouraging more persons to join the team. Commissioner Matthews highlighted that with Cabinet’s approval, financing is now available to tackle the various aspects of his plan. He went on to encourage persons to speak up and out about crimes in their neighborhood, adding that confidentiality is top priority between the force and witnesses to crimes. “We can build in legal protections to protect the identity of persons, how they look and where they live; what we can’t build is community spirit for persons to stand up and come forward and say what they saw and know.”

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