Yachts at Gros Islet.
An increase in police patrol boats at select yachting locations on the island is one of the measures government is attempting implement in order to curb robberies on yachties.
Concerns have been raised over robberies on tourists while aboard their yachts, in the north and particularly the south of the island. Among the more serious incidents recently, was the robbery and killing of British national 62-year-old Roger Pratt, while he was aboard a yacht at the Vieux Fort Sea Port in January. His wife, Margaret, who was also on the vessel, suffered injuries. At least five men have been held for this crime.
National Security Minister Victor Phillip La Corbiniere speaking to Saint Lucia News Online (SNO) said that while an increase in patrol vessels will not completely solve the problem, it will help the situation. One of these vessels has already been assigned to the Vieux Fort Port, and it has been conducting constant patrols.
Additionally, police officers stationed in the south of the island have been directed to be extra vigilant in dealing addressing the issue.
The minister said however that prohibitive costs associated with engaging the patrol vessels, have limited police efforts to some extent.
“It costs quite a bit, in terms of fuel, just to do occasional runs. So if you have a boat for example, that’s constantly moving around [and] you’re burning a lot of fuel and it’s gonna become extremely costly. One of the alternatives might be to look at smaller boats, for example, that could do internal waters patrolling, but again you have to look at safety for police officers and so many other issues. So it’s an issue that we have been giving some attention to and trying to address but it is one of the more difficult ones,” he said.
Moreover, he said another problem lies with intelligence sharing and the ability of police to adequately investigate and curtail the incidents before they occur.
Majority of the robberies involve tourists who are already on land and move on to their boats, the minister noted.
“They are actually coming from the land so there has to be a tighter sharing of intelligence in relation to that land-based criminal activity and the persons who are moving out unto the yachts to commit crimes. So we’ve had that discussion and I think the police are trying to improve on that intelligence,” he said, adding that his ministry is attempting to implement a “more comprehensive approach” in dealing with the issue.
He further stated that apart from better coordination between land-based and sea-based operations, his ministry is trying to take on a proactive approach rather than to wait for an incident to happen to act.
“So we’ve been talking about trying to increase patrols in some areas, but again it’s at a cost,” he said.
Tens of thousands of people come to St. Lucia every year by yacht.
With regard to crimes on tourists in Castries, La Corbiniere said that steps have been taken to increase the police presence in the city. He said that while there will always be criminal activity, visibility helps in curtailing some crimes.
A problem with this though, according to him, is there is a lack of resources and hence limits the number of police officers which can be stationed in certain areas of the town.
“We can’t station pockets of police officer at five or six or seven locations within the city. Those police officers are also required to police the city in a more general manner. These are some of the practical issues that we face,” he said.
With all this, La Corbiniere was adamant that the city of Castries “is definitely safer than it has been in the last four or five years.”
“It is a lot safer than it has been but it’s not a perfect situation. There are issues and problems [and] from time to time we will see some incidents. We just have to keep the situation under review all the time and try to shift resources (when necessary),” he added.