BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, FEBRUARY 2ND, 2017 (PRESS SEC) — Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris said yesterday, Wednesday, February 1st, that the year 2017 will see his Team Unity administration wage an even more aggressive campaign to reduce violent activity and crime in general.
The Honourable Prime Minister, who is the Minister of National Security, said this campaign is to include the deployment of another mobile patrol unit, as well as drones.
“My government has been leading the way – as every government should – because we accept that a fundamental responsibility of governments everywhere is to maintain law and order,” Prime Minister Harris said.
To this end, the security forces will continue to set up vehicle checkpoints and will also expand stop and searches in crime hotspots, to “disrupt criminals and their plans,” Dr. Harris said, noting that this year the Ministry of National Security will hire close to 100 additional staff across the security agencies.
Prime Minister Harris said, too, that the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force is currently recruiting 30 persons to undergo its Basic Military Course, which is scheduled to start in early March. The military training will culminate in a passing out parade for successful candidates.
Dr. Harris announced that Mr. Narace Ramnarine of Trinidad and Tobago, who has close to 25 years of law enforcement experience in that country, is the new head of the forensic unit in the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force. “He will now lead and transform our forensic unit into a world-class effort,” Prime Minister Harris said before addressing Mr. Ramnarine at the press conference with the assurance that, “Whatever resources you need, we will provide.”
At the press conference, Prime Minister Harris also acknowledged the presence of Dr. Neals Chitan, a crime reduction specialist and social skills consultant who is working with the government.
Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris told Dr. Chitan that, “I gather that you, sir, have already been active in our primary and secondary schools. You have been at our college. You have engaged our PTAs [parent teacher associations]. You have even been at our prisons both in Basseterre and on Nevis, and you have been to the New Horizons Juvenile Rehabilitation Centre.”
The Honourable Prime Minister also said at his press conference that joint operations involving all agencies of law enforcement are to be intensified this year. “In fact, they have become a permanent feature of our national security response system,” Prime Minister Harris added.
