Basseterre, St. Kitts, July 19, 2018 (SKNIS): Members of a Task Force that will oversee the implementation of the CariSECURE project participated in a two-day workshop on July 17 and 18 to prepare them for their roles.
The Strengthening Evidenced Based Decision Making for Citizen Security in the Caribbean – (CariSECURE) Project is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Barbados and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). CariSECURE aims to strengthen the capacity of regional and national institutions in 10 Caribbean countries, including St. Kitts and Nevis, to collect, analyse and use citizen security data for evidence-driven crime prevention.
The Task Force was introduced by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Osmond Petty, who currently serves as its Chair. The others members are Azilla Clarke – Director of Social Services and Community Development, Sergeant Winston Thompson – Local Intelligence Unit with the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, Doriel Tross-Nisbett – Director of the Department of Statistics (Nevis), Pierre Liburd – Acting Director for the Department of Youth Empowerment, Magistrate Her Honour Donna Harris – Justice and Legal System, Crown Counsel Vaughn Henderson – Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, Prison Officer Shorna Herbert – Her Majesty’s Prison, Zahnelia Claxton – Director of the Department of Youth (Nevis).
Representatives from other ministries and agencies – including the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of National Security, the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force, the National Drug Council, and the Immigration Department – were also present for the training. A component of the project involves an inter-agency data sharing agreement to assist with the collection of and access to data related to crime and security. During the workshop, the members reviewed the terms of reference for the Task Force, as well as the data sharing agreement. Other sessions also covered past and present strategies to policing, innovations to policing, as well as crime analysis, problem orientated and hot spot policing.
Project Manager for the CariSECURE Project, Paolo Del Mistro, emphasised the importance of all the relevant agencies being involved in capturing the information both locally and regionally.
“It’s like a puzzle, if you have a missing piece… you don’t have a clear picture of what’s going on on the ground. So that’s why it’s important to have all those agencies that are here today that will help to give a real picture of what’s happening on the ground. Once again, it’s not about intelligence, it’s basically to better design strategies and policies to develop something that would be helpful for the citizens of St. Kitts and Nevis,” Mr. Del Mistro said. “Now is it only for the country or is it something regional and it’s both. As I explained, we’re developing tools and components that will belong to the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, so it will belong to the government. But also we’re developing something that is a kind of regional tool so that countries will have the capacity to compare crime and data between themselves so that they can identify more easily best practices.”
The project is one of three components of the broader USAID Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Project which aims to increase the institutional and technical capacity of regional bodies, selected national government systems and community stakeholders to reduce risk factors that drive youth crime, violence and victimisation.
The CariSECURE Project will be officially launched in the Federation on Thursday, July 18, at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort.
