Gangs are present in SVG, says Crime Chief

The recent armed robbery at a Credit Union has been linked to gang activities in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG).

On Tuesday July 16, 2024, persons armed with guns stormed the South Rivers branch of the General Employees Cooperative Credit Union in a brazen daylight robbery attempt. Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of crime, Trevor Bailey recalled this incident, as an example of gang activities in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Police were able to foil the robbery and five  men and one woman have since been charged with attempted murder, robbery, and firearm offences in relation to the South Rivers incident. ACP Bailey was a guest this week on the programme ‘Voices’, that is aired on WEFM on Monday nights.

“When I look at how some of them operate, you seeing structure,” ACP Bailey commented.

He added that in these gangs, persons are assigned specific duties.

The experienced officer gave a resounding ‘no’ to the possibility of allowing gang activities to continue any further without redress,

“When I look at how they operate and their structure; there is a clear command structure, it is not done haphazardly,” the senior officer pointed out. Apart from robberies, ACP Bailey said that gangs are also responsible for murder and the trafficking of narcotics in St Vincent and the Grenadines. Not only do we have gangs among us, ACP Bailey further stated that these gangs have colour codes, they have names and they lay claim to certain turfs or territories.

As far as their desire for territory goes, the officer said clearly “nobody will be allowed to lay claim to any geographical space, it is not theirs”.

“That will never be allowed to happen,” he stressed.

In terms of the composition of these gangs, ACP Bailey said some of the members are “young boys who are still in their school clothes, still in their school uniform.”

“Pretty soon, the powers that be will have to look at laws that are geared specifically towards these gangs. We cannot allow them to germinate or to

make root, he stressed.

“The longer we stay to address them directly, it’s the more influence they gonna have; the more assets they gonna accumulate,” the crime sleuth warned.

He further cautioned against the public being naïve to what is happening and burying our heads in the sand. Graffiti is seen scrawled in public places indicating the presence of ‘gang turfs’ in different communities of the State.