Police told to ‘snitch’ on village criminals

It may be unacceptable in the “code of the streets”, but Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves want policemen to snitch on questionable characters in their home villages.{{more}}

Restating that there were too many gun crimes being committed, Dr Gonsalves’ told reporters last Monday, August 20 that police officers can’t afford to stop functioning when they are on time off or on vacation.

“They go into their communities, they know who are the guys who misbehave…they know who have guns,” Dr Gonsalves said.

Dr Gonsalves beat the horse that has been beaten mercilessly in recent weeks when he stressed the need for improvement in the area of intelligence in the police force.

While he admitted that gun crime levels are worrisome, Dr Gonsalves, who is also the Minister of National Security, said that he is convinced it could have been much worse.

“I believe that if we did not have the increased penalties and more people going to jail, we probably would have had many more gun offences…than we have had,” he stated.

He also suggested that drug pushers today are much more violent than their predecessors.

“Some of the criminal elements that are into drugs are getting more violent than some of the persons that were into drugs in earlier years,” he said.

Dr Gonsalves again expressed his frustration over the judicial system which he says is making it almost impossible to hang people. He reiterated his intention to use the ongoing constitutional reform process to tighten the loopholes in this regard. (KJ)