Police encouraging people to report sex crimes against children

Often times, police investigators have had to interrogate parents about taking payouts from the people who commit sexual crimes against their children.

“Pretty often, we have to pull mothers and relatives in the barracks and say, ‘you have not been assaulted, your child has been assaulted, not you, how dare you go and settle the matter and take $1200 and $1000 to settle a matter’…”, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) with responsibility for crime Trevor Bailey said this week.

Speaking last Monday August 12, 2024 on “Voices”, a radio programme aired weekly on WE FM, ACP Bailey said the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) does not condone this sort of behaviour by parents and will not accept it.

“We will have none of that, because as the adult, nothing was done to them.

“A child’s life has been literally taken away from them and they taking the $1200, and the child is not even getting $12 out of that because they spending all,” the senior officer said

“So, we are very serious when it comes to these matters.”

The experienced police officer noted also that since the introduction of the Sexual Offences Unit (SOU) on November 6, 2018, formed specifically to tackle crimes of a sexual nature, the reporting of sexual crimes has increased.

He said prior to this they were hearing that people were not reporting sexual crimes, although these crimes were wide spread, because people had no confidence in police officers.

He said persons were saying that police officers were not giving the matters the attention they deserved and there also were issues with confidentiality.

“Since the Unit was formed, we’re noting, from the statistics, when you compare, that we have far more reporting.

“That tells me, well, that the offences were always there, and maybe for whatever reason, they were not being reported,” said ACP Bailey who once headed the Sexual Offences Unit.

He said that with the SOU, people have developed “more trust” and confidence, and what that has been translating into is very high sentences in the courts for offences of a sexual nature.

The ACP said the work being done by the SOU is allowing evidence to be presented at the High Court that sees criminals receiving long sentences, so persons must not overlook the work of the SOU or be afraid to report matters.

Bailey spoke of the levels of confidence that should be had by persons to report matters, as the happenings in the court recently, show that matters will be investigated thoroughly and given the attention it deserves.

“Any man who is living among us, in his mind, perpetrate a crime against any victim, any young girl in St Vincent and the Grenadines, if it is reported to us, we are going to investigate it fully,” Bailey promised.