Police Operations Need Improvements
Guest Opinion by J. J. Estemac
It is our belief that had the police response to the killing of retired police sergeant Liston T. Gumbs, Sr. was more immediate and coordinated, the possibility of arresting the perpetrator would have been greater. It is possible that whoever was in charge of police operations had taken an aggressive posture and sought the killer in the immediate area of the incident and expand the search into all areas where they know delinquents hang out, they could have flushed out the killer. But that did not happen and has not happen. Why the police have not been more aggressive in pursuing this case as well as the other unsolved murders on the books? The Major Crime Unit in the VIPD is small and overworked. That diminishes their productivity. When is the Governor going to demand better action from the police leadership, he appointed them, he is responsible for their productivity or lack thereof.
We feel so sad that the police department has reached this level of productivity in solving major crimes. It is also frightening to say the least, that the residents feel so unprotected by the police that they may be forced to protect themselves by any means and all means available to them. Neither the executive branch nor the legislative branch of our government has shown any leadership in addressing the crime problem in our community. Do we need them? We hired them but they are not producing the results we all expected. Shouldn’t we fire them? Isn’t that what is done when an employee fails to perform as they agreed to? Who will we replace them with? That is what we should be considering, talk is too cheap, actions is what count. Let us begin to consider alternative to what we presently have in government.
Let us begin the discussion and the search for candidates to replace all those who have failed us. All those who have been behaving so arrogantly, unrepentantly and have failed to address the needs of the community. Let us show these demagogues, these political charlatans that we have had enough of them and we intend to make changes. We can start the search in the different organizations of which we are a member and screen those that show leadership qualities and abilities to engage them. Encourage those we believe could be good representatives to represent you by forming committees to draft your own candidates and campaign for their election. Do not depend on political parties or individuals to offer to represent you without knowing their potential or their track record, personal and public. We need to be angry enough to shout out: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! We want change, and we want it now.
We can have improve police services if we get involve in community movements or organizations that are promoting accountability in government. We can demand better services from our representatives in government, in the executive and legislative branches. Let them know what we expect of them in a time certain or seek help from the federal government, who is ultimately responsible for this territory. The Governor could seek federal law enforcement help seeing the strain that the local police is under, this has been done in past and should be done now. False pride is as good as not having any pride at all, we should ask for help when we are in need, we are in need of help now. We should acknowledge our limitations. Protest the state of affairs that is so unsatisfactory to you. Democracy requires the involvement of the govern in the affairs of their government for democracy to succeed.
J. J. Estemac
CCBG
St. Thomas, VI
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