We watched it happen in real time.
One was posted outside the door, well-armed, moving like a sentry. The midday sun had not yet reached its zenith.
The owners were barred from entry and made to sit while they were being fleeced. From the safety of the vehicle where they were herded with their coffee, they sounded the alarm.
We counted the minutes. Two down; Certainly, BVIs finest were on their way. After all, both the Police Headquarters and the Road Town Police Station were, at most, three minutes away.
We reflected on a District Representative asking for police presence after an incident that struck terror in the commercial sector of his district. We looked for the foot patrol. It was non-existent.
Four minutes. Nothing!
We checked the Virgin Islands Constitution Order 2007. Section 60 placed the responsibility for the police and internal security with His Majesty’s Representative in the BVI;
The Governor.
We breathe a sigh of relief for the British doeth all things well.
The UK Minister for the OTs visited recently but compliance with the COI initiatives and additional powers for the Governor were paramount to him. Nevertheless, it is safety and security that trumps all for BVI people.
Six minutes. We began to feel agitated. How could the criminals have known that the response team had business at His Majesty’s fine Hotel forty minutes away? But with a staff of over three hundred police officers (2024 Budget Estimates), was no one else available?
Meanwhile, inside the jewelry store, terror to the employees and vandalism and theft were being played out. The guns we saw belonged on battlefields. Is that what BVI has become?
8 minutes. Heads should roll for this level of inaction and incompetence. But in BVI, that hardly ever happens. In any case, the COI Commissioner had absolute confidence in the Governor’s ability to positively address the shortcomings of the agencies for which he is responsible. Why shouldn’t we?
When the job was done, and the four men, all appearing more fit and agile than many of BVIs finest, left the scene, it was the Police’s chance to show up.
10 minutes. At least they materialized with great fanfare.
As expected, on twenty four square miles, they only caught an empty, abandoned vehicle. And they now ask for the public’s help to solve the crime when they denied the public theirs in a most critical moment when lives hung in the balance.
But although safety is everyone’s business, we are a dependent Territory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Governor is responsible for our safety and security.
We do not feel safe at the moment, but none will likely announce a COI to look into that. So, of course we marched. We do that well.
We believe that safety and security in BVI are attainable if the Governor takes his responsibility for internal security as seriously as he takes his COI obligations (also very important).
To date, at least 4 UK Ministers for the OTs have visited since the process began; We are jealous of that commitment to the COI which we would be heartened to see applied also to our safety and security.
And it would be important if the Minister for National Security (The Governor) could discuss with the people how he plans to keep them safe, assuming that there is a plan.
The British have harped on with their spiel that the people of the Territory deserve good governance. Do they believe the people deserve good security as well?
The evidence, to date, is not comforting.
If Security were the Premier’s subject, would the British have been so silent? If this were happening in the U.K., would they be so complacent?
But it is late in the day for finger pointing while the criminals become more brazen and the residents tremble for their safety and that of their children and their guests.
Fridays would like to know if the safety and security of the people of this Territory are of any moment to the Minister for National Security.
If it is, when will he act? For the industry that sustains us, tourism, is now being threatened.
Must the TCI experience become ours before significant help materializes? We hope not but we are frightfully aware that the National Security Minister is failing miserably in his security duties and the community is paying the price.
But Governor Pruce’s position is that his security responsibilities are especially important to him. And we dare to believe that these expressions are sincere for Governor Pruce “…is an honourable man; So are they all, all honourable men-.” (Julius Caesar)
The UK Minister for the Overseas Territories is in a position to grant more powers to the Governor to fulfill his COI responsibilities;
But Fridays and the people of this Territory would like him to grant our ‘Minister for National Security’ more resources to keep us safe.
Otherwise there will be no one to greet the COI train when it arrives at the station.
Happy Friday!