We need to be more alert and forthcoming

With a population officially put at just about 110,000, it ought to be much easier for the police to carry out investigations and solve crimes in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Vincentians live in small communities and purport to know everyone else’s business, sometimes better than they know their own. It seems however, that for the things that really matter, we are not as alert or forthcoming with information as we need to be.

We carry on today’s front page, two stories, which given our small size and the nature of our communities, should not have developed to the stage they have.

We are perplexed that there is still such a shroud of mystery surrounding the death last week of a young man of Diamond Estate who left home to go to the beach with a group of friends from his neighbourhood. Eyewitnesses on the beach allege that the young man, who could not swim, was pushed into the water. The autopsy report said he died of “a double portion of water in the lungs”. What makes this case particularly disturbing is the fact that the young man’s “friends” are all alleged to have run away from the scene, taking with them the deceased belongings including his bicycle, telephone and clothes. We urge the police to redouble their efforts in investigating this matter so that anyone found to be implicated in the young man’s death would be brought to justice.

Then there is Iso Lynch, the notorious con man who yesterday appeared before the Serious Offences Court, charged with three more counts of deception. Over a period of almost two decades, Lynch has had 17 convictions for deception and one for impersonation. In many of his schemes, he passed himself off as a police officer. It is amazing that despite his many convictions and appearances in the newspaper that in our two by four country, we still get sucked in by Lynch’s tall tales and entrust him with our money.

The responsibility to prevent and solve crime does not rest solely with the police. We all have a responsibility to assist the police with their investigations and stay alert in order that we not fall prey to those that seek to do us harm and deprive us of our possessions. Let us step up our game today.