What is the Police Force doing to deal with these bandits?

25.JAN.11

Editor: I am appalled at the frequency of burglary, robbery and violent crimes being committed against business owners in St. Vincent and the Grenadines within recent months. They are apparently the prime targets for these armed bandits who are seeking fast money.{{more}}

What is the Police Force doing to counteract this sort of activity and what measures are being put in place to help business owners to protect themselves, their families and property against such violent crimes that are so prevalent and now seemingly the norm of our society? Are the high ranking police officers, lawyers and politicians and their respective families the only ones that need to be protected?

It is compounded even further when decent law-abiding citizens and business owners apply for and are refused firearm licenses, when the (bad guys) bandits have access to unlicensed firearms.The persons who should have this sort of protection are at a disadvantage, in that they are left unarmed while the robbers are fully armored.

Must we continue to endure this pain and suffering? Should we continue to stand by, and watch our lives and that of our wives and our children and all that we have worked so hard for being ripped away from us? Should we be made to just look on helplessly while our families are tortured and beaten by these criminals? Since we are left defenseless and can only beg for mercy while being tied up, have our wrists cut, beaten with a gun in the head, our cars, bank and credit cards stolen, being shot in the leg or elsewhere, or worse yet killed by these criminals, our only option at such a time is to plead for the sparing of our lives. What is it going to take for some drastic measures to be put in place to deal with this issue? How many deaths is it going to take? Or should I dare ask: who does it have to affect first for these measures to be in place and for emergency meetings to be called to deal with these issues?

This sort of behavior by criminals cannot be allowed to continue. It has to stop; we as business owners need to be able to have some means of protecting ourselves against the perpetrators of these crimes. We need to be granted licensed firearms when we apply. It is not satisfactory for us to endure such harsh treatment by persons who do not know what it is like to work hard for their daily bread. After working after a long day and we get home, one should be at peace, able to relax and sleep comfortably. Instead, one is abruptly awakened by some lazy ‘block warmers’, who monitor your movement while ‘chillin’ out all day, smoking and getting high, and at nights holding you up at gun-point demanding money.

I am asking kindly for the relevant authorities, as a matter of urgency to look into this situation to help curb the existence of these dastardly acts.

The only question in my mind now, is: Who next?

Concerned citizen