Flambeau on Crime

Have you ever gone out to “Flambeautae “, I have and I must say it was one of the most fun things that I have ever done. If you have not and you do not know what it means to go “Flambeauteaing”, then you may want to go someday. You will need a torch or a bright light to shine your way and to also illuminate the fish, crawfish and eels, as they lay at the water’s edge sleeping. You have to have your cutlass because we hunted by slicing the prey through the water with one deft stroke. That is exactly what happens when one goes out to“Flambeautae “,shining the light. Flambeautae is simply fishing using light. Let us shine some light on the drug and guns making their way into St Lucia. Remove such underground activities out of the darkness and make it as plain as day. In so doing, we can make the situation seem as approachable as a home cooked meal. Let’s go fishing.

You needed to be well equipped to go haunting for the bounties we would find while we snaked our way down the Patience River. We would choose a spot somewhere up stream and make our way downstream to where the river met the bay. All along the way torches and cutlasses in hand, we caught whatever our light shone on, providing it was edible. We made sure we kept an eye out for other predators that might be out hunting that night too, a la fer-de-lance. We can use this same concept here when it come to patrolling our coastal waters, pursuing and bagging those criminal who attempt to enter our sovereign waters with illegal contraband.

A couple of unmanned aerial plane with mounted cameras or a hot air balloons deployed high into the atmosphere, somewhat like a satellites would provide eyes in the sky. We need logistical support for our coast guards so that they can effectively carry out their job. Letting them know when something is coming in with some eyes in the sky patrolling the length of the coast or would stop this influx of drugs and guns into St Lucia.

Let us shift some resources, source American expertise, training and funding to set up a drag net around St Lucia. We can set up a surveillance system that is as blinding to criminals as the fog lamps mounted on top of the coast guard patrol boats. Let’s get some surveillance going that will intercept the illegal narcotics and guns coming into our borders. Let’s make it unsavoury and even scary for criminals to approach St Lucia. With effective search and capture initiatives we can deters criminals from entering our waters, thus preventing guns and drug s from entering our borders.

Since we are on the topic of shining light on to things, the establishment of an internal investigation unit to investigate officers would help weed out corruption within the police force. Corrupt elements within the police force must be held accountable by an investigations unit which is separate from the existing Royal St Lucia Police Force (RSPL). The police should not be policing themselves.

With that said it may sound contradictory when i also suggest the establishment of a covert unit of officers trained in counter narcotics expertise, one that fly’s under the radar. I ounce had an officer friend of mine, who was an avid runner, he always used to tell me don’t let the criminals train harder than you and be more prepared than you, never let that happen. We need a team of officer that are trained to do the things people want but are afraid to face head on. They prefer to stick their heads and the sand and hope it is better in the morning.

All those found committing a crime associated to a firearm should be prosecuted, convicted and given a strict sentence with no leniency. Let’s take a different approach maybe we should pursue the gun manufactures. Let as rightfully place some of the responsibility of gun crime unto the gun manufacturers. The caveat here is that we should sue them and use the money to fund our counter narcotics operations. The cost of such undertakings should be placed squarely on the manufacturers’ shoulders. We need to get the gun manufactures to take responsibility for the negative externalities and effects that their weapons are intimately attached to.

While we continue to invest in a well trained core of coast guards, with reliable equipment, and training. Increase the number and frequency of patrols and build linkages with other islands. They are combating the same problems. We can share tools, expertise human resources. Drug runners like the fact that the Caribbean is an archipelago and is teeming with islands and hidden coves and bays.

The scourge affecting St Lucia is for the most part being imported in. The problem is not found at the top of a lush green mountain but rather on our white sand Beaches, it may manifest itself in the ghetto but it is the influx of powder and guns that is seeding this crime situation in St Lucia. These illegal underground imports to our shores, needs the bright light of justice shone on them. Shine our light all over our borders and land. Let’s take a page from an old tried and tested method, people let’s go “Flambeauteaing” for traffickers and we will see a marked improvement in the crime situation in St Lucia. Let’s go fishing, all aboard.