If you ask any frequent (or infrequent) visitor to St Kitts & Nevis, just what they like about life here, you will hear the same answer time and time again: “The people are so friendly and welcoming. Everyone seems to be smiling all the time.” Those of us who live here, both natives and expatriates, know this to be largely true – but there is one extremely important public institution to which this does not seem to apply – our Police Force.

In a well-policed and stable society, the police do not just keep the peace in the community; as a whole and as individuals they are a fundamental part of the community.  They are the familiar, friendly face and the strong arm that people can turn to with confidence whenever danger threatens. Currently, few of our policemen and women can tick any of these boxes. Instead of the friendly “Bobby on the beat” approach, our officers seem determined to keep their distance from those they serve, compounding the lack of confidence and trust from which they already suffer. In the fifteen years that I have known and loved Nevis, I have yet to see a police officer smiling when dealing with a member of the public. Instead, they project an air of being apart from ordinary people, most of whom they seem to regard with grim-faced suspicion. The mind-set seems to be that every citizen is a potential trouble-maker and that “if you give them an inch, they will take a mile”, or even worse “the people will never like us, trust us or have faith in us; so why should we put ourselves out for them?” When a prominent and locally-born citizen called the police recently to suggest a speed trap on a particularly dangerous stretch of road, they received the astonishing reply that the force “had no motivation to mount such an operation”. Excuse us? Since when did fulfilling your job function become optional, in any profession?

The talk on the street, in the bars and in the home, on both islands, is now dominated by a single subject: the inexorable rise of criminal offences against persons and property is now affecting ALL of us. Everyone is worried that they may be the next to suffer and no-one is talking about the police’s ability to tackle the problem, only the lack of it. When asked in informal conversation about the prevailing crime problem, a Government Minister gave this reply; “The root problem lies with the Police Force. They do not interact with the community and therefore have no finger on its pulse and no personal investment in its well-being. I do not understand why they do not hang their heads in shame at their own appalling public image.”

The Leewards Times believes that the police have a very important and difficult job to do; but they will not earn the public’s trust and respect until they start making real efforts to actually do it.

They do have smart uniforms though.