I am in my 50’s and I have lived in Antigua all my life. I never thought that in my wildest dreams that a day will come that I will become a prisoner in this beautiful country of ours.
Clearly, the times has change and hence, my life style is now coinciding with the changes. Today, many youngsters are walking the streets looking like descent young men but unfortunately, they are infected with a criminal mind waiting to seize an opportunity to commit a crime.
It seems to me that this generation of young men are gravitating towards crimes as a hobby or a vocational skill.It is extremely heart wrenching to read almost daily, news articles concerning criminal activities where innocent victims suffering from incidents of crimes and the perpetrators leave unhurt and are freely on the loose.
These thugs are now transforming a segment of the nation’s culture, thus terrorizing the lives of law abiding residents.They are braison, heartless and surprisingly, they are armed with sophisticated weapons creating havoc around the place.
I am baffled as to how these weapons get into the hands of these youngsters.
Antigua needs to return to the country it was before as that sweet, peaceful, funfilled and tranquil paradise. Many of us are presently living like we are imprisoned. We are now forced to be in tightly secured properties, and be very conscientious of the places we go and the persons we make contact with.
What is happening in Antigua is certainly not a reflection of poverty or a lack of jobs. It’s just a new culture introduced among the youngsters who perhaps do not want to work but yet want to live an extravagant life style.
That way of living needs to change before it gets worst. The outside world is now seeing us in a different light which may impact negatively on our tourism product.It is time to declare war against these criminals. Action speak louder than words! From your interviews, I am not sensing that it will no longer be business as usual for the police. It is the same sweet little talks that ” the police will be stepping up their game ” but to this day it is yet to be seen.
The time has come to put your foot down and stamp your authority so that the criminals can retreat. Show the criminals that you run things and not them running you.
The police presence need to be felt alot more in the communities. In addition, the penalties should be extremely harsh when they are apprehended. Obviously, the criminals are sending subliminal messages that they are smarter than you, hence they can continue to do what they are doing.
In the past we had officers like Tony Smith, Graer, Wright George just to name a few, who as policemen, had the bad boys back then, fearing them. Even in recent times Ray John was another. We need alot more of these type of officers.
In addition here are some suggestions that perhaps can be taken onboard to enhance our security
1. Assign to each parish or zone, 2 police vehicles with armed officers combing the communities day & night in opposite directions at various 2- 3 hr intervals.
2. Have all community police stations open 24 x 7 with armed officers on duty.3. Allow interested civilians & securty officers be sworn in as under cover policemen but they will always look like the ordinary man on the street
4. Along with cameras, emergency quick dial buttons networked to the police station or security companies should be erected in the public domain
5. Business places should have several emergency quick dial buttons installed in their business & networked to the nearest police station.
6. Business places should have mirrors installed at the perimeters of their roofs
7. Hoodies should be banned & it should be illegal to traverse the streets with a hooodie
8. Certain officers from the security companies should have power to arrest.
9. Alarms/horns should be erected on homes & businesses to draw public attention when help is needed
10. Large monitors should be connected to cameras and be on display in the public domain.
Alex
