A contributor to local media has called for a fundamental change in how the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force tackles crime, arguing that intelligence gathering should replace traditional street patrols as the primary tool for preventing and solving offences.
In a piece published on Saturday, Dickson Igwe drew on a conversation with a businesswoman described as well-connected to street-level activity, saying such community sources hold crucial information about criminal networks that police are not adequately tapping.
Igwe argued that uniformed officers walking the streets are ineffective because criminals spot them from a distance and move their operations elsewhere. Instead, he said, plainclothes investigators with modern tools should work undercover in places where criminal activity is discussed, such as bars, to gather raw data that can be processed into actionable intelligence.
"Gossip and street talk are data," Igwe wrote, saying that information from the public domain, streets and informants must be recorded, archived and cross-referenced to identify genuine threats to the community.
The commentary suggested that such an approach could both prevent crimes before they occur and provide evidence to support prosecutions. Igwe also raised questions about why local police appeared reluctant to pursue intelligence-led policing, asking whether fear or links between officers and criminal networks might be factors.
He concluded that stealth and intelligence must become central to policing in the Virgin Islands.
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first.