Crime in Our Community

The Virgin Islands is a joke, everyone of the overpaid politicians including the Govenor, Inspector General and the Senators. The police are a joke - just look at the crime rate, the crrimanal justice system is a joke - we all know the problems of tour locat jail, the education system is a joke, the medical system is a joke (How many VI citizcens go off island for medical attention), food and housing prices are outrageous, the island is filled with litter and the only jobs available are government ones causing a large debt oblidation. This is not the American paradise but the American nightmare

I'm sure the Feds did more than put up traffic checkpoints looking to see if someone was on a cell phone during Hurricane Hugo!!

Wow....talk about taking the wind out of my sails. HAHA I was thinking about moving down.......I guess I'll have to go down and check things out. Is crime rampant.....or just in certain areas? I'm used to big cities.....so it would have to be pretty bad....to affect me. In other words....are multiple of your friends being mugged and or burglarized? Thanks

yes a joke it is and i'm trying to stir up uttica, we all know a joke when we we see it

Hi Troy,

If I were 35 years younger - I might get involved in organizing this fight - but I'm not.

Here is what I think would be most effective:

Target all the police sub-stations once a week every Sunday in September, probably at either 10 or 11 am for ONE HOUR.

People would go to the sub-station nearest their home. The first week you'd aim for 25-50 people at each substation. What are there 6? Each person would carry an 8 1/2" x 11" photo of one of the people murdered this year. Everyone would be well dressed and ABSOLUTELY SILENT, no signs, no speeches, no disruption of police activity. The group would gather outside the station, not blocking traffic or the sidewalk. The group would stand sliently in front of the station for an hour. At the end of the hour everyone would dispurse(sp).

Next week, same thing - for 4 weeks.

Media would have to be notified and someone would have to gather together the photos and makie them available, probably via the internet.

It will embarass the police and DeJongh without being a disaster for the Tourism industry. And it will encourage discourse, not yelling and screaming, IMO. There is also an element of suspense - will they be back next week?

If you like the idea, it's yours to do with what you want.

i can get pics made for free at one of the printshops downtown if people would bring me pics

In case anyone is interested i just got this email from the St. Croix Chamber of commerce. Might be more effective than the daisy chain of love (kidding....just kidding....:))

SPECIAL EVENT

BUSINESS AFTER HOURS

PRESENTS COMMUNITY COLLABORATIONS

BUILDING A SAFER ST. CROIX WITH OUR

LOCAL CITIZENS, BUSINESSES, NEIGHBORHOODS AND ORGANIZATIONS

THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2009

PALMS AT PELICAN COVE

5:30 P.M. TO 7:30 P.M.

The St. Croix Chamber of Commerce is joining with the Community Integration Team (CIT) of the Virgin Islands Police Department, the USVI Department of Tourism, the St. Croix Foundation and the St. Croix Hotel and Tourism Association to co-host a Community Collaboration to build a safer island. Please join us in welcoming new Police Commissioner Novelle Francis, congratulating the new graduates from the new Police Recruits, Police Employee of the Year, Police Officers of the Month and Police Cadets in recognition of their hard work and dedication to our communities.

COMPLIMENTARY HORS D’OUVRES

AND PRESENTATION

RAFFLES AND DOOR PRIZES

CASH BAR

ALL INVITED! BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATES!
NO ADMISSION FEE!

For planning purposes, please RSVP to the St. Croix Chamber of Commerce at 773-1435 or info@stxchamber.org no later than Wednesday, August 12, 2009

The Virgin Islands is a joke, everyone of the overpaid politicians including the Govenor, Inspector General and the Senators.

You lost credibility with me by including the Inspector General. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who has done more to expose corruption from the govenor's office on down as well as affect positive changes in department and agency policies..

We need a new Sherrif!
Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your damned mouths!"

More here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hnq_hK4yDQ&feature=related

More.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1tfIKUZ0fY

I have always loved this guy. He cut off cable TV to the inmates and when he was sued and they won (unbelievable!) he brought cable back with only the weather channel and the disney channel - he was obeying the law, they got cable! He has the right idea when it comes to criminals - he says if they don't like his hotel they shouldn't come back!

I am NOT in the TRW camp. I am not in the "I love TRW with all that he says" like most people on this thread. In fact, I think that he is a clown.

But on occasions, he deserves some respect. He does, in fact, calls 'em as he sees 'em. Which is more respectable than most on this board.

I have read this post top to bottom and his point of: "Obama, instead of freely distributing my weath, freely distribute my work ethic"!, makes the most since of all I read.

STCMIKE also made a good point:
"The USVI is not America's paradise, its America's cesspool."

Time to "take" the island. If locals won't do it, let the Feds.

Uttica is just a troll...what an ass....

Being from AZ, Sherrif Joe is my hero!!
The bleeding hearts aré always after him but he jeeps on doing a great job.

Sheriff Joe for Governor!:@)

To those who've heard me say this before I apologize for being redundant.

I just watched the new documentary about Marion Barry. I grew up in DC, a city that re-elected a convicted crack-head for mayor. Talk about apathy, and pathetic leadership. Just as here, there was a very strong "us vs them" mentality that was racially motivated. Mayor Barry put people into jobs they were ill equipped to handle, largely because of their skin color and without regard to their ability. By the late 80's the HS drop out rate was 40%, the infant mortality rate led the country, and the city was the murder capital of the world But still, electing someone other than Barry would've meant giving in to the proverbial "them."

In 1994 the feds took over DC government for about 5 or 6 years. This was very controversial as many saw this as a racially/culturally motivated action taken by a largely white Republican congress. The Feds had resolve in DC and after many years of Barry and his cronies ruining the city the Feds actually nursed it back to health. At some point, when people started getting jobs and things started turning around people started realizing that the whole "us against them" thing is nothing more than racism itself that leads to corruption, graft, and malfiecence in government. Someone needed to break this cycle and show some tough love. The Feds did this and all of DC was made better because of it. DC now has home rule back and has flourished, benefitting all residents regardless of their racial/cultural background.

And to be clear, the city is still run largely by black folks, but they are there because they deserve to be, not because of the color of their skin but because of the content of their character. After the federal takeover Anthony Williams and others made DC a wonderful place to live again in most areas. DC is not perfect but it is a place that reminds me a lot of the VI. And at the end of the day the "heritage" in DC is not only still in place but is much better off as it is one based on pride for a job well done rather than excuses for failure.

I used to have great optimism that a similar transformation could happen here, but find myself doubting this more and more. DC's decline was only a few years old when the feds took over, it seems like the problems here have been around and have been tolerated for many years. The feds cared about DC even when its residents failed to as it's the nations capital. But they aren't going to care for us and break the cycle. I'm not sure what the answer is, but people are getting riled up and are starting to care, at least here on the message board.

When I initially signed on I was scoffed at for suggesting things needed to change here. I will admit that I see newbies on here doing the same thing and sort of scoff at them as well in private. But they are right...something needs to change here.

[RANT ON]

We need to stop tolerating mediocrity and failure, and start allowing the consequences of people's actions to fall on them hard rather than bailing them out through welfare and probation when they screw up.

The entitlement attitude has GOT to change. Stop with the reparations nonsense. Put the hand back in you're pocket, or better yet, come help me out and I'll gladly pay you. Stop with the ridiculous lawsuits. If I fire you move on, it wasn't working for either of us. The threat of lawsuits makes me not want to hire anyone. Just stop with the "world owes me something" way of thinking!

The wink-nod racism here has to stop. It seems that it was racist to not hire that school superintendent from PA. The constitutional convention is another example of the racist attitude that is allowed to persist here. We need leaders who are capable, and capability should be what our leaders are judged on, not where they came from or the color of their skin.

No one is entitled to a job with the government because of their last name/heritage. The problem starts with the cronyism, graft and corruption in government. If those in charge don't follow the rules then its illogical to think that they will be able to enforce the rules.

We have an entire generation now who's in the prime "crime committing" age who were educated in schools that weren't even accreditted. We are reaping what we've sowed. I'm not sure what the solution is for this generation but maybe we can use this as a wake up call to implement some of the above.

We need a government that is "local." Rather than one government for the territory we need municipal, county and "state" government the way they have in the US. That way my neighbor is my city councilmen who can help me when a car has been dumped or a pothole needs filling. My "island" or county councilmen can help me when there is a bigger problem such as a rash of burgleries on my island. And my territory can help me when the other 2 fail. This should extend to police, with a municipal department, an island department and a territorial department. This system works in all 50 states but we have nothing similar to it here.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but our government can't even collect property taxes correctly to provide revenue for themselves...that is the clearest sign that things are VERY broken. Our hospital system is also a mess in many ways and our jail is further evidence of systematic failure. Something has to change...but I'm preaching to the choir on that one in this forum. The question is how do we get this message out ? We need local newspapers/media that are willing to be adversarial with those in power and expose the problems.

[RANT OFF]

I'm sure not all will agree with all, some or even any of what I wrote but as someone who just brought a child into this world and onto this island it does bother me to think that the problems we have here may never change.

Sorry about the long post...if you made it this far I owe you a drink or something if you see me at the bar.

Sean

Hey Sean --

Someone sent me this today and I thought you too might be amused:

http://www.tmz.com/2009/08/10/marion-barry-mayor-dc-crack-cocaine-video/

Sean,

Thank you for that thoughtful and compelling post. Have you considered submitting that as a letter to the opinions section of the Source?

Rather than one government for the territory we need municipal, county and "state" government the way they have in the US.

What concerns me about this is whether it can be accomplished without increasing our already bloated government. Also, a three tiered government system seems excessive for such a small population. Perhaps instead each island could be divided into voting districts, and residents within each district could elect one of theirs as senator representing their district. This would provide the councilperson level access you desire, and every district's interests would have a voice in government.

2 senators from STX, STT and STJ and 1 at-large.

I'd like someone to show me where in the entire USA (i.e. state senate, city council, county board or whatever) we have 100k people represented by 15 elected officials?

We can shave 680k a year in salary right off the bat by getting rid of those vestigial empty suits. (That's just senator's salary. Imagine how much is saved with the elimination of all the support staff and other ancillary expenses attributed to keeping these 8 others at work.)

The law of diminishing returns is strong here. 15 senators is a joke and it diminishes the importance of the senatorial elections. Give me the top seven and junk the rest.

How many on here has ever had to call the local mayberry police and wait and wait for them to show ....IF they ever do. Well i have and they showed up 4 hours later. a car was driving around cotton valley firing guns out the window. started about 11 at night. the police showed up about 4 o'clock. ......now what is their excuse for that??? those are the kind of things that need addressed..

I agree. Something needs to change.
A very drunk (.28 bac) young man was breaking my windows (32 of them to be exact) thowing a Weber charcoal grill through one of them, threatening 3 adults and 1 infant with violence. The doors were locked. He was outside - I locked the baby in the bathroom with no windows for protection. It took 1 hour for them to arrive at my home. 4 phone calls. I was told that there were other calls in front of mine. I asked did they not tirage calls like a hospital does patients? They said - first come first serve. I called repeatedly telling them we were fearing our lives. It still took that long. I was so pissed. I screamed at the dispatcher and swore if anything happened to us - she personally would be brought up on charges.

I asked them how many officers they had working the whole Island - they wouldn't tell me. I told them to get someone at my house immediately or I would call the commissioner. 15 min after the last phone call they arrived. Now, he had destroyed the inside of my home first - glass everywhere - we had to clean it up just to walk in the house. It took the crime scene people almost 12 hours to arrive.

To top it off - I had to have a CT scan of my head due to being hit with a 2x6 during all this. It happened over inauguration week and the radiologist wasn't on-island - he was related to the Gov or someother high official and was in STT celebrating. It took 3 days to get my scan read. Thank god it was alright!

yes thank god you were alright linda. there is not excuse for the lack of response. yes they may be understaffed etc but then hire more. there is no excuse for police cars to arrive hours after a call. that is the scary part. if it has come to the point that you need them and they don't show that serious. why can't they respond like in the states??? would like to hear their excuses for this.

That's exactly why you need to be armed. You cannot rely on a timely response.

You are right Sky; one should never hope to be saved by the VIPD.

2 senators from STX, STT and STJ and 1 at-large.

I'd like someone to show me where in the entire USA (i.e. state senate, city council, county board or whatever) we have 100k people represented by 15 elected officials?

I agree that we have far too many elected representatives, but I doubt there would be sufficient support to reduce their numbers to seven, and I'm certain that there would be insufficient support for STJ with its population of 5,000 to have the same number of elected representatives as STT and STX with their 50,000+ populations each.