NDP Manifesto 2025 - Flipbook - Page 23
Making Our Country Safe
The first duty of government is to protect
the lives and livelihoods of its people. Yet,
after 25 years under the ULP, people do
not feel safe. Killings have set new records
with the spread of gun violence and gang
activity. Women and girls suffer sexual
assault, sexual harassment and domestic
violence. And our farmers are plagued by
praedial larceny.
We need a new approach to combatting crime,
where our police have more tools and better training
to investigate and prosecute criminal activity.
We will:
Introduce greater focus on policing on the
ground by deploying resources to reduce
serious crime.
Modernise police equipment, including
transport by investing in new equipment
and vehicles to ensure the police reach every
part of the country quickly and effectively,
providing an effective deterrent to crime.
Upgrade working and living conditions for
police officers.
Introduce an enhanced National Forensics
Laboratory to detect and solve crimes more
quickly, by using the latest technology to
identify individuals involved.
Stem the flow of guns into the country by
working with OECS and Caricom to create a
regional programme.
Introduce a procedure for the surrendering
of guns and increase the penalties for
illegal gun ownership. And we will increase
the penalties for illegally holding weapons,
while providing amnesty for those who
surrender illegal arms – helping get them out
of our communities once and for all.
Review all new firearm licences every 5
years, to determine if the owner meets the
necessary qualifications of the licence.
The homicide rate is at a record level, with
33 in 2020, 32 in 2021, 42 in 2022, 55 in
2023, 52 in 2024, and 54 in 2024.
Encourage early intervention by working
with schools and social services, helping
identify those at risk of slipping into crime.
Create community policing opportunities
to build a local support service.
Develop neighbourhood watch groups in
communities facing high levels of crime.
Make all auxiliary police pensionable
and provide training and promotion
opportunities for them.
Establish the police cadet service so that
young people have a pathway to enter the
police service.
Protect women and children from
sexual violence and domestic abuse by
establishing dedicated services and more
emergency shelters. And we will create new
specialist services with training and facilities
as a part of a national strategy to stop
violence against women and girls.
Introduce streamlined procedures and
specialised units to respond to tourismrelated crimes, especially yacht break-ins.
Prioritise action on praedial larceny by
introducing a dedicated unit to tackle the
crime with a specialised court procedure to
address this quickly.
Establish a separate fire service to ensure
fire services have the support they need,
giving the police the capacity to tackle
crime.
Focus on prisoner rehabilitation to ensure
that ex-offenders do not re-offend by
including more special programmes within
the prison system.
Establish a sex-offenders registry to
protect ordinary people.
TOGETHER WE WIN!
23
