‘You can’t come into community with heavy hand’- Cromwell Smith to Police
Mr Cromwell Smith aka Edju Enka was at the time speaking on his weekly programme, Umoja, on ZBVI 780 AM on Thursday January 12, 2017.
The talk show host was at the time looking at how more effective the police could become in gaining the support of the community in the fight against crime.
Mr Smith noted that he was in no way suggesting that the lawmen are not trying, but what currently exists need revamping.
“It’s not to say that the police, they are not trying because they have a community policing strategy in place that they are following but somehow it perhaps needs some kind of enhancement. I think the police needs to realise that you can’t come into the community with a heavy hand.”
Give them a chance?
Reference was made to police going into the community and seeing a young person smoking marijuana and choosing to punish them and forever altering their life, instead of giving second chances. And while it is illegal, and he does not suggest that it be condoned, he said the police should take a different stance, one of a social worker.
“Now in that community he [young person charged] has a mother, a father, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, friends so that one little incident impacts the whole community,” Mr Smith said.
“So the community now kind of develops a hostility and then people in the community they don’t trust you, and they don’t like you so they don’t want to assist. There has to be a discretionary space where you become in essence a social worker as a police officer and that to me helps to build confidence, trust, and love in the community, where you can have a chance to speak to the child, change their life, save them from going down the wrong path and building trust and love for the Police force in the community,” Mr Cromwell Smith said.
RVIPF to hold community meeting @ Stickett
Meanwhile, the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force will host a meeting at the Stickett in Long Look on Monday, January 16, 2017 to discuss the recent incidents of violent crime in the territory.
In light of the latest robbery and subsequent death of bar owner Mr Frankie J. Fahie, the Commissioner of Police Michael Matthews hopes this will be the first of many meetings to mobilise the community with the necessary information to act and unite the efforts of both Police and the community in putting pressure on the perpetrators and ultimately bringing them to justice.
He noted that while the recent robbery wave has not been limited to the eastern districts, he chose to begin with this community impacted by the most recent and tragic incident.
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14 Responses to “‘You can’t come into community with heavy hand’- Cromwell Smith to Police”
If ever there was a time to be heavy-handed tis now in order to let the creeps know that they're being sought.
What this gentleman can do with his radio show is call on his audience to raise reward money for the unsolved murders in the territory. Perhaps he can even donate his non-essential consultant fees to the cause.
Police be like social workers?? This man out of his darn mind. Ever did police work. You live in NYC u ever see the police act like social workers?