Acting Commissioner of the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force, Mr David Morris, addressing residents of the Second District on Wednesday October 30, 2012. Photo: VINO

It has also noted that it is in the process of hiring an officer specialising in forensics from the United Kingdom following the recent retirement of an expert in that area.

Acting Deputy Police Commissioner Alwyn James, speaking during a meeting with residents of the Second District at the Cane Garden Bay Community Centre on October 30, 2012 noted that criminals are getting smart and they are doing everything to evade apprehension but they make mistakes and those are the opportunities that the RVIPF is seeking to capitalise on.

“As you know if we don’t have an eyewitness we depend very heavily on forensic...We do a lot of work with DNA International in Miami, Florida. It's very expensive, but that is one of our commitments to solving crime; to invest and spend more in the area of forensics," Mr. James said.

It was stated that the Territory has a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the USVI that caters for all ballistics recovered from crime scenes in the Territory to be placed on the USVI’s system to find a possible link to the use of firearms in that Territory. Also any unmarked fingerprints found at crime scenes in the Territory, can be shared with the USVI law enforcement.

“We have developed some agreements, some MOUs with the US Virgin Islands so all of our ballistics recovered from the crime scenes in the Territory is sent over to the US Virgin Islands and is placed on the ID system for St Croix and we are able to make use of any opportunity to link the use of the firearm in our Territory with the use of a firearm in the US Virgin Islands whether it is St. Johns, St. Thomas or St. Croix...We can also share that information because they have unmarked prints as well that they receive from their crime scenes. We can place it on our automated fingerprint system and see whether or not those criminals are operating in the BVI, or they are also operating in the USVI," Mr. James stated.

The Acting Deputy Police Commissioner said there have been a few successful cases as a result of the cooperation. “They are using the same provider, DNA International and what we are doing is if we have a DNA profile from a crime scene here in the Territory and we search our database and there are no hits, then the lab is allowed to search the US Virgin islands database to see whether or not that profile matches any of the persons in their database and if there is a positive hit, then we as departments will communicate and go through the legal procedures in order to progress the investigations of that case."

It was also stated that when samples are sent to St. Croix, the authorities would deal with the samples in an urgent manner depending on the nature of the investigation and results can be provided within 2 days to a week.

Asked by a resident whether the RVIPF couldn’t establish its own forensic lab, Mr James said the “machine” was very expensive “and at this stage I don’t think we would be able to afford it and so we will certainly continue to capitalise on cooperation with other countries.”

Mr James also noted that a centre for ballistics is on the cards for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

Meanwhile, it was revealed that a forensic expert is being recruited from the United Kingdom. Mr. James said the RVIPF previously hired a sergeant from the United Kingdom who worked with the RVIPF for about nine to ten months and did a lot of work in the area of forensic investigation.

"Unfortunately, he has resigned and left the Territory and we are now in the process of recruiting an Inspector to be in charge of that department from the United Kingdom with certain specialist skills that can assist us to enhance our detection in crime.”