Douglas Wheatley. Photo: VINO

Mr. Wheatley made reference to the recently solved cold case of St. Croix police officer Corporal Wendell ‘Lazee’ Williams, who disappeared in 2001 and only last week police were able to make arrests, thanks to a concerted effort by current and retired officers.

“Here in the BVI, we too have a number of cold cases and I know we have some officers from the United Kingdom, who are attached to this particular unit that deals with cold cases and I think recently they were able to solve one of those cases. But there are many cold cases still outstanding and borrowing a leaf from the books of the US Virgin Islands I am wondering if perhaps some of our retired police officers, some of whom were in the detective field and various branches of that area, if they could be encouraged to come back to the force and be dedicated to pursuing a number of those cold cases and thus free up some of the other officers, who are there all the time, to deal with more current issues,” Mr. Wheatley said.

According to Mr. Wheatley, there are a lot of expertise in retired officers, who have served for many years and would have acquired a great deal of knowledge, some of it on the job or through training. “I would hope that the authorities would give it some thought and see if it is something that can be applied in the BVI.”

Another caller said there are a lot of officers that wish to stay in the force but due to their ranks have to leave.

Cold case refers to a crime or an accident that has not yet been solved to the full and is not the subject of a recent criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, retained material evidence, as well as fresh activities of the suspect. New technical methods developed after the case can be used on the surviving evidence to re-analyze the causes, often with conclusive results.