Ballpark shooting

Sorry. Didn't mean to imply wreck was related to the shooting. Just saw a bunch of scary stuff yesterday.

This is just a theory, but I know someone who was on the jury for the jewelry store owner Dubois (sorry forget his first name) who was killed in a robbery back in 2007 or 2008. His theory is that the guys who were killed yesterday were killed out of retaliation.

The guy who went to jail for the murder (Roebuck) was the one who was shot by Dubois before he died. Roebuck was paralyzed from being shot, and was convicted and went to jail for murder. The other two involved in the robbery and murder got off free.

The three people who were shot yesterday, in the white SUV, according to my source, were somehow connected, because my source saw the same white SUV with distinctive rims at the courthouse during the murder trial.

Again just a theory, but if true, then this type of retaliation will just go on, and on, and on....A lot of these killings aren't necessarily directly related to drugs.

I just researched the murder. Alvin Dubois was killed in December 2005 and Mario Roebuck was found guilty of murder in March 2009.

I tell ya', STX is really going downhill lately. Sure, there's always been crime and whatnot, but the last few years everything has gotten worse. Crime out of control. Longtime businesses (STIXX, Case Place, etc) closing. WAPA rates soaring.

Now this crap at Stop and Save. That place is a half mile from my house -- I stop in there nearly every day!

And, where are the cops? Nowhere as usual. They are beyond inept.

so you are saying that cops are supposed to be psychic? just does not work that way. they did get there in minutes, which i think is fantastic for here.

Yes. If they showed up in minutes that's just great. But, showing up doesn't equal convicting the low-life thug murderers. Have they caught or even made progress on the sad Pickled Greek victim case?

If the "police" have made any progress, please someone post the specific details. We probably won't get any positive news.... the case is now old news, and cold. And, so it goes.

Oh wait! Some citizen got hassled for a seatbelt issue!!

from what i heard they do know who did it. not sure. i agree that there does not seem to be a high conviction rate with the murders. it could be due to the fact that the people who witness these crimes do not want to be the next statistic. i also think it might be time to bring the feds in, not just for the crime issue but to run the island.
my point was that nugblazer seemed to think by the post that the cops should have been there to prevent this crime.
i certainly do think that things could be better here as far as crime goes.i do not know the statistics on them solving the murders that are rampant on island, probably very low. i also agree with you that they seem to focus on low level issues such as cell phone usage and seat belt violations.
i doubt they have made progress on the pickled greek case, probably no progress on drews murder or troys murder or the other 100+ murders over the past few years. we have had on stx about 28 murders this year alone. i would say thats about 28 murders too many.

C.A.M. was a blessing in disguise.

I agree with you on your various points. I also can say that with the current state of the "police" work here, I too would be afraid of talking to them about a crime. Whether true or not, community perception is that they cannot be trusted to keep confidentiality in cases. Thus, people are afraid to step in with helpful information.

Crimestoppers seems like a safer way to help nab these thugs. On the other hand, who knows how many tips go to waste because the "police" are chasing down seatbelt criminals or the crook is someone's cousin.

...there does not seem to be a high conviction rate with the murders...i do not know the statistics on them solving the murders that are rampant on island, probably very low.

I don't know what the conviction rate is. It takes years and by then the perp may have succumbed to street justice.

But in 2010, the arrest rate was higher than the stateside average.

From http://stcroixsource.com/content/news/local-news/2011/01/03/homicide-rate-set-record-2010-gains-were-made dated Jan 3, 2011, with emphasis added:

Francis also pointed to the effectiveness of the Crime Stoppers V.I. program, the anonymous tip service that has been bringing in information for the police to act on.

But the most important factor, he said, has been hard, aggressive police work, which has resulted in a very high "clearance" rate.

"We're not proud of the numbers (of homicides) we have seen," he said. "We don't have any control over the murders that are committed, we have the responsibility to solve them."

And the V.I.P.D. has been getting very good at that. Their clearance rate has been between 67 and 73 percent all year, better than the national average, which according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports is 65 percent for homicides.

The police are improving, but they are still not up to the task. I have always favored a federal military task force in troubled areas. Gun and drug sweeps and hard justice.

More importantly we need to attack the root cause of crime and murder in the VI. Drugs, guns and teenage pregnancy are the real culprits. Most of the people involved are young men (almost boys) with no sense of values or control of their actions. They are the product of homes that usually feature an unmarried teenage mother and no father figure. Many of them live in public housing and do not work or get an education. Time to change those problems.

Too simplistic, Ms Information; you are blaming the symptoms for the problem - not addressing the problem.
The symptoms of the problems on the island are: drugs, guns, and teenage pregnancies.
Now, we have to look at the root of the symptoms...what is about the prevailing VI culture (among many others) that causes and accepts (at some core cultural level) these anti-social and self-destructive behaviors?
It looks simple, but it is a really complex problem that needs addressing in an interdisciplinary way.

Somehow, a large number of the population have become passive enablers - or at least, non-participatory characters in this problem.
Where is the outrage from the population that suffers the most from the crimes that are constantly making headlines?
In no way am I blaming anyone for anything, I am merely looking at the phenomenon with a wider focus.
There is a historical element to the problem - a disenfranchised population cannot be expected to share the ruling class's ideology and mores....For a situation to be allowed to continue, there must be either a positive payback for the community involved or fear of a negative payback should the community make changes or...just the presence of apathy will allow the status quo to remain long after it seems unsustainable to outsiders.

It is a small island...a very close-knit island...I remember seeing overt drug dealing and harassment while driving through one of the housing projects...if I could see it, then so could the entire neighborhood.
This is not a black/white/hispanic/rich/poor/vi/down-islander thing...all of us who have lived on the islands can identify tons of rich "mainlanders" who are out of their brains most nights of the week - when you couple that with some of the rumored habits of the island's political ruling class, then why should the general population take the "stop the drugs", "buy back the night", stop teen sex" blah that they know is not being practiced by those who are preaching it.

It feels good to have a solution - it feels real good to have a simple solution, but when you are dealing with human beings, the problem is rarely simple.
If, as I suspect that we do, have a complex problem, then we are going to have to have some mighty in-depth and honest conversations and really try and come up with some solutions to the real problems of the Virgin Islands...and we is definitely not confined to the better educated and more successful members of the island family.

sallyf....careful .....your making to much sense(tu)

The unfortunate thing about real solutions to real problems is that they are a) complex....b) not quick.........c)not sexy!
It is much easier and a lot more satisfying to have a mantra for action, rather than a mind-bogglingly messy and complicated morass of puzzling stuff out.
It amazes me that you bothered to read my long-winded essay...but it is what it is and wishing things were simple just leaves us right where we are!!! Solving the symptoms over and over again...only we don't solve them, we suppress, contain or remove them. The original problem remains untouched and the symptoms reappear...or we get a whole load of new ones - seemingly unconnected but all stemming from the same ubiquitous problem.
We don't need a police/law enforcement/regulatory solution to the problems of the VI, we need a social science solution...a behavioral science approach to address the root causes of the problem, not well-meaning calls for action!!!!
Sorry...but unsexy and nerdy sometimes is the only way to really get anywhere.

In my limited observation, there is a prolonged and deep sense amongst the population that the thought there is a 'positive payback' of becoming involved is too often stifled by the actions of the territory's political ruling class.

You mean that they feel that their efforts would just be wasted or ruined by the politicians/unofficial power merchants etc?
A sort of..."why bother...things will never get better while we have them in charge"?

where is that quote taken from? I don't see it in this thread.

It's not a quote - the quotation marks are there to show that although it is an imagined response, it is direct speech.
The "a sort of..." was there to indicate that the words were not a direct quote. Sorry if that wasn't clear. One of the problems with keyboard to keyboard communication.

Sally,

Yes, exactly.

It's not a quote - the quotation marks are there to show that although it is an imagined response, it is direct speech.
The "a sort of..." was there to indicate that the words were not a direct quote. Sorry if that wasn't clear. One of the problems with keyboard to keyboard communication.

Sorry sally, Not sure who posted it, but it was misquoting poorthang and disparaging black run governments worldwide, throughout history. Must have been deleted. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

who posted what disparaging black run governments across the world...?
I posted the thing in quotes - not using it as a quote....merely as an query to jbatl...as to whether i understood him

I posted a question about "were there any successful black run societies" and it was deleted.WOW! I guess the person who keeps reporting my posts for deletion just can't accept a simple question about societal differences in the world .Still would like an answer to my question????????"?"I guess I have to tip toe with my keyboard ,:-o

Barbados is ranked pretty high on the human development index, so yes.