@queen-mary

That is an excellent response! I recently returned home to St. Croix after spending the last five years in the Orlando and Tampa areas. I worked for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office for a while. I can tell you a few things about crime, but I'll just present one scenario: You have a five-year old daughter who disappears one day. Where is she likely to be found alive, days later? The most dangerous neighborhood on St. Croix, or anywhere in the continental United States? Her biggest danger on St. Croix would probably come from being overfed by the women as they tried to find her parents. The last time I remember a child that age getting lost (in Grove Place, BTW), she was found safe the following day after wandering through the woods around Estate River all night. She was not dismembered and left to rot in a shallow grave by some predator, as would probably have happened on the crime-free mainland.

Posted by: @jahdrivesarustyferrari

@queen-mary

That is an excellent response! I recently returned home to St. Croix after spending the last five years in the Orlando and Tampa areas. I worked for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's office for a while. I can tell you a few things about crime, but I'll just present one scenario: You have a five-year old daughter who disappears one day. Where is she likely to be found alive, days later? The most dangerous neighborhood on St. Croix, or anywhere in the continental United States? Her biggest danger on St. Croix would probably come from being overfed by the women as they tried to find her parents. The last time I remember a child that age getting lost (in Grove Place, BTW), she was found safe the following day after wandering through the woods around Estate River all night. She was not dismembered and left to rot in a shallow grave by some predator, as would probably have happened on the crime-free mainland.

Unfortunately, in STX today it could your teenage daughter who gets caught and killed in the crossfire of illegal guns. That's happened at least a couple of times in 2020 alone.

Then there was this yesterday.

http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/news/two-st-croix-residents-arrested-for-child-abuse-after-burning-minors/article_d3a794a9-d03a-506c-aa80-fdd53cc554e9.html

So, no, STX is not immune to child abuse. Less likely to be killed by a random stranger, true. 

But I forgot - Queen Mary tells us reading the paper is the problem.

@gators_mom

The question was...where would your daughter most likely be found alive? You didn't answer that...

Posted by: @jahdrivesarustyferrari

@gators_mom

The question was...where would your daughter most likely be found alive? You didn't answer that...

I know of the crime you reference in Tampa - horrible. I don't think stranger danger is the same in the VI for little kids so they are safer in the VI from attacks by strangers at least.

But there are other dangers in the VI particularly for older teens and young adults. This is the endangered age group of young people in the VI.

Posted by: @jahdrivesarustyferrari

@gators_mom

The question was...where would your daughter most likely be found alive? You didn't answer that...

You are cherry picking ... 

I haven't forgotten the two teenage girls (one a friend of my daughter) who were forced to stop their vehicle on the road in the east end of STX one night a few years ago. One girl got away, the other was abducted and raped by her assailants before being dumped by the roadside a while later.

In today's paper there is a story about a 49 year old man pleading guilty to using the internet to try to lure young girls. The VI is not immune from these horrible crimes

Posted by: @jahdrivesarustyferrari

@gators_mom

The question was...where would your daughter most likely be found alive? You didn't answer that...

Don’t compare STX to large, metro area like Tampa. If you want to compare apples to apples pick rural Texas or Arkansas or Minnesota and run the numbers. 

Posted by: @stcmike

In today's paper there is a story about a 49 year old man pleading guilty to using the internet to try to lure young girls. The VI is not immune from these horrible crimes

No question there are bad people everywhere, it only takes 0.0001% (or less) of the population to be be evil to give the entire community a bad reputation, if that community doesn't police itself.  Thinking that the Police, all by themselves, are a panacea is a mistake.  Without the community enforcing a set of virtuous values and/or a culture with standards that demand we respect and protect our fellow citizens, we will never reverse this trend of increasing violence with its blatant disregard for human life.  It's not someone else's responsibility to fix the violence problem, it's the communities responsibility, we have to live as though we own it.

Police Make Firearm and Ammunition Arrest During Traffic Stop in St. Thomas

“We will continue to be proactive in reducing gun violence by finding illegal guns,” Chief Phillip stated.

Let's say we have a young mother and her two young sons missing? Where would you expect to find them? In 2017, the naked bodies of two innocents, Jordan, 10, and Jeremiah, 5, were found by people repairing a fence near the entrance to Halfpenny Bay. Mom, Lyana Serieux, 24, was found floating in the cistern of an abandoned building in Grove Place. Then we have the 9-year-old boy shot in the head by a teen, age 15, while playing outdoors at Croixville. Again and more recent, a well respected 16- year-old honor student was killed in a barrage of gunshots in Scion Farm.

To minimize or compare the horrific crimes of murder, rape, kidnappings, home invasions, armed robberies, carjackings, and assaults in the Virgin Islands is akin to dancing on the graves of these poor souls. Sadly, the USVI is not the safe paradise as painted on HGTV and mass marketing ads. Flocks of mistaken tourists should not be lured in to harvest our primary cash crop of tourism without the facts. Those who consider moving to the USVI should also do a great deal of research, as we know the crime rate is much higher than reported. As headlined, this year in the vifreepress.com, "USVI MURDER RATE DROPS 6.42% IN 2 YEARS...BUT STILL MOVES UP 1 SPOT IN WORLD PER CAPITA HOMICIDE RATE" 

Yet we don't see travel advisories and warnings nor a lack of interest in leisure travel, upcoming cruise ships, and new residents... 

@jahdrivesarustyferrari

I responded with a limited, few examples of where we have found our dead children. I didn't include the recent kidnappings of a bank executive from her home nor the owner of The Fred who put his all into an economically challenged community. The Fred owner left St. Croix with a For Sale sign to mark his journey. 

@sage I could be wrong, but isn't the reason the Fred owner had the issues he did, due to not paying his bills? If so, then that is a very different from painting a picture of a random kidnapped plot. 

Posted by: @stxdreaming1

@sage I could be wrong, but isn't the reason the Fred owner had the issues he did, due to not paying his bills? If so, then that is a very different from painting a picture of a random kidnapped plot. 

I think the cause of the Fred owner's encounter and departure from STX was more complex than just not paying his bills. 

Lyana and her babies' horrendous murders were not random either.

Crime in the VI is personal, not random though innocent bystanders do get caught in the crossfire of other people's BS.

Posted by: @stxdreaming1

I could be wrong, but isn't the reason the Fred owner had the issues he did, due to not paying his bills? If so, then that is a very different from painting a picture of a random kidnapped plot. 

I've spoken to several folks who claim to know that the stories in the press are only telling a portion of the complete story behind the Fred co-owner kidnapping.  No one is comfortable sharing what they claim to know, which is their privilege.  I personally don't know anything more than I read on-line so I can't comment, except to say the Fred is a positive addition to the Frederiksted community and it's disappointing to see people driven away when they are trying to make the community a better place for all.

@jaldeborgh

Several foke know "something" but are "uncomfortable" saying what. Sounds like BS to me. Typical situation where people are trying to gain street credit. The people who really know what is going on are those who are not saying anything at all.

And there is no smoke without fire. Clearly the owner of the Fred got into something he/they couldn't handle eg. Paying their bills, or they got involved in something bigger which resulted in what happened...either way, to say this is down to overall crime on the island is wrong...and also unfair on St Croix in general.

Posted by: @stxdreaming1

@jaldeborgh

Several foke know "something" but are "uncomfortable" saying what. Sounds like BS to me. Typical situation where people are trying to gain street credit. The people who really know what is going on are those who are not saying anything at all.

And there is no smoke without fire. Clearly the owner of the Fred got into something he/they couldn't handle eg. Paying their bills, or they got involved in something bigger which resulted in what happened...either way, to say this is down to overall crime on the island is wrong...and also unfair on St Croix in general.

The young man who hijacked and robbed the Fred owner was originally jailed because he could not make bail. The young man's bail was reduced to a couple of thousand dollars by a judge and he was released into the community to await trial. Nonetheless, he remains a serious threat to the lives of the Fred owners, who chose to leave the island rather than live in constant fear.

@gators_mom

Still doesn't explain why he robbed/kidnapped the owners of the Fred.

Posted by: @stxdreaming1

@gators_mom

 

Still doesn't explain why he robbed/kidnapped the owners of the Fred.

Think of a popular Eric Clapton song, "When your day is done, and you wanna run..."

@gators_mom

Who was the Judge? Its about time we start looking at the records of Judges

By the way, with the 2 murders that occurred over the weekend we now have 46 murders in the Virgin Islands this year.

Coming back to the broader discussion...crime effects everyone. I would like to think that most on the island don't want to live with it. As a people, "we" should come together and stamp it out. The people committing the crime are just a bunch of bullies. One day, they will come unstuck. But as I write this, I start thinking that when you have the local government and courts against you, what chance do you have?

https://stcroixsource.com/2016/09/21/senate-confirms-jomo-meade-as-superior-court-judge/

Posted by: @stcmike

By the way, with the 2 murders that occurred over the weekend we now have 46 murders in the Virgin Islands this year.

Yes, horrific brutal murders. I hope the young twins didn't witness their fathers death. 

I jumped in here because it's a topic that i know A LOT about. I've been a cop for 21 years in a medium to large US city/area (1 million plus). I'm currently a homicide detective but have worked, of course, in Patrol, Training, and was a director of a Fugitive Apprehension Team. There is incredible value in education, a strong economy, etc. in reducing crime. But to really make a dent in reducing all crime rates immediately, there is only one solution; proactive police work. It's been tried in every major market in America, and it works every time....before it is determined by politicians or others to be "prejudicial" or "heavy handed". Often without foundation.

The fact of the matter is (and it is indeed a fact) if you enforce smaller infractions, it leads you to larger infractions such as, illegal gun seizures, drug seizures, fugitive arrests, etc. Programs like gun buyback programs don't work, but making traffic stops, finding the driver has an active warrant and finding his illegal gun during a search incident to his arrest does. It also serves as a deterrent to other criminals if officers are proactive. Believe me, they discuss it and it bothers them... a lot. What that means is they are less likely to carry a gun or drugs in public, and it makes it much more difficult for them to conduct illegal activity. And you can do this without being a "police state". What that means to citizens is you are less likely to have criminals "act out" in public with a readily available firearm or hangout in front of your store selling dope. They reduce their exposure by selling in private or stop carrying guns altogether because they don't want to go to prison. We've reduced illegal gun seizures in some neighborhoods by up to 90%. In debriefs with bad guys, the reason they told is "nobody wants to get popped (caught)" with a gun and do the 48 months minimum mandatory.   

What does it take? Funding for officers, training and equipment, and a proactive mindset from leadership. I don't live in the USVI, but in my experience crime is mostly the same everywhere. And crime fighting techniques work in every place we've implemented them. In fact, I'd venture to say that implementation of proactive police work in the USVI would be more beneficial there than in most large cities. In large areas like mine, we put on the pressure and they move neighborhoods. In the VI, there's nowhere else to go. Criminals there would really be on notice and you'd have less crime spilling into the "low crime areas".