St. Kitts Shooting for Number One

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 000759

SIPDIS
AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/12/15
TAGS: SOCI PGOV KCRM EAID XL
SUBJECT: St. Kitts Shooting for Number One

CLASSIFIED BY: D. Brent Hardt, Charge d'Affaires, a.i., DOS; REASON:
1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) Summary. The per capita murder rate in St. Kitts is on
pace to be among the highest in the world for the second year in a
row. The country has set a new record for gun murders, despite new
gun legislation and a national crackdown on illegal fire arms. A
poorly trained police force sorely in need of community police
training has hamstrung the government's efforts to combat the
problem, which feeds off of a high unemployment rate and problems
in the educational system. Community Policing programs under the
Caribbean Basin Security Initiative, alongside at-risk youth
programs and firearms tracing, would be timely initiatives to help
the struggling Kittitian authorities address the chronic crime
problem with their own limited resources. End summary.



--------------

Murder Capital of the World?

--------------




2. (C) The murder rate in St. Kitts is already ahead of 2008's
record setting 22 murders, hitting 26 murders in November - of
which 22 remain unsolved. The murder rate per 1000 people in St.
Kitts is 0.6, putting the twin-island nation just behind Columbia's
0.61 per 1000 for the dubious honor of "murder capital of the
world". Since 2003, the murder rate in the country has increased
by almost three fold, which has average Kittitians afraid to go
outside at night in some parts of the island, according to Attorney
General Dennis Merchant.





--------------

Gun Battles in the Streets

--------------




3. (C) The core problem is not really one of organized crime,
rather one of disorganized crime and a youth culture that glorifies
guns and violence, Merchant explained to poloff in a recent
meeting. "We have a problem with small youth gangs and there are
battles over turf, but we are not facing an organized crime
problem," he claimed. Conflicts that in the past would have been
settled with a fist fight or at most a knife, are now settled by
gunfire, he added. According to opposition party Leader Lindsay
Grant, the day before St. Kitts' National Day there was a running
gun battle with automatic weapons in the middle of the afternoon
just blocks from the Prime Minister's office. AG Merchant
expressed concern that St. Kitts was on the verge of losing an
entire generation of youth to crime and violence. He said the
government is cognizant of the danger posed to Kittitian society if
this rise in youth crime continues unchecked. Youth unemployment
in poorer neighborhoods is running close to sixty percent, but may
be even higher, he suggested. Unless the government can keep young
men in school and find meaningful employment opportunities for
them, there will never be a long-term solution to the problem, he
lamented.



--------------

Access to Guns at Root of Problems

--------------




4. (C) While youth run amok and the local drug trade are the
sources for the current crime wave, it is the commensurate deluge
of illegal guns coming into the country that has the situation
spinning out of control, according the AG. "Our intelligence shows
that most of the gun trade is not linked to the drug trade and is
largely a discreet activity," he said. According to Merchant, the
primary source of illegal guns is the United States via traditional
smuggling, and increasingly through legitimate mail and import
services. The government recently passed legislation increasing

the penalties for fire arms, but police have yet to see a real
change in the gun problem. "We need a way to find and identify
guns in houses where we know they are being hidden," he explained.
"When the neighbors report that a person in a specific house fired
a gun we need to be able to find that gun, which has proven very
difficult to date."



--------------

Community Policing Help Requested

--------------




5. (C) The real problem from a law enforcement perspective, AG
Merchant explained, is a poorly trained and unmotivated police
force. The police have a tendency to stay in their stations or
police cars and never seem to get out and walk the streets anymore.
"I can go days without seeing a police officer walking the streets
of downtown Basseterre" he said. He believed that community
policing training that would help Kittian law enforcement to
restructure patrols and train officers how to interact with the
community would help enhance the police forces' effectiveness.



--------------

Comment

--------------




6. (C) Rising crime is the major political issue in St. Kitts as
it heads into elections due early in the New Year. Many people
fear that the country has passed the point of no return, where
violence is simply a part of the social fabric that will never go
away. To date, the issue of violent crime has not spilled over to
the tourism sector, but as tourism numbers increase and the
visibility of the country's stratospheric murder rate becomes
better known, it is certain to affect high-profile tourism
infrastructure projects. USAID is working with local NGOs to
address youth violence through its employment and empowerment
programs on the island. This year USAID programs provided life
skills training to 225 youth in St. Kitts and Nevis. Under CBSI,
USAID hopes to support youth-focused programs in remedial
education, second chance education and youth workforce development
programs, targeting one of the root causes of the crime problem in
the region - youth employment. This support could not come a
moment too soon for St. Kitts.
HARDT