At a town hall in Frederiksted Tuesday, V.I. Police Commissioner Mario Brooks, Attorney General Gordon Rhea, and Licensing and Consumer Affairs Commissioner H. Nathalie Hodge called on residents to take an active role in crime prevention, addressing public concerns about law enforcement accountability, noise violations, and opportunities for youth.
The meeting, hosted by WTJX at the Rotary Club West building, comes amid ongoing challenges in prosecuting crimes and a push for greater community cooperation.
At various points, both Brooks and Rhea stressed the need for residents to participate in crime prevention efforts or, if necessary, come forward with information about criminal acts. Rhea has served as the territory’s attorney general for what he described as an “extremely interesting” 10 months, and Brooks officially assumed the role of VIPD commissioner in November, nearly five months after former VIPD Commissioner Ray Martinez stepped down amid a federal investigation into misuse of funds.
Their call to action was in line with past efforts by law enforcement to engage the community in policing. After a series of homicides in October, Brooks asked Virgin Islanders — and the perpetrators themselves — to come forward and let themselves be held to account.
“Stand up and meet us since you’re so bad,” he said at the time. “It’s time this nonsense ends, and we’re here to end it.”
Communities tend to expect their police departments to prevent or solve crimes and their justice departments to prosecute criminals, but members of the U.S. Virgin Islands community needn’t look hard to find instances where that hasn’t yet happened.
On St. Croix, multiple high-profile thefts and other crimes have yet to yield arrests. In January, the Virgin Islands Daily News reported that prosecutors were forced to dismiss the case of someone charged with multiple firearms and ammunition felonies after a V.I. Superior Court judge found that a VIPD detective made false or misleading statements to secure a search warrant for the accused man’s home.
Two weeks ago, a V.I. Justice Department prosecutor asked a judge to dismiss reckless endangerment and vehicle-related charges against a man because they were unable to get surveillance footage of the incident from VIPD. The judge agreed, noting in a March 13 order that “despite diligent efforts, [prosecutors] have been unable to secure video footage from the Virgin Islands Police Department which they are required to produce to the defense as part of the discovery in this matter.”
Where issues like that occur and how they can be fixed are things law enforcement is troubleshooting, Brooks told the Source. Brooks said the department has an excellent working relationship with the V.I. Justice Department. Overall, Brooks said the concerns raised Tuesday night were in line with what he expected to hear.
A second town hall is scheduled for 5:30-8 p.m. Wednesday at the Florence Williams Public Library in Christiansted.
