The Rotary Club Sunrise of Road Town held their weekly meeting on Tuesday,  February 1 at Maria’s By The Sea.

During this meeting a number of presentations were made.

The guest speaker was David Morris, Deputy Commissioner of Police. He spoke on the issues of crime and their impact on BVI communities.

He highlighted Road Town businesses in particular and listed the three main acquisitive crime types as:
•    Robberies
•    Burglary
•    Theft

 
 
He noted that business robberies were on the decline while overall robberies were on the increase. There has been an increasing trend in overall burglaries in Road Town over the last five years.

Incidents of theft of property doubled between the period 2006 to 2009 and the year 2010.  Many of these were attributed to shoplifting and theft by employees.

Since crime is on the increase, we must recognize that that the BVI like other communities is changing. We must adopt a proactive approach to the way we protect our homes and businesses.

The old carefree ways no longer exist.

A concerted effort must be made to protect and secure premises, cars and other personal property.

In the BVI the fear of crime can have a devastating effect on both our economy and our personal lives.

Continuous attacks on tourists and the resulting negative publicity will result in a drop in revenue for the country and the amount of disposable income available.

When tackling the crime problem the following three options must be addressed:
•    Victim
•    Perpetrator
•    Environment

Victims must become more ‘situationally aware’ Do not make things easy for the perpetrators.

We must secure our environments and our property if crime is to decrease. The judicial system must aggressively prosecute criminals and safeguard victims and witnesses.

Conclusions:
Preventing, reducing and detecting crime is not cheap.  Serious, organized crime is increasing across the BVI.  Human smuggling through our waters is on the increase.

There is an increase in the possession and use of firearms.  The community of law abiding citizens must rise up and collaborate and cooperate in order to impact the crime situation in the BVI for the better.


There was also a presentation to members who participated in the hugely successful week-end Limelight Production of Cinderella Rotarian Monique Peters who played the role of Cinderella, President Ken Guiste and VP Richard Arthur who played the Ugly sisters Griselda and Lucretia, Rotarians Annjel Flax-Solomon who played Widow Swanky and Omonike Robinson-Pickering who appeared as The Fairy Godmother, the proceeds of which will help Rotary Sunrise in their community service efforts.