Within the past two weeks, I wrote a letter which was printed in the St. Croix Avis, the Independent and the Daily News newspaper concerning the burglary situation here in the territory.
In closing of said letter, I made a plea for Gov. Charles Tumbull to act upon it immediately. Although I do acknowledge that it is very early in his administration to be faced with this type of problem, I considered it an urgent matter enough to bring it to the attention of the governor and the residents of this territory.
My plea to have this matter handled immediately does not require time or expense, all it simply takes is a call to the person in charge of the department or a written order issued to have it done.
Stated in my letter printed in the Independent, St. Croix Avis on 1/14/99 and in the Daily News on 1/19/99, is the fact the V.I. Police Department has only one individual , Cpl. Maureen Richardson, that is qualified to testify as an expert and also perform latent fingerprint examination.
This individual, however, has not been allowed to perform this task as an assignment in many years; therefore cases are not being worked on, resulting into victims being left helpless and the perpetrators running loose to burglarize more homes.
It would appear that since I wrote letters to those who could have done something and they did nothing, they can be considered as indirectly aiding and abetting burglars.
As taxpayers and law-abiding citizens of this territory, you have a right as a victim to have your case investigated properly and to be notified of the results.
To expedite this matter, it seem that the only alternative left is for victims to call on Government House for action in this matter. However, in the meantime whose house will be next? Could it have been avoided?
These are my questions at this time. I believe that I have done my civic duty by advising the people of this territory as to the dilemma we all face with this type of crime.
