By Val Matthias. Updated 1:25 p.m., Thursday, August 20, 2026, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
The Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force must ensure that the right officers are placed in the right positions if it is to strengthen its fight against crime, according to Assistant Commissioner of Police with responsibility for crime, Brenton Smith.
Mr Smith says effective management of the force’s human resources has a direct bearing on its ability to tackle criminal activity successfully.
Speaking at a press conference, he said professional policing could not be demanded without ensuring officers were properly deployed, trained, supervised, equipped and supported.
“We must identify the skills within our organisation, place the right people in the right positions and continue developing our capabilities,” he said.
Mr Smith said this development must include strengthening the force’s capacity in investigations, intelligence, technology, supervision and leadership.
He said he continued to hold responsibility for human resources and saw a direct relationship between effective personnel management and successful crime fighting.
The Acting Assistant Commissioner said officers must also understand that professionalism and respect for the law were non-negotiable.
The force, he said, would be firm with those involved in criminal activity while maintaining professional treatment of the public.
“We will be proactive but lawful. We will be determined but disciplined,” Mr Smith said, adding that effective policing and professional policing must go together.
His comments form part of the police force’s wider response to recent concerns about serious crime and gun violence in St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Mr Smith has outlined plans for greater coordination, accountability and the use of intelligence, alongside efforts to strengthen investigations and improve the deployment of police resources.
The ultimate test of those efforts, he said, would be whether the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines were safer.
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There can never be a right officer in the right role while the continuing illegal and unconstitutional crime of taking my property and refusing to return it continues. It is theft by the police for and on behalf of the Vincentian Government. They came to my house with a search warrant that was not allowed to be held or examined. It was presented to me at my house after I asked to see it and was held briefly in front of me in the tight clutches of a plainclothes police officer who said he was Special Branch Police. There were truckloads of police who said they were searching for firearms, ammunition, drugs, electronics and paperwork. They took my brand-new tropicalised digital Canon camera. They took my laptop, my printer, and every item in my office that was electrically or electronically operated. They took every piece of paper, including bank statements, birth certificate, and wreaths of papers that were all my business and property transactions in the UK. They refused to give me a copy list of what they took, no receipt, no record, despite my asking for one. I never heard from them again, except when two men in suits turned up at my house two weeks later to kill me. I escaped SVG with my back broken in two places in the great escape. They have never accused me before or since of any crime, never interviewed or questioned me. Due to some evidence I have recently acquired, I now believe they would not properly show me the search warrant because it had words added to it after it was signed by the lady JP. Why did they really come to my house, and what were they actually looking for? They were sent because it had become public knowledge that the Slave book I was writing included a reference to the fact that I was investigating whether a Portuguese man called Antonio Gonsalves, who took the first ten African slaves from the Northwest Coast of Africa, was related to Ralph Gonsalves, the prime minister. They were, in fact, searching for the manuscript and all records on my laptop and flash drives. The firearms, ammunition and drugs were a red herring to enable them to obtain the search warrant illegally. I have asked for my belongings back for the past nine years; they ignore me. In April of this year, I was given four minutes to tell the story to Minister Leacock at his office in Kingstown. He left after three minutes and asked his secretary to write down the story. She said they would be in touch; not a word has been given to me on the subject since. The ULP were a dirty government with a dirty political police force. Now we have the NDP government, which I am now going to label as dirty because they have done nothing to help me and have continued ignoring me. This is a true story. Is there a human rights lawyer willing to help me? Even the police complaints department has refused to acknowledge me. There is no statute of limitations applicable because it is still a continuing constitutional and state crime by the police and the Vincentian government.