At their weekly press briefing on Wednesday, three senior officers of the Royal Anguilla Police Force reported on the crime situation affecting the island over the past week. Deputy Commissioner Illidge Richardson was pleased to announce that there had been a reduction of serious crimes in Anguilla between the Christmas Season up to the current period. He said the island was too small to be tarnished by criminal activity. He recalled that in earlier times Anguilla was known to have little or no crime and appealed to all persons concerned to respect law and order and the citizenry in an effort to preserve the good name of the homeland.

L-R: Sergeant Yearwood, Deputy Richardson and Inspector Sinclair

Although there have not been any serious incidents, Inspector Randolph Yearwood reported that there had been a number of matters which the police were investigating and which occurred during the period January 2 – 9. Two persons were arrested, one for committing grievous bodily harm and the other arrest was made on a bench warrant issued by the Magistrate. Both persons were male offenders.
Eleven crimes were reported during the period. One of the offences was burglary which occurred at South Hill where a villa was broken into. The stolen items included two laptop computers, a camera, an Ipod and a boom box.

There were six thefts in Statia Valley, Sandy Ground, South Hill and Stoney Ground.
The stolen items were a cellular phone, a dinghy with attached engine, a bicycle, a gold ring, a steel and plastic float and a cement mixer.
There were two reports of criminal damage to a window in the Dental Care Unit and to a vehicle and one report of indecent assault.
Inspector Yearwood said that the police were continuing their investigations into the recent shooting and wounding incident at Blowing Point and were calling on persons who may have any useful information to report the same to the Force.

He reported that in order to improve efficiency three officers had been added to the Criminal Investigative Department, thus making it possible for the unit to be on call during the night to respond to any criminal incident which may occur.
Inspector Paul Sinclair reported on a case in which a young man swallowed a small package of cannabis contained in a plastic bag when he was approached by the Drug and Firearms Task Force Team. The Inspector said the sentence impose on the person by the court would be far less than choking on an object. He was of the view that swallowing the drug could have been harmful to the individual.

“The message is that if you are found in possession of drugs, the last thing you should do is try to swallow it,” he warned. “Please, boys and girls, if any of my officers approach you and you are in possession of a small amount of drugs do not attempt to swallow it. It is far too dangerous.”

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