The Minister said “We want to make this message very loud and clear that the Virgin Islands community condemns this state of crimes that have been taking place over the last three months. It is not something we are prepared to tolerate. If persons need help, if you are listening now and you are one of those persons, we are willing to help you. But we will not sit by idly and let the reputation of our beautiful island be tarnished as a place where it is not safe anymore … Our tourism product depends on Virgin Gorda having that untarnished reputation,” he further stated.

Police Commissioner Michael Matthews said this will lend greatly to the cause of security and further stated that more than 150 CCTV cameras will be installed territory-wide in short order.

Police Commissioner Michael Matthews

The commissioner said “At the moment, we are just about to roll out the reinstallation of CCTV across the BVI but there are 178 cameras due to go out, which will include Virgin Gorda.”

“We’ve also had offers from the business community in Virgin Gorda to assist in the procurement of more cameras and we welcome that and we are working very hard with the technicians,”

The top cop also revealed that his long-term plan is to increase the police presence on Virgin Gorda. He said police officers are currently being rotated, and encouraged residents to help the officers to transition smoothly.

He said “As we start to put new faces into that island, just remember that the guys and girls that come over won’t know the community straight away, won’t know how it works on Virgin Gorda, we need your help,” Matthews said.

The island has seen a spurt in crime over the past few months, as authorities try to identify the perpetrators.