The Premier made the disclosure at the Seventh Sitting of the Third Session of the Fourth House of Assembly on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, in response to questions from Jr Minister of Tourism, Hon Sharie B. de Castro (AL).

Of the $84M given to the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF) for the past three years, $18,350,100 was injected this year, 2021.

Security of VI is of paramount concern to Gov't - Premier Fahie

Premier Fahie said while Section 60 of the Virgin Islands (VI) Constitution gives the Governor full responsibility of the Police, the security of the people of the territory is of paramount concern to the Government.

“We campaigned on making crime control a national priority because prior to taking office there was a major concern regarding the rise in crime hence this government vowed to assist the governor with his responsibility of the police to create a peaceful society in our county,” he said.

Further, Premier Fahie sad the government shared in the responsibility to tighten up on borders and cull trans-Atlantic organised crime and other illegal activities.

“When we took office in February 2019, there were many unsolved cases on the books, which the former government was making efforts to assist the then governor to address. Our immediate responsibility was to ensure that the resources needed to address crime of any sort was made available upon request to the relevant law enforcement agencies,” he said.

Premier and Minister of Finance, Hon Andrew A. Fahie (R1), during the Seventh Sitting of the Third Session of the Fourth House of Assembly on April 20, 2021, disclosed that his government has been providing substantial funding to the Royal Virgin Islands Police Force (RVIPF).

Gov't pumping $$ into RVIPF to fight crime

He said of the $84M given to the police force, $18,350,100 has so far been provided for 2021.

Hon Fahie also revealed that his government had committed to increasing the requits of RVIPF by 45 posts, based on the territorial security plan that mandated 15 new officers per year.

He said in 2020, there was a temporary halt in recruitment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as such, that limited the hiring quota of 15 new requits for that year.

In terms of capital acquisitions for the force, the total figures since taking office is $5,864,149 of which $1,315,100 has been injected for 2021 which represents an increase from the $387,400 used in 2020.