Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Is crime spiralling in the BVI because of COVID-19?

Is crime spiralling in the BVI because of COVID-19?

While admitting that there has been a slight increase in crime since COVID-19 hit the BVI, Police Commissioner Michael Matthews has assured the public that crime isn’t spiralling because of the economic hardships brought on by the health pandemic.

Speaking in an interview with 284 Media on October 19, Commissioner Matthews said up to the end of August, the BVI recorded about 16 criminal offences.

He said this is a very small rise in crime since the onset of COVID-19.

But he said because of a series of robberies and some unusual crimes like the recent ‘tie-up robberies’ on Virgin Gorda, many persons have asked him whether the criminals committed these offences because of the economic difficulties the COVID-19 virus has caused.

“Of course that’s a difficult one for me to answer. I guess when we catch people we will ask them their reasons and they’ll have to give their responses to the court. What I can say is that crime isn’t spiralling as a result of COVID-19 at the moment,” the Commissioner expressed.

He continued: “We were bracing ourselves for the impact of it as we saw the tighter restrictions … now what we have seen is some isolated cases. We’ve seen a series of break-ins in Virgin Gorda quite recently, we’ve also had the quite distasteful emergence of tie-up robberies where offenders enter the home of somebody, tie them up and literally steal from them. That hasn’t been seen in the territory for a long while and then we had two cases in a very short space of time.” Commissioner Matthews explained.

Curfew breaches recorded separately


He explained that law enforcers have been recording the breaches of curfews separately from other criminal offences as grouping these statistics would give the BVI a much higher crime rate.

“We’ve been calculating the breaches of curfew separately to the rest of our offences. There was a danger that we could come out of COVID and be marketing ourselves to the world as having a high crime rate simply because we are obliged to record every breach of curfew and that would add to the figures,” Matthews said.

He also reported that over the last five years, the BVI has seen an overall decrease in crime.

Security has been a major challenge in the BVI since the first COVID-19 case was identified in the territory. In addition to maintaining peace within the community, law enforcers have been fighting to secure the borders to prevent illegal entry and the importation of new COVID-19 cases.

In addition to increased resources to fight crime and protect the borders, Governor Augustus Jaspert has invited British naval vessel HMS Medway back to the BVI to offer additional support with surveillance and act as a deterrent.

The vessel is set to arrive at the end of this month.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×