Police and Security Forces Presence Commended For Incident Free “Culturama 43”

Basseterre, St. Kitts, Aug 11, 2017 (RSCNPF): Days after the end of “Culturama 43” in Nevis, the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and its partnering agencies, the St. Kitts Nevis Defence Force and Her Majesty’s Customs Service have been commended by the organizers and the Minister of Culture in the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) for their role in contributing to an incident free festival.

In local news broadcast across the Federation onWednesday and Thursday, Mr Antonio Abonaty Liburd, Head of the Culturama Secretariat expressed that the Police and Security Forces presence throughout the Festival was a key contributor to patrons enjoying what has been summed up as one of the best festivals to date.

The Honourable Mark Brantley, Deputy Premier and Minister of Culture in Nevis Island Administration, also shared a similar sentiment and expressed commendation to the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force and the St. Kitts Nevis Defence Force and the other agencies for their role in ensuring Citizen Safety during the festive period.

Officer in charge of the Nevis Division, Superintendent Trevor Mills noted, that reports from the respective Stations indicated that no major incidents were reported during the activities held at the Cultural Complex, the Cultural Village and other event locations or during J’ouvert, the Cultural Parade and Last-Lap.

Superintendent Mills said, “Our presence at the Ferry Terminals and the Sea Bridge landings both in St. Kitts and Nevis sent a clear message that we wanted an incident free festival and maintaining Citizen Safety was our objective.” He added, “we continued our Stop and Search Operations along the roadways, we had presence at all the events….on the J’ouvert route and that sent a clear message… The crowds were large, and the revellers enjoyed themselves. We had adequate boots on the ground to support Culturama, and with the help of the patrons we met the objective.”

Commissioner of Police Mr. Ian M. Queeley who was on the ground in Nevis, commended the revellers for their behaviour and cooperation. He said, “Our commitment to ensuring a safe Festival may have caused some inconvenience for the traveling public during the planned Operations, but they were necessary to ensure your safety, we appreciate your embrace of our efforts, in the end, we saw the results, an incident free Festival.

The Commissioner while in Nevis on Tuesday afternoon, expressed his appreciation to the leadership of the Nevis Division (Police and Defence Force) and the other partnering agencies for their vigilance during the Festival, and told the Officers that being out and about was a contributing factor to an incident free Festival.He highlighted, “your presence reinforced the message from the organizers for a safe festival, and was the expectation of our citizens, and it clearly served as a deterrent to any anti-social behaviour at the Culturama activities.” Commissioner Queeley added, “Your efforts and presence contributed greatly to the fun atmosphere and having heard the citizens speak of this Culturama, the fact that was it incident free has been heralded by many and appreciated by the community.”

“You helped to ensure a safe festival. You did a great job”, said the Commissioner.

Finally, we appreciated the feedback from the General Public and based on our own observations we will make recommendations to the organizers to improve future editions of the Festival.

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