St Vincent gov’t warns school students against engaging in criminal behaviour

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – The St Vincent and the Grenadines government has issued a warning to school students who engage in public brawls and other criminal behaviour.

National Security Minister St Clair Leacock said disorderly students will face firm police action and that there will be no tolerance for street violence involving schoolchildren.

Leacock, who is also the Acting Prime Minister, told a church service marking the 118th anniversary of the St Vincent Grammar School on Monday that such behaviour would be treated as a matter for law enforcement, not just school discipline. He made reference to a recent viral video of schoolgirls fighting in the streets of the capital, Kingstown.

“If you are a student and you’re on the streets and you’re fighting, I’ll ask the police to go to the school, get your names, and you’ll be disciplined. It will not happen under my watch.

“Let me be emphatic about it, because I know the ears of the media houses are cocked. If you are a school student, behave like a school student. You go on the streets and your behaviour is criminal, the police will be advised to deal firmly and swiftly with you. I’m not second-guessing that; not second-guessing that,” Leacock added.

He said the state could not afford to be lenient in the face of rising concerns about youth involvement in crime, noting that the issue had become part of a wider national security and social order agenda.

Leacock said St Vincent and the Grenadines had invested too much in its young people for them to be allowed to squander their opportunities through violent or criminal conduct.

“Your parents, your grandparents, have invested far too much in you, and the expectations of this nation-state are as such that we have no room for criminal behaviour, bullying in our schools,” said Leacock, urging schools to “take a lead role in setting the examples for our St Vincent and the Grenadines.”

Leacock said that, in his capacity as Minister of National Security, the Commissioner of Police briefed him last week on a group of students arrested in connection with serious offences and that at least seven students had been held “for firearms and for burglaries and for assaults”.

The minister said that while the students were allowed to sit their exams before being prosecuted, he suggested that this represented a measure of leniency that may not always be repeated.

He said those students should “consider themselves lucky” and insisted that, in principle, they “should have been prosecuted summarily for breaking the law”.

Leacock drew a clear line between the expectations placed on students within the school system and the standards of behaviour required of them when they step into public spaces.

“If you are a school student, behave like a school student. You go on the streets, and your behaviour is criminal. The police will be advised to deal firmly and swiftly with you.”

St Vincent and the Grenadines saw an upsurge in crime and delinquency in schools last year, with some students identifying themselves as members of the 6ixx and 7even gangs.

Follow The Gleaner on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.