 Fighting crime remains a top priority for the government of St. Lucia. So says Prime Minister the Honourable Alan Chastney who indicated that the government continues to tackle the issue on several fronts. The Prime Minister highlighted that the judicial system has been bolstered with increased human resource capacity among other things. We first have the police force which needed to be strengthened and we've been doing so. Better communication systems, CCT cameras, new vehicles, better training and recently promotions for those officers and physically improving their offices as well as their own personal facilities. We're also going to be commencing the construction of the new police headquarters very soon. We've also strengthened our forensic lab because without evidence makes convictions impossible. So the forensic lab not only has new equipment and is fully operational but will also be doing all of the investigation, forensic investigation on the crime scenes. We've now added a DNA testing lab to help strengthen the forensic lab. The DPP's office when we came in there was no DPP and there was three or four people in that office. Now we have over nine people and several lawyers and we can see the improved efficiency in prosecution. The court system in this new police headquarters will include six new courts, three magistrate, three criminal but even recently because of COVID our criminal court has not been able to be used because of the need for protocols, the application of protocols particularly as it pertains to our jury. The prime minister noted that while challenges exist, the government of St. Lucia is not deterred and continues to put its shoulder to the wheel. He explained that strides have also been made in fighting crime on the social front. Furthermore, we must recognize that particularly for domestic abuse and child abuse, the signs are there from early and clearly we have failed as a society in being able to put the mechanisms in for persons to be able to report this and also for the sensitivity of information and how we deal with the victims themselves and so we have been strengthening our social systems to be able to address that and we have to do a better job of sharing information between nurses, teachers, sports officers and social workers as well as better educating the public on identifying abuse cases and how to be able to report it. Prime Minister Hon. Shasne said that measures should not be reactionary but instead proactive. He added that reporting mechanisms are being put in place. We must be outraged at the loss of any life through domestic abuse. We have been hired additional social workers. We are decentralizing government to make sure that the level of communication between education, healthcare and social workers is happening on a more regular basis and that they can share information and make sure that if in fact these things are happening that the government's workers can help address the situation long before it results in somebody being seriously harmed or even killed. Prime Minister St. Lucia, Hon. Alan Shasne