Minister for Education, Youth Affairs and Sports, Hon Sharie B. de Castro (AL), said recommendations in the second volume of the law enforcement review, effectively strip power from local elected officials. Photo: YouTube

A Review of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Bodies in the British Virgin Islands Volume 2 – a road map for 2025 to 2035 has been described as a racist document by Hon Ronnie W. Skelton (AL). Photo: Internet Source

Members of the House of Assembly debated the second volume of the law enforcement review during the Continuation of the Third Sitting of the Second Session of the Fifth House of Assembly. Photo: HoA/Facebook

Hon de Castro’s statements came during the Continuation of the 2nd Sitting of the 5th House, on April 10, 2025, as members debated the report titled Review of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Bodies in the British Virgin Islands, Volume II: A Roadmap for 2025 to 2035, calling it “recolonisation in disguise” and questioning the UK’s motives and track record.

According to Minister de Castro, “Colonialism is not dead but we have to be honest in saying that it’s evolving- and in some instances, it now wears suits and ties.”

Dissecting the report’s content and language, she asserted that the recommendations effectively strip power from local elected officials, centralise authority in the Governor’s unelected office, and further entrench colonial control under the guise of reform.

Power Shift

She, as such, challenged the premise of the report, which recommends transferring increased strategic and operational control over law enforcement to the Governor and externally recruited ‘experts’ despite what she characterised as the Governor’s own inadequate track record in managing those areas.

Using an anecdote, likening the situation to a long-suffering patient being told to trust the same doctor who had misdiagnosed them for years, de Castro quipped,  “Wouldn’t you say, wait — how does that make any sense at all? Or in all colloquial terms, does that make sense?”

She elaborated, “If you really look at the report…that is exactly what is being proposed for the Virgin Islands. The Governor, whose office has overseen law enforcement for quite some time… is being asked to take on even more control, despite a clear track record for lack of real progress.”

Excluding Locals 

Among the more alarming elements of the report, according to Hon de Castro, is its approach to workforce composition in law enforcement — particularly the suggestion that locals, or “belongers” are not sufficiently skilled for senior roles and should be replaced, at least temporarily, by external personnel.

“It is a shame that in April 2025 — after 12 years of not having a local commissioner — that all of a sudden, what should have been done then will be done now. I’m not convinced. And I’m not convinced based on the track record that is before us.”

To this end, firmly rejected the report’s rationale, stating, “..you cannot rebuild trust in the police force by excluding locals from its leadership. The recipe for that is not exclusion.”

The Minister also took offence at the report’s suggestion that placing belongers in senior roles too early would “set them up to fail.” 

She challenged this, reiterating, “...support means strengthening from within, not replacing from without. We should train them, and we should trust them. We should not exclude them.”

Retaliatory & Demanding

The Minister also openly questioned the spirit in which the report was crafted, stating it was neither suggestive nor collaborative, but rather, “very demanding in its language, not suggestive or collaborative in its approach — but very retaliatory.”

Observing the ‘glaring’ contradiction between the Governor’s public statement that “collaboration is at the heart of this programme” and the actual recommendations, which she claimed demonstrate the opposite, she said, “Collaboration by definition implies shared power, shared responsibility, and shared decision making; They are removing responsibility from elected officials and handing strategic authority over to the Governor. You cannot call that collaboration.”

According to the Minister, there is a dire need for local empowerment, capacity-building, and true democratic engagement, adamant, “Recognition must come with empowerment. It can’t just be words… If the community is essential, we have to involve the community more.

She insisted, “We want better law enforcement, safer communities, stronger institutions. But we want to be a part of the cure; The people of the Virgin Islands must be central to the solution. We will not sit and allow persons to write us out of the solutions that will be brought out of this report.”

According to Minister De Castro,  “As Virgin Islanders, we want to heal. We want to get better. But we want to be a part of the cure.”