Joined by five cabinet members including the Attorney General and Police Commissioner, Governor de Jongh, Jr. held a news conference on yesterday afternoon to indicate that while his Administration works on a broader crime-fighting strategy for the territory, he has ordered a targeted clean up of Coki Point Beach, the site of a double homicide tragedy on July 12. 

Governor John P. de Jongh, Jr. answers a reporter's question during a press conference on public safety on July 22, 2010 where he announced additional steps that his administration is taking to enhance public safety following the tragic double homicide at Coki Point on July 12, 2010. Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty and Police Commissioner Novelle Francis also attended the press conference and answered questions from the media.

Governor de deJongh's Remarks: Read | Listen .mp3 (9MB)
Commissioner Francis' Remarks: Read | Listen .mp3 (5MB)

The clean up effort will commence on August 2 and will involve shutting down vendor operations in the area for a ten day period. Several agencies of the government will be involved in the clean up. The Department of Housing, Parks and Recreation will be fixing the fence surrounding the beach, doing landscaping, removing debris, selecting a vendor to reconstruct the bathrooms and clean up the roadsides. The governor also tasked the HPR Commissioner to develop a cost estimate for completion of the vendor pavilion and boardwalk. The Justice Department will develop legislation to prohibit barkers on public roadways and beaches while funding will be identified for trash bins. 

The governor also said he is looking to purchase a section of the beach that is privately owned and over time, include it and all other VI beaches in a Territorial Park System which is already created but needs a structure and revenue source. 

Both the governor and Police Commissioner Novelle Francis Jr. said that other than homicide rates, statistics show that other part-one crimes are down, while the department has so far this year experienced a 65 percent arrest rate. To address the safety concern at Coki Point and at other tourist attractions, Francis said that the VIPD has supplemented its Tourist Safety Plan. The main components of the plan include deployment of the Special Operations Bureau, enhanced Patrol and targeted camera surveillance.

Francis spoke of the need to enhance police presence at tourist attractions with officers patrolling on foot, bikes and all terrain vehicles. Specifically as it relates to Coki Point, police will beef up traffic enforcement to cut down on congestion in the staging areas, create a staging area for taxis, upgrade and purchase new surveillance cameras for the area and assess the cost of installing addition lighting for the area.