Sugar’s demise sparking crime in Westmoreland, says custos
Hopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTMORELAND CUSTOS Reverend Hartley Perrin believes there is a correlation between the fall-off in the sugar industry and the rise in crime in the parish, which recorded 141 murders last year, making it the bloodiest of the five parishes in Cornwall, the island’s western county.
“The sugar industry was the major contributor to jobs in Westmoreland, and since the significant decline, we have not been able to fill the gap,” said Perrin, in an interview with The Gleaner earlier this week. “I am sticking to my old galloping horse that there is neglect of the young people, who are being pressured into adopting crime as an option by the migrating criminals, especially the lottery scammers, who fled the state of public emergency in St James last year.”
While the custos believes there are enough resources in the parish to present residents with non-criminal options to advance their lives, he said that they are not being made available.
“Recently, I saw where our two major Westmoreland [branches of] the National Commercial Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia were awarded. Now, this came as a shock because we do not have the money because sugar has died down, yet the banks are doing so well,” said Perrin. “This is a tremendous cause for concern because this goes to show that we are not getting our just deserts.”
Perrin says that Westmoreland is badly underserved in terms of crime-fighting resources, which explains why crime, especially murders, has reached its current level.
“Westmoreland is lacking in resources to fight crime, and what I have noticed is that we only get full attention when we have cases of mass murder,” said Perrin. “It would appear that the single murders don’t matter, but they do, and the parish needs the attention for the single murder just like the triple murder.
“Even last night (Monday), the parish recorded another murder, and earlier today, there was a case of shooting,” said Perrin. “These crimes need to be highlighted so that the parish can get the support that is needed.”
In the heyday of sugar production in Westmoreland, the Frome Sugar Factory, which was divested to the Chinese-owned PanCaribbean Sugar Company in 2010, was the main driver of the parish’s economy. However, with benefits to farmers dwindling, sugar production is no longer considered attractive.