The Community Relations Branch of the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force has issued a serious warning to parents and the community in general to nip a growing problem in the bud; the carrying of home-made and foreign-made weapons in the school bags of secondary school students and on their persons. A look at these photographs gives more than an indication of the serious nature of the problem.
The press relations department of the Police Force reported that all the items seen in the photographs were found in the school bags and hidden on the students of several secondary schools in the Castries area.
The items were found by officers attached to the Community Relations Branch who carried out random searches on students during this academic term and the last.
The Police Force is calling on parents of secondary school-goers to play their part as parents and talk to the children.
“Parents need to know what are in the school bags of their children and the whereabouts of their children at all times,” Trevor Constantine of the police press relations office said.
The ages of the children searched range from 12 – 18 according to police.
The weapons found range from cutlasses to knives to imitation guns to matches, cigarettes, to scissors to ice-picks to screwdrivers and more.