SKN Rebrands Its Fight Against Crime

The government’s Citizen Security Secretariat is transitioning into a broader National Secretariat for Human Security and Well-Being — a shift officials say puts people, prevention, and mental health at the centre of crime reduction.

BASSETERRE — The government of St. Kitts and Nevis is moving beyond the concept of “citizen security,” transitioning its pioneering anti-crime body into a wider National Secretariat for Human Security and Well-Being. The change, discussed in detail on a recent edition of SKNIS’s weekly programme In Focus, signals a deliberate expansion of scope — one that now covers foreign nationals, mental health, economic stability, and community prevention.

Eartha Carey, Coordinator of the Secretariat and Chairperson of its task force, explained that the name change was driven by a need to be inclusive.

“We have a broad number of foreign nationals here,” she said, “and rather than saying citizen security, you want to also involve the other nationals,” Carey said.

With tourists and residents from across the region and beyond entering the country daily, officials felt the word “human” better reflected who the programme protects.

“It’s not about crime only. It’s about placing people at the forefront,” Carey said.

Programme Director Hance Richards underscored that the approach treats crime like a public health epidemic — identifying root causes rather than simply reacting to events. The framework, which draws on epidemiological science, helped deliver  an over 80 percent reduction in homicides over the past year and a half — reaching the lowest levels in decades.

The transition also reflects the scale of the problem. Richards revealed that between 1996 and 2024, 484 males — most between the ages of 16 and 25 — were killed in the Federation, with a further 156 incarcerated and 15 left permanently incapacitated. “That’s almost 700 in a generation,” he said soberly.

The new Secretariat will focus on six core areas: safety, physical health, economic stability, mental health well-being, and two scientific indicators tracking transmission and epidemiological patterns. A cross-ministry task force — including representatives from national security, health, education, youth development, the Christian Council, the UN, and the Prime Minister’s office — guides the work.

St. Kitts and Nevis’s model has drawn international attention. Richards disclosed that work presented at a United Nations high-level forum has prompted the UN to request a formal case study of the Federation’s approach — a recognition, he said, that belongs to the community. “It is because of them,” he said, “that their work has taken to CARICOM and the United Nations.