Former VIPD Deputy Commissioner Shares Recommendations for Local Crime Prevention

A former Deputy Commissioner of Police Operations for the V.I. Police Department is encouraging stronger community policing efforts and data-driven strategies to suppress the territory’s growing crime problem.

With less than a month before the year ends, the U.S. Virgin Islands has recorded 40 homicides. Mr. Calvin Walwyn, a career law enforcement officer who spent his teenage years living on St. Croix, believes simple tactics could prevent similar numbers in 2025. Speaking to the Consortium on the heels of receiving recognition for his community policing efforts in Houston Texas, Mr. Walwyn emphasized the need to embrace tried and true strategies implemented during his tenure that began in March 2019.

“For the first six months, [St. Thomas] only had two homicides when they would have normally had 14. That's because we had put some things in place,” he explained about their strategy in 2019. These included “focused deterrents” and Data-Driven Approaches to Crime and Traffic Safety (DDACTS) in communities like Tutu, resulting in notable reductions in the incidence of crime. “We had put police presence in those areas because we knew that these were areas where there could be issues,” he explained. According to Mr. Walwyn, after his departure, and that of former police commissioner Trevor Velinor, “things started happening again.”

The VIPD must “use the data to help combat crime…things can be done,” Mr. Walwyn said. “Things can be fixed, but people just have to pay attention to the data that's there.” Further, he advised that VIPD must continue to “embrace technology,” and referenced the usefulness of the ShotSpotter system.