On September 18, the United States Government, in collaboration with the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, launched a Police Records Management Information System (PRMIS). The PRMIS will help the Police Force to improve data management and analysis and will be piloted at the Stapleton and Frigate Bay Police Stations in St. Kitts, and at the Cotton Ground Police Station in Nevis. It will strengthen police response to support crime reduction using measures such as geo-mapping; and victim and offender profiling.

The system is a key component of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) CariSECURE project. The PRMIS uses standardized crime and violence data to foster evidence-based policy and programming across nine eastern and southern Caribbean countries, including St. Kitts and Nevis. These countries will benefit from customized software that allows for cross-country comparisons and generates high quality data to support cohesive regional crime strategies and responses. St. Kitts and Nevis is the fifth country to launch the PRMIS.

At the PRMIS launch, USAID Eastern and Southern Caribbean Regional Representative, Clinton White, noted that technology and data play essential roles in identifying the root causes of crime. He added, “This data, when transformed into intelligence, allows law enforcement and policy makers to better understand the root causes of crime and violence and design responses that bring about greater effectiveness” in policing. Representative White commended the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis on embracing the initiative and encouraged the Government to fully expand the system to all police stations in order to reap its full benefits.

CariSECURE is a component of USAID’s wider Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Project, which reduces youth involvement in the Caribbean. CariSECURE is implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).