In a forceful address delivered at a church service marking the 118th anniversary of St. Vincent Grammar School in Kingstown on Monday, St. Clair Leacock – the acting prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) and its national security minister – has announced a zero-tolerance policy toward street violence and criminal activity involving enrolled students, promising firm, rapid police intervention for violators.
A proud alumnus of the nation’s oldest secondary school, Leacock leveraged the celebratory occasion to draw a hard line against growing public disorder among youth, pointing directly to a recently viral video of schoolgirls brawling on Kingstown’s streets as a catalyst for the government’s hardened stance. Unlike past approaches that treated student public misconduct as a purely internal school discipline issue, Leacock made clear that any criminal behavior by students in public spaces will now be handled as a law enforcement matter.
“If you are a student and you’re on the streets and you’re fighting, I’ll ask the police to go to the school, get your names, and you’ll be disciplined. It will not happen under my watch,” Leacock told the assembled congregation. “Let me be emphatic about it, because I know the ears of the media houses are cocked. If you are a school student, behave like a school student. You go on the streets and your behaviour is criminal, the police will be advised to deal firmly and swiftly with you. I’m not second-guessing that.”
Framing the crackdown as a core component of the country’s national security and social order agenda, Leacock emphasized that SVG has invested extensive public and private resources into its young population, and cannot tolerate students squandering these opportunities through violent or illegal conduct. “Your parents, your grandparents, have invested far too much in you, and the expectations of this nation-state are as such that we have no room for criminal behaviour, bullying in our schools,” he added, calling on St. Vincent Grammar School and other educational institutions to lead by example in upholding public standards of behavior for all SVG youth.
Leacock also disclosed that the national police commissioner recently briefed him on the recent arrest of six to seven students connected to serious criminal offenses, including illegal firearms possession, burglary, and assault. In a one-off gesture of leniency, the students were permitted to complete their scheduled exams before facing prosecution, but Leacock warned that this accommodation will not be standard practice moving forward. “Those students should consider themselves lucky,” he said, noting that “in principle, they should have been prosecuted summarily for breaking the law.”
The announcement marks a clear escalation of the SVG government’s public position on youth crime, a issue that has grown more pressing for the country over the past year. In 2023, SVG recorded a notable upsurge in delinquency and crime within school communities, with multiple students openly aligning themselves with rival gangs 6ixx and 7even.
Against the backdrop of the school’s anniversary – which celebrates a 118-year legacy of producing generations of SVG national leaders – Leacock reminded attending students that they are being groomed as the future of the country. This status, he argued, comes with heightened responsibility: the school and its students must take the lead in restoring public discipline, both on campus and across the wider nation.