BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – May 21, 2026 – A community-centered, prevention-first approach to cutting crime and violence developed by St. Kitts and Nevis is gaining traction across the Caribbean, as regional and global leaders launch a new coordinated framework to advance evidence-based security policy. The official rollout of the CARICOM-UNDP Diagnostic Document and CARICOM-UN Action Framework this week placed a spotlight on the Federation’s pioneering model, which reframes public safety beyond traditional law enforcement tactics.
Speaking to an audience of regional delegates, United Nations officials, security stakeholders and domestic partners, Prime Minister Dr. Terrance Drew, who also serves as Minister of National Security, explained the core philosophy behind his country’s strategy. Drew, a former medical doctor, says his clinical background shaped his view that crime, like a public health crisis, is best addressed by targeting root causes rather than only responding to its end-stage harms.
“By the time law enforcement and the judicial system intervene, a person has already been pushed down a long path toward criminal activity,” Drew noted in his address. “Traditional security measures remain critical pillars of public safety, but they cannot deliver long-term change on their own. Right now, the prevention angle remains vastly under-explored across the Caribbean.”
Drew’s administration has built its national crime reduction strategy around this principle, bringing together a cross-sector coalition of stakeholders that extends far beyond police and judicial bodies. Health practitioners, school leaders, social development agencies, community groups, political organizations, private sector leaders and security institutions all collaborate under a unified national framework to tackle the social, psychological and environmental conditions that drive criminal activity before it occurs.
This integrated model is already operational through existing national initiatives, including the Citizen Security Secretariat (CSS), an entity focused on strengthening cross-sector partnerships and rolling out data-driven interventions to cut violence and strengthen community cohesion. All government-led public safety programs increasingly prioritize prevention, early intervention for at-risk groups and local community engagement as core pillars of the country’s broader citizen security strategy.
The results of this approach have been dramatic, Drew reported. “After we put these preventative methods into practice, we recorded a widespread drop in crime and violence across all categories, not just major offenses. Major crime alone has fallen between 75 and 80 percent,” he said.
These measurable outcomes have drawn growing interest from neighboring Caribbean nations, many of which have begun reaching out to St. Kitts and Nevis to study the model and adapt its core elements for their own national contexts, Drew added.
The Prime Minister praised the new CARICOM-UN partnership, framing the launch of the new diagnostic document and regional action framework as a landmark step toward embedding preventative, evidence-based security policy across the entire Caribbean. He emphasized that coordinated regional action will amplify the impact of individual national efforts and deliver safer communities for coming generations.
“To see CARICOM now align behind this approach, and to see the United Nations commit to such a significant, substantive partnership, gives me enormous hope,” Drew said. “I can confidently say that the next decade for Caribbean security will be far better than the last, thanks to this coordinated shift toward prevention.”
