WASHINGTON, D.C. — After more than a decade under federal scrutiny, the U.S. Virgin Islands has cleared a major hurdle.
The Virgin Islands Law Enforcement Planning Commission (LEPC) is no longer considered “high-risk” by the U.S. Department of Justice, ending a period of heightened oversight that began in 2012. The designation stemmed from concerns raised by federal investigators about grant management tied to events over a decade ago.
Since then, officials say the territory has worked to strengthen financial controls and modernize the way public safety grants are tracked and managed.
During a recent visit to Washington, Gov. Albert Bryan Jr., D-USVI, told our team that the change restores federal confidence in how the territory manages public safety funding and marks a major step forward for government accountability.
“The Law Enforcement Planning Commission has just come out of trouble status. And what that means for us is our plan is working in terms of fiscal responsibility,” Bryan said.
Bryan says managing federal grant dollars responsibly is essential for supporting law enforcement efforts across the territory.
“One of the challenges that we have in the Virgin Islands is having good financial people, making sure that we account for our grants,” the governor said.
The governor says those federal funds help support both traditional policing and new technology aimed at deterring crime.
“Our law enforcement push for the last 30 years — we don’t have enough police, can we train up enough police? We’ve given up on that. We’re still training police, but we’re supplementing it with drones, police technology and our cameras license plate readers to make it easier to solve crime, but more importantly, to deter crime,” Bryan said.
Bryan says the technology helps investigators track suspects and solve crimes faster — while also discouraging criminal activity in the first place.
“We’ve been doing really good with our arrests, tracking people using all kinds of technology to cut down on what’s going on,” he said.
The governor also praised officers and community intervention programs that continue to play a role in improving public safety.
“Beyond the technology, I really have to give credit to the police because they’ve been doing an awesome job and intervention along with my office and the anti-gun movement that we have,” Bryan said.
Officials say the removal from high-risk status strengthens the territory’s ability to compete for federal funding that supports training, equipment, crime prevention initiatives and community safety programs.
