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Caribbean Islands National Security
Police forces in the three territories were small and under
British control. The British Virgin Islands Police Force consisted
of a chief of police, ninety-six police officers, and three
civilian officers. Most of the police were native British Virgin
Islanders. The headquarters was in Road Town on Tortola. In
addition to the usual crime prevention and law enforcement
activities associated with a police force, the police in the
British Virgin Islands were responsible for firefighting. They also
operated one marine patrol craft and two launches for use in
enforcing the three-nautical-mile territorial limit of the islands,
for fishery protection, and for antismuggling and antidrug
operations.
The Anguilla Police Force was formed in 1972 to replace a
detachment of the London Metropolitan Police that had served on the
island since 1969, when the island seceded from the St. KittsNevis -Anguilla union. In the 1980s, the force was headed by a chief
of police, who reported to the minister of home affairs. There were
eighty police officers, as well as special officers who could be
deputized as necessary. The force's formal duties included national
security, and, as such, it operated two ships for fishery
protection and antismuggling operations. Most officers were native
Anguillians, but some were recruited in St. Vincent. Headquarters
was in The Valley. The British operated the criminal justice
system.
The Royal Montserrat Police Force had eighty to ninety members
commanded by a chief of police. As in Anguilla, the Montserratian
force was responsible for enforcing the territorial waters limit
and for fishery protection. On Monserrat, these duties were the
specific responsibility of the Marine Police, which had the use of
one marine patrol craft.
No insurgencies or mass-based antigovernment groups existed in
these three territories in the late 1980s. Strikes occasionally
occurred over wages and related issues, but political strikes
appeared nonexistent. Since the British government retained
responsibility for defense, British Army units would undoubtedly be
brought in to handle any serious domestic unrest.
Britain maintained no army or naval units in the dependencies.
The closest British Army forces were in Belize. Although Montserrat
and the British Virgin Islands were members of the OECS as of 1987,
neither had joined the Regional Security System (RSS). Montserrat
also refrained from participating in OECS voting in late October
1983 to support the United States-Caribbean intervention in Grenada
(the British Virgin Islands was not yet a member of the OECS).
Futhermore, paramilitary forces from these territories were
unlikely to participate in any proposed regional post-Grenada
defense and security arrangements, since Britain had opposed such
involvement by its dependent territories. Nevertheless, the British
Virgin Islands were in the area patrolled by the United States
Coast Guard forces based in the United States Virgin Islands (see
Current Strategic Considerations, ch. 7).
* * *
In 1987 there were few works that focused solely on the British
Virgin Islands, Anguilla, or Montserrat. The most useful sources of
information on these islands can be found in a series of yearbooks
and in compendium discussions of all the Caribbean islands. The
Caribbean Handbook, edited by Jeremy Taylor, is one of the most
comprehensive discussions of all of the Caribbean islands. Included
in each country's profile are sections on history, commerce,
finance, government, and general business regulations. The
Europa Year Book provides current data and background, and the
Latin America and Caribbean Review (published yearly),
edited by Richard Green, is an excellent source on economic and
political events of the past year. Current events can be followed
through the monthly British newsletter, Latin American Monitor:
Caribbean. Useful business information can be found in the
Business Traveller's Handbook, edited by Jane Walker. Two
works by residents of the islands also are worth noting. Colville
Petty's Anguilla: Where There's a Will There's a Way
presents an Anguillian view of the break with St. Kitts and Nevis.
H.A. Fergus's Montserrat: Emerald Isle of the Caribbean
describes day-to-day life on Montserrat. (For further information
and complete citations, see Bibliography.)
Data as of November 1987
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