Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. announced Mario Brooks as his pick to lead the Virgin Islands Police Department in a public address Tuesday where he also decried local gun-control laws as having “totally failed.”
Brooks, who took over as acting commissioner after the resignation of Ray Martinez amid an FBI probe, emphasized the importance of community involvement in crime fighting. He said his first priority would be to clearly outline his vision for the department, including technological enhancements, and then continue overt engagement with young people through cadet programs and youth leagues.
“Our goal, again, is to reach the youth. They are our future and we need to focus on them,” said Brooks, who would officially take over as commissioner if approved by the Senate. “Law enforcement, we are not the enemy.”
Brooks, with the department for 29 years, was named an assistant commissioner in January 2020 by then-Commissioner Trevor Velinor. His police work includes time with the Special Operations and Criminal Intelligence bureaus.
His nomination comes as the territory struggled with an increase in homicides in recent weeks. Gunfire killed eight men in the Virgin Islands in October. Nov. 3, 17-year-old University of the Virgin Islands advanced-math student Kareem Pinney was shot to death, bringing the territory’s homicide total for 2024 to 33.
On top of that, Bryan said he was deeply saddened by three recent suicides on St. Croix and said three other people had been stopped in attempts to kill themselves since then.
“You see people every day and you don’t know what they are going through,” Bryan said.
The governor said he was concerned about levels of economic worry and other woes in the territory. He urged people not to dwell on what has gone wrong or what could be done better and to take time to celebrate even minor wins — including what he described as the joy of being a Virgin Islander. He urged people not to lose their sense of community and communal well-being.
“I want to talk a little bit today about the tone and temperature of the community. It’s been really troubling to me over the last weeks, as I look at the faces of people, and the things that we’re going through, and it has somehow blanketed the territory. And it is not only here. It’s in the States too. The elections last week certainly showed us that. People are really concerned with their pocket. Inflation is a serious problem there and it’s doubly serious here in the Virgin Islands,” Bryan said. “It has manifested itself through all kinds of ways but severely the last couple weeks we’ve had tremendous tragic occurrences that have furthered the feeling of despair among a lot of people in our community.”
Possibly relieving some of the financial stress, Bryan hoped to give people some “turkey money” by releasing $5 million in tax refunds this week. He urged people to spend it in the territory by buying locally.
“Don’t get on Amazon; don’t go on eBay,” he said.
Other stressors aren’t so easily alleviated. Bryan said the government was conducting an engineering study of the Seaview facility on St. Thomas, which has long been slated for rehabilitation as a mental health facility.
“I feel that the weight of the stress in the community is just getting heavier and heavier. I want you to know you are not alone. We’re not the only place that’s going through this. It’s globally, people are experiencing inflation and its impact on their lives. Further to that, there’s the social media and the belief that somehow people are living a better life than you and you have to chase your tail in order to achieve it — it’s creating a tremendous amount of stress. When we lose members of our community through violence or their own personal struggles, I mean, it affects me and I know it affects you. These past weeks have been particularly painful.”
Regarding violent crime, however, the governor said gun laws meant to keep weapons out of criminal hands were not working.
“If there’s one thing I can say, our firearms policy in the Virgin Islands has totally failed. We have the strongest gun controls in the country and the most guns on the street,” Bryan said.
Working with the Legislature, Bryan hoped to introduce a firearm bill that streamlined gun ownership for lawful gun owners, including peace officers visiting from the mainland.
“We need to figure out a way to allow law-abiding citizens to register their firearms in a respectful way,” the governor said. “When those people come in we can have those firearms properly cataloged and given back to them.”
One problem was that the registration of firearms was too subjective, Bryan said.
“My goal is to get a standard way of issuing firearms in the Virgin Islands that is not subject to the whim of every police commissioner that comes before us,” he said.
Bryan also said 174 government cameras had been installed in the territory and adding 200 were on the way. All the cameras were monitored by VIPD or other government agencies, not a private vendor, Bryan said.
