Obviously you have no understanding of the VIPD.

I wouldn't call them corrupt. Inept, yes.

Corruption is abuse of power, and refusal to uphold the law.
Inept,..refusing to admit you abuse power, and uphold the law because
you are ignorant.

No, promo, in California they let someone almost decapitate two victims maybe because one was simply returning sunglasses to the other and he goes on to enjoy his life and golf as tho nothing happened. Ineptness and incompetence is not a stranger to many police departments nor are the social and economic conditions that enable crime and corruption to run rampant. One cannot deny that those conditions are not strickingly obvious in the USVI. If it helps the mother's grief to express her apporpriate anger, so be it but for the rest to guess, conjecture and report their "facts" as truth is inappropriate. There are thousands of murders daily and I have no idea of how many go unsolved and if it helps the family to call in the politicians or whomever they feel necessary, so be it. Inept or not, there is a very giant leap from "knowing" who was responsible, proving it and putting him away for a very long time. The focus of the police should be on the investigation and not every PI, politican, news reporter or anyone else conjured up to discredit anyone. Obviously the family feels "entitled" to answers and they deserve them but sometimes calling for a premature end run is not helpful to anyone and St. John residents deserve an explaination if some of the reported things were done or not. But then even on Tortola where they had the evidence and conviction of the murderer of Lois McMillian, he was later freed with a ruling that they couldn't even retry him.
What else would one expect from the police than a statement that the investigation in on-going - name the persons of interest? Name the witness(es)? Given the political arena police work must be slow and very careful as we know "defendants" have rights and sometimes things do not progess as quickly as we want . But until there are drastic changes in the culture - both there and stateside - where even Rumsfield cannot remember if he ordered a hit on Pat Tillman and corruption flows from the WH down, one wonders what the defination of "justice" has come to be!

DC - those are not the definitions found in any dictionary I've ever seen.

Everyone (and I mean everyone except, perhaps the perpetrators and their nearest and dearest) found and brought to justice.

And please note that Ronnie did NOT blame the victim. He posited a theoretical that could (theoretically) complicate matters. Nobody is saying that the young man deserved to be killed.

This is a hot topic around the world.
There are many injustices, and justice is defined in the eye, and beliefs of the beholder.
No one is saying here that the young man deserved to be killed, Ron was not implying that,
I'm sure.
Even when a case goes to trial, there are no guarantees the quilty party will ever suffer the consequences of
their actions. Why is that?? Many reasons that don't even have anything to do with the crime.
Let's just hope we all stayed plugged in, because these topics will always be around. It is what defines civilization.

Joanne, so where's your definition?? I want at least 3 references. Ha!!

I knew it.....I had my suspicions all along, and you have convinced me Cshell! You're all over it......the Bush administration was in on it from the start!

Sometimes one needs to remember that beer and brains are not synonymous, don't work well together and it is not always the brain that makes the testostrone rage! I know that Ron was not even close to blaming the victim especially if you knew his history.

CShell,

You are so right, beer and brains don't work well together.

oh! please, get over it ... probably was Clinton's fault ... lol

there is plenty of corruption on both sides of the aisle ... it's just that the Attorney General' s poor memory, Cheney's poor memory, etc etc are in the limelite now. The new "not guilty" is "I don't remember" but that's just who happens to be 'in charge' now. And who does set the programs and policies that enforce the culture - socially, politcally and economically? Wouldn't that be any administration - from the left or right side of the aisle?
My point was that corruption and cronyisn are rampant in the US - and not just in politics - and especially in the USVI where there are such glaring disparities, why would it be different ?

I can only assume from some of the comments being bandied around by some posters who are occasional visitors to the Virgin Islands that your own local police departments are right out of "Law and Order" and "CSI."

I'm referring to some of your comments about the VIPD such as "inept," "corrupt," etc. along with the intimation that Virgin Islanders have a "hear nothing, see nothing, say nothing" mentality and thus by further intimation are ignorant.

Setting aside the overwhelming hearsay channelling through this thread, I find these comments extremely offensive to Virgin Islanders. How would YOU feel if a visitor came to your little town, stayed a few days on vacation, went back home, read about a murder in your little town and then proceeded to throw brickbats at YOUR community through every avenue available?

The fact that you are concerned is admirable but you know no more about this case than you do about the local government worker who was murdered last week and I find your presumptions and insinuations very degrading to my home.

That said, do continue on because I'm almost to the point of finding the dialogue almost amusing. No "cheers" this time around.

I hope we don't cloud this issue by stepping back too far and looking at this from a global, mankind, law of the universe kind of thing.

Sometimes, we can make things much larger than they really are...and those attitudes can make things seem impossible to fix.

This isn't rocket science. It is a murder with witnesses - and, from what we''ve read, names of perps have been cited. It is a tiny island. If someone says "Mookie" did it - chances are, everybody knows who Mookie is!! (I made up the name mookie - since the family's Private detective said that the pers have been identified by nicknames)And, apparently, the fight followed a blow up and a ruckus. C'mon....we all know this was witnessed. An argument in a bar between locals and white kid from he states - and it spilled onto the streets - and nobody saw anything? Ohhhhkay.

It boils down to this - the thug(s) who killed Jamie are still walking around...probably with very little concern about being caught. I'd feel much better if they were removed from the possibility of contact with me before I return with my own 20 yr old son.

Someone, early in this thread, said they'd feel better walking the streets of STJ at night than they would Philly. I live in Philly - and I can't say i agree with that. There are parts of Philly that aren't safe - but at least the criminals expect to get caught and the Philly PD seems to have a good handle on things - and when they have a hard time catching someone, you sure hear a lot about it until the person is caught - including press conferences and ads in the paper with photos of who they are seeking. And, they usually hold a press conference to say how they caught the person, which is typically by following leads and tips. How do they get photos of suspects? They've usually been arrested in jailed before. once you start making arrests with mugshots and finger-prints, it becomes easier to catch them on subsequent crimes....right?

And, my own son has only had one incident of violence against him...when a group of thugs surrounded him in his car near his high school. One of the thugs later beat up his best friend - sent the kid to the hospital from a blow to the head with a fist. It was sort of a race/class issue - and my son was targeted for being too friendly with his friends of different races.

Well, wouldn't you know - the main thug bragged on his phone - and his sister overheard - she told the mom - and the mom called the cops on her own son and he was arrested. Bottom line, that mom had raised her son and daughter to do the right thing - and she was no hypocrite. If they didn't do the right thing, she would.

I don't think Ron was blaming the victim. I do agree with those who have said that there's no excuse for violence and murder. I don't care if he did provoke it. I don't care if he walked into that bar and called everyone a bunch of blanket blanks. I have no reason to think he started it - but if he did, I wonder if the young guys in the VI have heard the saying "if you can't get along, get a fair one on". Yes, a "fair one" - a term used in the meanest streets of the largest cities- where guys fight and beat the crap out of each other - no jumping, no sucker punches , no weapons - a man's fight. Not the punk (and "punk" is my nice, Internet message board word) act that went on in this situation.

Guess politicans and beer don't go well together either.

STT,

Not sure to whom you are referring, but since you quoted me, I'll just say that I don't visit for a few days, go home and throw brickbats. I lived on that island for many years becuase my father was in the Attorney General's office. Law and Order of the VI was the vein of our existence there. My uncle is now on loan down there - as a federal judge -or was last time I checked - and he is down there (on loan0 for about 4-5 months of every year, and has been for as long as I can recall. Many, many discussion takes place within my family about VI law and politics. It is a deep discussion of the why and how with regard to the state of VI law issues and the VIPD problems. They use those very words -inept, corrupt - yes.

Are you saying that there isn't a "don't tell" culture? Is that not what part of the problem is? If you are saying that, then I will tell you that the FBI, the court system and the VIPD will all disagree with you. At least that is what they CLAIM the problem is. Maybe they're all lying - and there's another point of corruption to deal with.

We are using broad bush strokes in these discussions because the issue, right now, is not to protect the feelings of this or that person - or to continue the fairytale of paradise on earth - it is to call the VIPD on the carpet for their actions and to help bring something positive out of a murder of someone's child. If you feel insulted by these words, then i am sorry that you feel that way. I care about you and consider you to be a personal friend. But, I cannot take any of this back.
I believe it in my heart.

You said that our concern is admirable. Well, it is also personal...since we come there and bring our families with us. We coud all probably be a lot busier if we jumped over to the Haiti message boards, or the Jamaica boards, or the Algerian boards.....but since I don't take my family there and I don't let me son go out at night in those countries, i am not going to busy myself with the murders taking place there. If my comments are going to be dismissed because i am simply a visitor, then I probably don't need to visit. I am always on here rooting for the VI - and preaching about paradise - and nobody says "blu, you don't live here so don't comment about the beauty of those beaches anymore" When the proverbial sh#$ hits the fan and I give comment to the other side of things, I suddenly know nothing. Interesting.

No doubt it was witnessed. What troubles me is that it seems to be being implied that the locals that witnessed it have a didn't see anything kind of attitude.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but other than tourism there really isn't much industry in the USVI. If this murder gets mainstream press time there is no doubt it will damage the tourism industry. You would think the locals would be the first people to offer up information about this murder to protect their way of life, and the financial stability of where they live.

I hate when people make blanket generalizations... so I just want to say now I don't believe all locals have that bad attitude (not even most) but you would think the masses would be able to convince the locals who did witness this to come forward.

I saw the story tonight on the news here. It was either CNN or FOX News.

My basic concern is you guys are basing your comments on what the victims mother is stating as fact. Is it fact? You don't know that. Nothing more, nothing less. I have read what they wrote. They seem to know a lot. How much of it is true. In one statement they want the FBI to be called in and say the local police have to request them. In another of their statements, the key witness they talked about have been interviewed twice by the FBI. Why would that be if they have not been called in?

Here is Commissioner of Police McCall's statement::

Slow police work on St. John homicide draws national media coverage
By JOSEPH TSIDULKO
Wednesday, August 1st 2007

Police Commissioner James McCall has promised an arrest in a murder case that has generated several unfavorable news reports on the U.S. mainland questioning the safety of tourists visiting St. John and the competence of the V.I. police department.

Since Jamie Cockayne, 21, was stabbed to death just up the street from the Jurgen Command police station in the early morning hours of June 19, his family has engaged in a media campaign to publicize the case, claiming police have shut them out of the investigation and do not appear to be aggressively following all leads.

In an interview with The Daily News conducted Tuesday, McCall denied the grieved family's accusations of a bungled investigation and a lack of accessibility.

"We will make an arrest," McCall said.

But until the suspected killers are in custody, the commissioner said, he cannot comment on details of the investigation, reveal whether any eyewitnesses have been interviewed or whether any suspects have been identified.

The slain 21-year-old's parents appeared Tuesday evening on the Fox News Channel's "On The Record With Greta Van Susteren" show, complaining they are not being updated on developments in the investigation and have heard little about what is being done to catch their son's killers.

In a nearly 5-minute segment teased as "Island Nightmare," Bill and Jeanie Cockayne, along with their attorney Sean Summers, said neither police nor the governor have kept them informed.

The family invoked memories of Natalee Holloway, the 18-year-old Alabama girl who drew national headlines after she disappeared in May 2005 during a graduation trip to Aruba, harming that Caribbean island's tourism industry.

The Cockaynes told Van Susteren that even if an arrest comes, they have no faith there will be a successful prosecution because they have heard police blunders might have compromised evidence. They said they would like to see federal authorities take over the case.

On national television, the Cockayne's said a private detective they hired talked to the same witnesses that police had interviewed after the fatal stabbing. Summers said the evidence should have led to an arrest within three days.

The lawyer told The Daily News the Cockaynes have spoken several times with the police commissioner but have never been told anything substantial about the status of the investigation. He said the family has the impression police are not taking the case seriously and have little concern for their plight.

Jamie Cockayne planned on going to work as a sailing instructor at the Bitter End Yacht Club on Virgin Gorda. He was on St. John waiting for his employment papers to be approved by the British Virgin Islands government. His parents were on St. John at the time he was killed. They planned on buying a retirement home on the island.

After the slaying, Bill and Jeanie Cockayne vowed to stay on St. John until the crime was solved. About a week ago their landlord told them it was no longer safe for them to be on the island, and they left, Summers said.

"Unfortunately the bigger story is the incompetence, corruption and an attitude of 'no one cares, so why should I,' prevails," wrote Jeanie Cockayne in a Guest Opinion letter published July 27 in The Daily News.

Other news interviews have been equally scathing about the police, including one that aired Monday on an NBC affiliate in Philadelphia.

As their frustration mounts, the family is becoming increasingly vocal and plans to raise awareness among tourists about what they perceive to be the territory's ills, Summers said.

"People are starting to stand up and take notice," Summers said.

The family, now back home in Bucks County, Penn., recently contacted the office of U.S. Sen. Arlen Spector, trying to get the senator to put pressure on the V.I. government.

What they have learned through the private investigation is that Jamie Cockayne was drunk when he got into an argument with two men at Front Yard Bar, next door to the St. John police station, Summers said.

After the argument, the two men followed the 21-year-old up the hill when he left the bar, Summers said.

Just before 12:30 a.m. on June 19, a witness ran to the nearby police station to report Cockayne was being attacked.

By the time police arrived from the station, Cockayne was dead. He had been hit over the head by a two-by-four, then stabbed seven times - through the femoral artery in the thigh, in the back, rib cage, neck, abdomen and twice in the chest.

The family wants to know whether police have obtained - or even sought - footage from a video camera across the street from the police station that is in a position to see people leaving Front Yard, Summers said.

They also have heard that the crime scene was washed down before police detectives collected forensic evidence.

One man who tended to the fatally wounded 21-year-old in his final minutes of life has since left the territory, the private investigation has revealed, according to Summers.

He has been questioned on the U.S. mainland by FBI agents, Summers said.

The commissioner told the family of an imminent arrest, but that did not happen when he said it would, Summers said.

But McCall maintains that arrest is coming.

"The police do care, I care and the community cares," McCall said.

In a prepared statement, Government House spokesman Jean Greaux Jr. also expressed confidence that the killers will be apprehended.

"V.I. Justice Department continues a thorough investigation into the death of Jamie Cockayne, and anyone responsible will be brought to justice. All leads are being pursued, statements are being secured and evidence is being compiled by detectives of the V.I.P.D. Major Crime Unit."

RL

...sorry, not to be insensitive, but the only news coverage currently now, here, is the is the collapse of the 35 bridge in Minneapolis, leaving hundreds of cars in the Mississippi River. Horrifying!

I've read everything in these posts and I just want to add something that maybe nobody else has.

I lost my future son-in-law to a horrible 1 car accident 2 years ago. I loved him like my son.

If you haven't been where I have been then you have no idea what can go on in anybodies mind who has lost a family member in an instant.

I still wonder what his last thoughts where, I wonder if he suffered or if it was fast. I still place blame on some people who I probably shouldn't and I still look for answers.

I don't like that people are judging Jamie's family with ANYTHING that they are doing. They are looking for answers.

Even the Mother wondered where her child was killed. At least I know where Dan died. Not that it gives me any peace, but you still look for something.

The bottom line in my mind is that this young kid was killed, there's no doubt about that and a family in this situation just doesn't sit around and wonder when they will get answers.

Some people may say to be patient and let the police do their work. It just doesn't work that way in a death like this.

I think most of us understand that, Connie.

Blu, friends should always be agreeable to disagreeing and I wasn't looking to setting up a peeing contest. All I've done is state my opinion from another perspective and I've said it all. Cheers! (By the way, the peppers will be done soon - did you get my PM?)

Thanks Ron for the information, we all obviously have heard lots of stories,