Police Commissioner Mario Brooks says the V.I. Police Department can intensify patrols, make arrests and deploy increasingly sophisticated crime-fighting technology, but the territory will struggle to break its cycle of violence as long as people warn offenders about police operations, shelter wanted individuals and respond to violence with retaliation.
That was the commissioner's message during Monday's Government House press briefing, where he discussed VIPD's ongoing 90-day crime-surge initiative. Mr. Brooks said the operation has already resulted in arrests and the detention of people investigators consider persons of interest.
“We’ve made several arrests, and taken several persons of interest into custody,” he said.
VIPD intends to continue the initiative through the Crucian Christmas Festival season and beyond if necessary, Mr. Brooks said. But even as officers increase their presence, the commissioner said some members of the public have been actively making law enforcement's job more difficult by broadcasting where police are operating.
“We have seen people announcing the locations of our traffic control points, our surge patrols, our saturated patrols, and the location of our special operation teams while they are on operation,” Mr. Brooks said. “Understand this: we are not going anywhere.”
His comments come as the Virgin Islands confronts 39 homicides so far in 2026 — 17 on St. Thomas and 22 on St. Croix — alongside a string of shootings, armed robberies, burglaries and home invasions. The Consortium reported Monday that the year's homicide count reached 39 following the fatal shooting of 21-year-old J’Niya Rambaran on Veterans Drive in St. Thomas.
The violence has been accompanied by other serious crimes across both districts. Recent weeks have included masked gunmen committing robberies and home invasions on St. Croix, shootings and armed robberies on St. Thomas, and an incident in which police said an occupant of a stolen vehicle pointed a long gun at pursuing officers before fleeing. VIPD has also previously warned publicly about increases in commercial burglaries and home invasions, while the department has deployed targeted enforcement efforts under Operation Safe Communities.
Mr. Brooks argued Monday that arrests alone will not disrupt the violence if retaliation continues to be embraced as an acceptable response to previous crimes.
“Children are growing up without parents, and more people become victims of violence. This is not justice in any way,” he said. “The strongest way to remove a violent offender from the community is through a lawful investigation, a successful prosecution, and incarceration where the law provides such.”
The commissioner's appeal is one Virgin Islanders have heard from law enforcement before. In September 2014, then-VIPD officer Naomi Joseph told the Consortium that criminals were benefiting from what she called “a veil of protection that the community itself has provided.” She argued at the time that residents' unwillingness to provide police with information was allowing people responsible for crimes to operate with greater confidence.
Joseph, now deputy police chief, also argued more than a decade ago for expanded camera surveillance in high-crime areas, saying recorded evidence could lessen investigators' dependence on witnesses who feared coming forward. That concern has particular relevance today: on Monday, Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. signed an executive order directing executive agencies to inventory qualifying exterior-facing government cameras and work toward giving VIPD secure, real-time access to those systems.
Asked whether VIPD itself should take a larger role in initiatives designed to change community attitudes toward crime and cooperation with police, Mr. Brooks said responsibility ultimately rests with residents themselves.
“We have to start to take accountability for ourselves and our own actions,” he said. “The community really just needs to take a grip of what’s going on. Until we come to the realization that the retaliation really gets us nowhere…that cycle is going to continue.”
Mr. Brooks became particularly forceful when discussing retaliation. “It doesn’t really solve anything. All it does is it increases the blood flow across the territory,” he said.
The commissioner acknowledged that the justice system is not perfect, but argued that investigation, prosecution and incarceration remain the appropriate mechanisms for dealing with violent offenders rather than revenge outside the legal system. Shielding people responsible for serious crimes from arrest, he said, only perpetuates the problem.
“Some individuals need to live behind bars for the rest of their lives because of the ridiculousness that they’ve been doing,” Mr. Brooks said.
The commissioner's comments came during the same briefing in which the Bryan administration announced the expansion of VIPD's access to government surveillance systems. The new program will connect qualifying exterior-facing cameras already operated at government facilities, housing communities, transportation facilities, parking areas, roadways and other locations. Government House says the initiative builds on existing VIPD technology, including ShotSpotter, surveillance cameras and the department's Real-Time Intelligence Centers.
Government House said those technologies have helped investigators identify people and vehicles of interest, develop leads and support arrests. The administration is also exploring voluntary participation by businesses and private property owners willing to provide VIPD access to exterior-facing cameras.
But Mr. Brooks stressed that technological advances cannot substitute for residents being willing to cooperate with police and stop protecting people suspected of committing violent crimes.
“Until the criminal element in the territory has a fear of being seen and being told upon and being turned in, it’s going to continue,” he said.
The commissioner said the problem extends beyond withholding information, alleging that some people are actively helping wanted individuals evade law enforcement.
“We have individuals that were wanted and are being [housed] by individuals right in our community, trying to fly them off island after they know they commit a crime,” Mr. Brooks said. “At what point do we stop that nonsense?"
