My son and daughter-in-law (from New York) were in a restaurant in St. Croix on Aug. 18, when four armed gunmen came in and fired shots in the air and robbed all the patrons.

A police road block was set up and when the gunmen rolled their get-a-way car over, they came out shooting. The chief of police and a deputy were wounded in the battle.

This is the second time recently that an officer has been shot in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Upon further investigation I discovered that the United States Virgin Islands has among the highest incarceration rates in the world. Crime has been growing there to epidemic levels and some citizens are calling for martial law.

These are our territories, and our citizens are vacationing there with a false sense of security that because it is a U.S. territory, it is safer than other islands. What are we doing to help assure the safety of our citizens living there and visiting there?