The force is controlled by and responsive to the Government, but there continued to be occasional allegations of police brutality and the use of force and other extralegal means to elicit confessions from suspects. St. Vincent has a market-based economy. Much of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, in particular, banana production. Bananas are the leading export and the major source of foreign exchange earnings. The tourism sector is growing.
Human rights are generally well respected.
The principal human rights problems continued to include occasional instances of excessive use of force by police, the Governments's failure to punish those involved in such abuse, inadequate and overcrowded prisons, and an overburdened court system. There were no reports of political or other extrajudicial killings. There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances. The Constitution prohibits torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment. A local human rights group claims that some of these confessions resulted from unwarranted police practices, including the use of physical force during detention, illegal search and seizure, and not properly informing those arrested of their rights.