Game Changers Podcast with Quinn St. Juste
Game Changers Podcast with Quinn St. Juste
The Digital Guardian: How Technology Mitigates Crime in the Caribbean
Cybersecurity expert Kerwin Etienne takes us behind the digital curtain of St. Lucia's evolving security landscape. As owner of Pristine St. Lucia, Etienne challenges the common misconception that security systems should provide absolute protection. Instead, he advocates for a more realistic approach: creating meaningful barriers that mitigate risk and make criminal activity more difficult.
"There's no foolproof security answer," Etienne explains, "but I believe in mitigation, putting barriers to entry, making it a little more difficult for people." This philosophy shapes his company's approach to both physical security through surveillance systems and digital protection through cybersecurity measures.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when examining the unique challenges facing technology professionals in the Caribbean. Despite rising crime rates—theft-related crimes increased 20% in St. Lucia last year—many residents and businesses remain hesitant to embrace comprehensive security solutions. Even more troubling is the widespread lack of email literacy that makes organizations vulnerable to phishing attempts and other digital threats.
Etienne shares practical insights about tailoring security solutions for different environments, explaining how residential customers focus on privacy and budget while commercial clients require comprehensive coverage without blind spots. He also discusses the future of technology adoption in the region, noting how consumer resistance to innovation remains a significant barrier to progress.
Whether you're curious about cybersecurity best practices, considering a security system for your home or business, or simply interested in how technology is evolving in the Caribbean, this episode offers valuable perspective from someone on the front lines of digital protection.
Ready to upgrade your security posture? Follow Pristine St. Lucia on social media or contact them directly to learn how the right technology can protect what matters most to you.
Free audio. Post-production by Alphoniccom.
Speaker 2:This episode of the Game Changers podcast was recorded by Narmi Films. Go, check them out for all your production needs. Hello and welcome to a special episode of the Game Changers podcast. My name is Quinn Sechis and it's a privilege and pleasure to be here with you, as always. Now, I know I just said it's a special episode and, as usual, we have a special guest, but I will not introduce him. I will let him introduce himself, all right. So I just said that you're a special guest, so tell me something special about yourself well, firstly, my name is koen etienne.
Speaker 1:I'm the owner of pristine saint lucia. If I were to say something special about me is my level of dedication. Outside of that, I'm awesome. Anyone who knows me knows I brim awesomeness.
Speaker 2:All right, all right, I like that. Well, hopefully this will be an awesome interview. So okay, so you said that you're the owner of Pristine St Lucia. What is that?
Speaker 1:It's an IT company. I'm primarily in the space of cybersecurity. However, all aspects of IT as well, in terms of consultation, it support, pos cameras, doors, systems and well, our specialty is our cameras, the CCTV and the IP camera systems as well.
Speaker 2:Got you, got you All right. So I'm interested why this industry, how do you get into it and why?
Speaker 1:did you choose it? Why? I think, as someone in the technology field, you gravitate to anything technological. Okay, you will see the advantages of certain things. For me, um, it was just something I always felt. So that's how I gravitated to it from my first little computer that wasn't making no sense, right, and I try to overclock it because I have to play call of duty to now. You know big boy toys, set up cameras for companies and ensure that it's working, and you know, monitor it. So it's always been my calling, from the first, my first interaction with something technological. In terms of how you get in the field, I think anybody can. We're exposed to technology every day, all the time, always. So you innately, anything you do, you are exposed to technology. Whether it be by sight, by touch, you're exposed to it. So I think there's no barrier to entry outside of just your imagination.
Speaker 2:Got you, got you Now. I know that you're in the security sector of this tech field. Now do we have a security issue in st lucia and how do you help with that security issue?
Speaker 1:I think it's a difficult thing to say that we have an issue. It's not necessarily an issue, it's just something that we need to address Security you'll never be completely safe. There's no system. You can have an armed guard, you can have a combat ready officer, you can have guns, you can have a steel dog. There will be someone some way that can get through, correct? So there's no foolproof security answer. But I believe in mitigation, putting barriers to entry, making it a little more difficult for people, rather than just opening your door. Ah, there's a lock, there's a guard, so it's mitigating that. So would I say it's an issue. I think it's something we need to address, but it's not something that can be solved with any one solution gosh, you don't make sense, man.
Speaker 2:I I understand your your logic when it comes to that, but I do know that crime in saint lucia well, theft related crime in particular rose 20 percent last year, according to the stats from authorities. So do you think that this rising crime warrants the use of technology in particular?
Speaker 1:Absolutely Any issue, any conflict, can be solved through some form of technology. For me, what I go through is cameras. What it does, like I I said it won't solve anything. It's a level of mitigation. Make it harder. You, I remember a long time ago, probably seven years ago, a vehicle of mine was stolen in front of my house. Oh, and I always wondered who, how did they do it? And I have no idea. Just had to you go to the police. Make my report. Sight is a wonderful thing, going backtracking, you can help the police, you can help anyone, assist you, just by some form of technology, whether it be an alarm, whether it be your cameras, whatever it takes. Again, mitigation, making it a little harder. Sometimes they see the little red lights in the night.
Speaker 1:They're aware even if they still take it, they still have steps, hide their face, try to hide the cameras. All of that delays, it makes it harder, it makes it more difficult. Now they have to come with more things, more ways to you know. So it's mitigation, okay, okay.
Speaker 2:All right Now are there different types of security systems that you utilize, and what are some of them? Describe them. Just take me into your field.
Speaker 1:If we're talking purely security, you have your typical alarm systems. So how they work? You have points. Once those points are broken, it'll set an alarm. Okay, so the alarm can either function in different ways it can alert the owner, can alert the authorities. You can set it up in different ways, different points, based on your needs. And there's the cameras. Okay, the tried and true. The reason why I advocate for the cameras is because, with the newer technologies, they offer different features. Okay so, they have the motion detection, they have um, you can set fields, so anything that passes within a certain field in its vision will set off an alarm to you, you. So cameras I will advocate for because it's a more holistic approach, okay, you, you see, oh, they were going over the fence. I can see them going over the fence. Oh my God, people can get through over the fence, you understand, as opposed to an alarm.
Speaker 1:You don't know how they got there, you just know the alarm broke and they're in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I guess for the camera you can be take a proactive approach now because you now know specifics. This is what I need to fix right. So even if I mean, yes, you want to catch a perpetrator, but you don't want it to happen again, so the camera allows for that, I'm guessing, yeah sometimes it's not even the perpetrator, um, your neighbor that likes to steal your fruits and it seems funny.
Speaker 1:But you can take that information, you can use that information. How does he keep getting and stealing my one grapefruit? I mean it's nothing, but you can see how to prevent things when you have the visual representation. There are other forms of cybersecurity in terms of your software, your firewalls and so forth. I offer that as well, but it's a little more on the software side and I do the monitoring because there's software that handles that. But I would do the monitoring, the configuration and that's for our data. That part of the IT, I think St Lucia is behind a bit. Okay, so we don't have that true form of cybersecurity. I believe if somebody is dedicated and wants to hack, they will, because even something as simple as our emails oh my God we have so little email literacy in terms of always accepting spam emails, always falling for spam and all kinds of malicious things. So you know, we have a long way to go in terms of sensitizing people, but we're getting there.
Speaker 2:Why do you think that we are behind, though?
Speaker 1:I still think there should be in every organization. Once you enter, you need to get training on some level of cybersecurity. Okay, in terms of, for specifically what I've noticed, we fall for scams very easily, right, we don't know how to vet it. Why is the head boss sending me an email and it just has a link Take the steps. I mean, if you have a proper firewall, you put up your systems, it won't go through because you know you'll track, you know what IPs, what URLs to ban. But it's still a case where you see on a daily, when you're on a monitoring end, scam prevented, scam blocked, scam blocked, scam blocked. You understand. So all phishing attempts, phishing attempts specifically. We have so little literacy on that. So that part, I think every organization, once you have an email, there should be some level of sensitization, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 2:All right. So we're moving on to a segment in the podcast that I really like. It's called a quick hitter. So these are rapid fire questions, boom. So answer them as quickly as possible, all right. So first quick hitter question and it's right down your field, this one. Give me three safety tips and you can give it from the technology side safety tips.
Speaker 1:Be vigilant, okay. Be vigilant. Be up to date okay. And be proactive okay. I believe in that. You have to not fall for everything when you see it be Be proactive in taking the steps of asking like hey IT, what was that? And be up to date. Always check in what's the latest things, what's the latest fish in the tents, so you're aware. So when you see it, you're like, ah, that nonsense.
Speaker 2:Got you, got you All right. Next quick question who is your personal hero?
Speaker 1:My personal hero, the my personal hero has nothing to do with fighting. Okay, it's my mother. I, I, that's that's my will, right there, she stresses me out all the time, but I, I will move mountains for that lady. That's my hero, beautiful, beautiful man.
Speaker 2:And final quick hitter question who would you like to see on this podcast?
Speaker 1:oh, that's usually the one that stumps people I think I would like to see a photographer okay, but someone who it takes us down the path of the creative mind, okay, within photography, as opposed to stereo deco picture right in the sand. I would love to see that, because that's something I'm interested in very, very true, very true.
Speaker 2:Yes, and we've had some very good photographers on here. But I mean, I'm always open to having more because these guys, everybody, views the world differently so you can get. Even if you ask these people the same questions, you'll get totally different interviews it's the approach.
Speaker 1:That's what I want the in-depth. Why did you choose this color? What about that? Saturation speaks to you. You understand it's nerdy to me, but I like these things.
Speaker 2:For sure, for sure. All right, so we're moving on to other questions. In this interview, you've seen firsthand how surveillance can halt or slow down crime. Do you have any specific success stories as to how systems have slowed down crime?
Speaker 1:Personally, I would like to say, yeah, I don't, because I've not had any breaches within any of the systems that I've put up. Okay, got you Not saying I have the, the secret sauce, but it's just a case. It has not happened. Okay, um. But in general, I have seen a lot of things be, again, like I said, mitigated from security. Um, so, catching up somebody oh, my God, that is one. Just you get their face. We have the um we tend to see on our social media yeah, the thief, yeah, in a shop, take something right and we only put the person on blast. Yeah, again, it's all of these things. Without those technologies, these are persons that will be suffering. Now, again, we laugh about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah but, as a business owner, who's for sure they take something expensive. That's. That's a hit on you, yeah, that's a hit on your confidence. That's a hit on you. That's a hit on your confidence. That's a hit on you wanting to run a business because you've seen you're just making losses and you don't know. Now you know, you know, bet he take your thing.
Speaker 2:Right, right, for sure, understand, for sure, for sure, and you can put a face literally to the crime. Yeah, so that makes a lot of sense. And even if you don't specific examples, I mean, we see examples all the time- All the time yes, Across social media, All right. So how then does Pristine tailor its security solutions to unique customers? So I'm guessing that you have different customers residential, commercial. How do you entail these different services to these different customers?
Speaker 1:Persons within the residential sector have different needs as opposed to those in the commercial. Okay, when you're dealing with the persons in a residential area, they have more control over where they want to place their camera basically, or how they want to tailor their security. Okay, so you would go through. Where do you want coverage? How many cameras do you want? Primarily, nine times out of ten, nobody wants cameras in their house.
Speaker 2:Private yeah.
Speaker 1:So you have that aspect. In residential areas, for commercial and for businesses it's a little different. There are more rules that you have to commit to.
Speaker 1:You have to make sure okay, we don't have blind spots because cover certain exits. Um, if you're in cubicles, no cameras over cubicles so they can see persons. Specifically, it's in common areas. You find now you just have a lot more work to do, right, to ensure that you're doing things the right way and their needs are more tailored to. How do I keep this safe as opposed to the residential person who is? How do I get what I need with my budget?
Speaker 2:absolutely. That makes a lot of sense, actually. All right, so then, what are some of the pitfalls that that some people face I mean, if they're not doing it professionally, obviously when setting up cameras and how can they avoid them?
Speaker 1:I don't knock anybody for trying. Okay, that's, that's a beautiful thing. You're taking a proactive step. Yeah, if you want something more comprehensive, then I don't think you should just do it on your own right, because there are mistakes you'll make. Yeah, okay, for a very technical mistake how long you want to run your lines and how the amount of crimps you break the line like you're on a new line. Yes, so even the placement of it. Sometimes it'll take water. Just does that camera? Is that camera able to take water? You take a wi-fi camera, right? Do you have coverage? I have one bar of signal every four days. Yeah, right, you understand. So it's you try, definitely Do your thing. However, I do believe when you want to take a more comprehensive approach, you go to somebody whose expertise is tailored to that. So, because they will know, I would know what's needed, what's the disadvantages of whatever option you take. So I think that part Got you.
Speaker 2:Now I want to talk to you about the future of your industry. I'm talking about not just the security industry, but the technology industry in St Lucia in particular. What are some of the things that you think the government not just the government, but St Lucia in general can do to help evolve this industry, because we know it's growing in sedolutions. It's not where it's supposed to be.
Speaker 1:Yet I have a greater importance on IT. Okay, it is basically some men in a cave in their little cave room with their little cold AC and everything's working, but I don't know how. I just know those cavemen taking care of it. Yeah, we need to move out of that and understand the challenges for certain things. For example, no one will understand why your internet always dropping, but they're the same people, 17 people on your network right trying to download a youtube video, right to watch a movie and they'll wonder, yeah, why is the internet not?
Speaker 2:working.
Speaker 1:Then they'll tell you know the IT professional your internet not working why the internet not working. Look at IT. Never have the internet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they'll blame you.
Speaker 1:And when you take the steps to okay, I will block YouTube this, that and that IT always a problem. I will block YouTube this, that or not, it always a problem. So I think there should be a greater need in understanding the challenges. It's like the less people are exposed to something, I find, the more they respect the field.
Speaker 2:That's true, you see people who doctors.
Speaker 1:People have a big respect for doctors because they don't. There are certain things. When they start making certain terminologies and they go through certain aspects of their work, you're like I don't know nothing about it. When they say this nurse said have to do this, and you're like I could never do that, yeah, so you have a greater level of respect. But when you at your home and a guy, um an it professional comes fixes the wi-fi, and you're like I always. And an IT professional comes fixes the Wi-Fi, and you're like I always fix it now.
Speaker 2:I take it off and put it back on.
Speaker 1:So you know you lose that respect because in your head it's very easy to do Anybody can do it. Anybody can do it. What's so special? Why are you all even wanting it? But then when more complicated things come, yeah.
Speaker 2:Understood, understood. So it's sensitizing yourself to the reality that these are professionals and seeing them in that light, because I think sometimes and you're very right about that sometimes people don't see IT professionals as professionals, as crazy as it is. I mean, maybe because we have become a more tech-savvy society, which is a good thing, which is a very good thing but we do know that there are people who have gone to school people who have special learning in this area, and we must respect them for that.
Speaker 1:Well, it's, it's. It's a, it's a it'll always be a challenge, because we, you, are exposed to it all the time, yeah you have a computer right now.
Speaker 1:If an app goes down, you know what to do to get it back up, so you are sensitized to technology. Yeah, you, just there will be aspects of it back up. So you are sensitized to technology. You just there'll be aspects of it that you will not understand, and that's where we come in. But even then, you'll still say I watch a YouTube video and I do that you know.
Speaker 1:But it's the troubleshooting aspects that differentiate someone who knows and somebody who's trying a thing. So once we get that sensitization to get it on that level, it'll be better. But I don't think it'll ever happen because of how exposed everybody is to IT. So it's just it's a hit and a miss. It's you grab and you lose it one time.
Speaker 2:All right, makes sense, makes sense. I also want to talk to you about the future of the industry in Tendusha and the wider Caribbean and to talk to you about the future of the industry in ten lucia and the wider caribbean.
Speaker 1:And what do you think the industry is growing? Where's the room for growth and development? Outside of the sensitization aspect, I think we're on the right track. Okay, obviously we're not. I mean first world countries that have payless shopping, all kinds of things, but all of those things are a product of getting your consumer base familiar with certain things. Got you Another example In the States, you'd notice persons are very sensitized to the idea of I will pump my own gas when I go to a gas station.
Speaker 1:The gas station is almost always open. We're not there yet, no, and every attempt I've seen for self-serve persons have a pushback, so they'll always. That's the stage, that's the problem. When there's a pushback to something new, when there's a pushback to so you can pay with on your phone, right, like, why do I have to pay? That's seeming a little weird. Yeah, there was even a pushback for something as simple as your MasterCard on your phone, right, right, people find that weird. Yeah, you understand.
Speaker 1:So once we train and educate people into it, I think the sky's the limit. You just have to. I mean, your consumer base is the problem, right, in terms of you have to get them educated on it and it's their level of acceptance. But once we get that, once we get past that stage, hey, we're good Because the newer, the newer generation, they're very sensitized, right, so they will get it. Yeah, they will be the first ones to be ready, right. But you know the older generation, you know they're one or two steps behind, but once we get people familiar, it's part of our curricula, it is part of everything Beautiful.
Speaker 2:Beautiful. All right, I just want to give you the opportunity now to let people know where they can contact you and get involved with Christine so that they can, you know, do business with you. They can set up the cameras, they can just consultation whatever. How can they get?
Speaker 1:I. We're on all social media platform, but we're on the major social media platforms on instagram, pristine sandwicher. Facebook, pristine sandwicher. We're on linkedin yes, we're're on LinkedIn. You can get us on WhatsApp business as well. My number is the number it's prominently on all our media, so it's not anything difficult. You can give a note oh, 7292548. You can get us on WhatsApp business.
Speaker 1:Outside of that, it's not a problem to just look into certain things. I think people always assume it's way too big a job, it's way too difficult, it's way too much to take the step. It's just communication. Yes, fine, now take the first step to understanding what you need. I am more than welcome to educating people on certain topics. Like I said, once you educate people, a lot of things happen, because what you don't know is your biggest fear. Once you know, it's no longer fear. The first time you had to drive a vehicle, your heart was beating Because you didn't know. You drive a vehicle a couple of times. Who's swinging corners? Me, me, hey, hey. But generally, once you know, once you have an idea of something, it's easier. You're more capable. So you know. Educating is a thing I'm more than welcome to doing, and anyone who ever reaches out to me.
Speaker 2:They know I'm ready, I have my examples and I'm there, beautiful, beautiful man Bro, I just thank you so much for coming and agreeing to do this podcast. I learned a lot and I know for sure my audience would have learned so much from you. Continue being an example and teaching people Because, like you said, education is really what keeps us back at times. You know, people just don't know how. They're not as informed. So continue being a teacher, first of all, and then, obviously, I hope that your business continues to thrive oh, awesome, you forgot.
Speaker 2:Continue being awesome oh well, yes, yes, fine. I know you want to put it in there. I know you continue being awesome, man. I'll not. I'll not knock you for it, at least not now, not on camera. Good job, all right man, all right guys. This has been yet another episode and to thank you for coming on, remember to like and subscribe. Game changers is available wherever you get your podcast. We are on youtube, spotify and apple podcast, so follow us there and remember to download the episodes. I know that you guys are busy and might not have time to listen to the episode or watch the episode right away, so download them on audio streaming platforms, that's, on apple podcast and spotify, so you can listen on the go, maybe on your way to work, just for some information and inspiration. Anyhow, thank you for staying tuned and as stay hungry, and I'll see you next time.
Speaker 1:Bye-bye free audio post production.