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Licensing and Consumer Affairs says it enforces pricing and weights but lacks criminal investigatory authority and enforcement staff
Summary
Deputy Commissioner Myrna George told the Legislature that DLCA enforces consumer and weights‑and‑measures laws, publishes fuel and grocery price snapshots and handles hundreds of complaints, but the agency lacks authority to investigate criminal fraud and has limited enforcement staffing and overtime funding.
Deputy Commissioner Myrna George and DLCA staff told the Committee on Government Operations on Feb. 24 that the Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs enforces consumer‑protection and weights‑and‑measures rules, operates consumer complaint and mediation services and publishes periodic fuel and grocery price snapshots — but the agency is limited in two key ways: it cannot conduct criminal fraud investigations and it has constrained enforcement staffing.
"DLCA does not conduct investigations or provide advisement in cases involving fraud, as fraud is classified as a criminal offense," Myrna George said during her opening remarks, and she urged complainants to report alleged criminal fraud to the Virgin Islands Police Department’s white‑collar crime unit or to the Federal Trade Commission for issues in their jurisdiction. The department’s testimony reiterated that DLCA’s role is regulatory and civil enforcement rather than…
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