St. Lucia is generally a friendly island, but it is ridden with poverty. The minibus taxis you casually take from the airports cost their owners the equivalent of £60k - they take out a mortgage to buy them, pass them down the family, etc etc. A large percentage of the population live in shanty towns and the economy is crap... most local cars have no working lights, pickups full of passengers in the bed turn over frequently and the one doctor and nurse on duty in the hospital have a few problems...
Property-crimes against tourists are not unheard of, especially if you walk around with four Leicas around your neck and say things like 'gee, neat, watermelons.'
This is the first religious motivated attack I've heard of and generally you would be unlikely to be involved in trouble if you stayed to the big hotels/resorts and took the advice of friendly locals.
Buy their palm-tree hats and hand-carved parrot ear-rings, pay for them in US dollars for an obviously exaggerated price, but $20 ain't gonna hurt you and you get the benefit of an instant friend
A must see place, but avoid obvious displays of wealth in what is, basically, a third-world economy country. Don't take photos of the locals either... guaranteed to get unpleasant at best.. at worst, it will test your running skills and ability to stand up to a pounding !
Holiday prices for the island are definitely negotiable at the moment... now's the time to book for a good deal, but do stick to those large hotels on the beachfront (Sandals, Club St. Lucia, Rendezvous, Rex, etc.)