Business leader says lawmen must follow intelligence and arrest illegal firearm importers

The spokesman for the business community has called on law enforcement authorities to go after importers of illegal guns, regardless of who and where in society they are, as she expressed the group’s concern about the recent gunplay in the country.

President of the Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) Trisha Tannis has also urged Government to make amendments to the Bail Act to prevent people on murder charges from easily posting bail.

Sharing business’ concern about a spike in gun-related crime that included five killings last week, Tannis said the time had come to hold accountable all those responsible for bringing illegal firearms into the island.

“As a country, they have told us that we have invested in scanners at ports of entry. It is difficult to think that in an island of 166 square miles that we [don’t] have intelligence that tells us where the issues are, and to our minds the only issue we have is one of accountability.

“We simply have to take action on the intelligence that we have. It would not be easy to convince me that we do not know where the smoking gun is, no pun intended. And we have to get to a stage where regardless of where the smoke is coming from, who it is pointing to, regardless of what sphere of society they may be, we have got to take action,” Tannis insisted during an interview on the Down to Brass Tacks call-in programme on VOB on Monday.

She also made reference to statistics that many of the people out on bail were responsible for committing similar offences during the period of their pretrial liberty.

During a press conference last Friday, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police David Griffith said 14 of the 21 people killed by firearms so far this year were on bail for serious offences, including murder.

“Surely that must be low-hanging fruit for us to resolve,” Tannis said.

“We have passed several laws over the past 24 months, 48 months. Surely we can pass whatever amendments are needed to prevent persons from being back out on streets and committing similar offences.”

The BPSA boss said the business community believes that giving murder accused bail is not just sending the wrong message to repeat offenders, but may also act as an incentive to those first-timers tempted to get into criminal activity.

In May 2021, High Court judge Madame Justice Shona Griffith ruled as “unconstitutional”, a section of the Bail (Amendment) Act 2019 that forces the courts to remand persons charged with murder or serious firearm offences for 24 months before they can qualify for bail. The Office of the Attorney General has filed an appeal against that ruling and that matter is still pending.

Tannis also responded to Attorney General Dale Marshall’s contention that Barbadians have nothing to worry about amid the recent spate of murders since they were the result of targeted hits.

She said the business community could not be at peace knowing that people were targeting each other, particularly when the shooting incidents have been taking place in public spaces.

“I could be walking into my business and I am in the wrong place at the wrong time and somebody is driving by and shoots and there are mass casualties. I don’t think that is the way we should be communicating with the public as far as trying to build confidence,” the private sector leader said, adding that the fact these individuals were “going at each other” did not offer any sense of peace.

She added that the business community has been partnering with law enforcement agencies in the fight against crime, including by contributing funds to the police outpost in Lakes Folly in The City.

“We understand that we can’t successfully generate economic activities separate and apart from what’s happening in our society,” Tannis said.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb