Law enforcement alone will not curtail the spate of gun crime in Barbados and other CARICOM states.
This is the sentiment of executive director of CARICOM IMPACS (The Caribbean Community Implementation Agency for Crime and Security) Lieutenant Colonel Michael Jones, who weighed in on the high levels of gun-related criminal activity in the region following a handing over ceremony at his agency’s joint regional communications centre in Wildey, St Michael Friday.
Jones said the situation in Haiti, where the level of gang violence had been rampant in recent months, was not the only major concern of the regional security body. The general increase in gun violence across CARICOM countries, is also a major concern for the organisation.
“The annual statistics across the member states and even when you take out Haiti as an exception, we have about 13 homicides on a daily basis within CARICOM. Seventy per cent of those homicides are typically committed by way of firearms so of course it is a significant issue and we are working quite closely with the government of the United States in mitigating the flow of illegal firearms into the member states,” he said.
Jones suggested that regional governments should not only wait until illegal substances and guns reach their shores to act, but they should partner with extra regional countries to enhance border security.
“We can’t afford to wait and put all of our eggs into one basket in hardening our physical land borders, but we have to increase our domain awareness essentially. Excluding Haiti, except Guyana, Suriname and Belize, our member states are islands, so the only way anything can get on an island is by air or sea. We have to increase domain awareness and even before that extend our boundaries even further out.”
The regional security agency head said that CARICOM countries did not have offshore patrol vessel capabilities “to adopt an offensive posture to mitigate or stem the flow of what is happening on the waters” and thus it was possible for items to be landed at places other than official ports.
He said regional governments should establish an information and intelligence sharing mechanism with countries which are suspected sources for illegal and unregulated items.
Jones added that gun-violence should not be isolated from other societal ills such as corruption, parental challenges and the justice system as these issues were strongly linked.
“You also have to address the issue of corruption. You just can’t look at it (gun-violence) from a law enforcement component. . .”
Speaking about the length of time it took offenders to be reprimanded and the number of young people involved in gun crime, he said: “If it is going to be taking that long for things to go through the justice system what you may end up getting is what is commonly called jungle justice.
“You just can’t look at it from a law enforcement component you’ve got to divert these children from going into foolishness and have other feasible alternatives . . .”
Quizzed on whether the high cost of living was a main factor contributing to the increased incidence of gun violence in the region, Jones said it was the lack of morals and values at the core.
“You can’t attribute it to the high cost of living. It is just that there is no foundation. There is little respect for life.”
According to him, some young people were not exposed to proper parenting and this was having an impact on their behaviour.
“It has to start at the home, the smallest unit in society is the home. In my time, if you took two yellow pencils to school, you had to come back home with two yellow pencils. If you were disciplined for a pencil, how then can parents be allowing children to be on the streets . . . it has to start in the home and reinforced in other institutions,” said Jones. (SB)
