Pubdate: Sun, 24 Sep 2006
Source: Daily Nation (Barbados)
Copyright: 2006, Nation Publishing Co. Limited
Contact:  http://www.nationnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2249
Author: Tracy Moore

A-G: NEW GUN MEASURES

Attorney-General Dale Marshall Has Promised "A  Significant 
Crackdown" On The Island's Increasing Gun  Crimes.

His pledge comes as the umbrella trade union movement,  Congress of 
Trade Unions and Staff Associations  (CTUSAB) insists that strong 
measures be taken  urgently.

Speaking yesterday to the SUNDAY SUN, Marshall pointed  out that the 
law enforcement authorities were not  focused on gun-related crimes 
"as a separate and  distinct phenomenon" but were using "a dual 
approach"  to combat the war on illegal guns.

"Wherever you see an upsurge in gun-related crimes it  is almost sure 
there is a direct correlation to the  illegal drugs trade. Certainly, 
that connection is as  true here as it is anywhere else. So it is not 
simply  the police combating gun-related crime in isolation.

"They are only going to be able to effectively deal  with gun-related 
crimes so long as they are able to  effectively deal with the illicit 
drug trade," he  explained.

He said that although several measures had been used  previously to 
fight gun-related crimes like "stop and  search" procedures and gun 
amnesties, these methods  would not be used in the near future.

"The idea of an amnesty is attractive because an  individual is able 
to turn in a firearm without having  a penalty hanging over his head 
. . . but what has been  observed is that during those amenities you 
see some  old relics in terms of firearms being handed over to  the 
police but the 9mm and the modern firearms that are  out there 
illegally in the hands of individuals, those  are not the ones being handed in.

"From that point of view, the amnesties have not been  anywhere near 
as productive as we would have hoped," he  said.

Marshall noted that with the reactivation of the  Anti-Gun Unit "it 
would be accurate to say that there  will be a significant crackdown 
on unlicensed  possession of fire arms and things of that sort".

"The Anti-Gun Unit is very focused. They do not operate  on the basis 
of whimsy. The work of the Royal Barbados  Police Force is generally 
intelligence-driven," he  said.

But the CTUSAB has insisted that more be done and  called for a 
national consultation on the issue.

"It is not about a talk shop on this matter and say  'there is crime 
and violence'; but look to see some  measures to bear that would make 
some decisive reform  processes (to be) engaged to deal with this 
ongoing  issue.

"We have to get the bottom of the problem, get some  hard-core 
solutions implemented towards addressing the  problems that we face. 
We need the input from a number  of stakeholders who are able to 
bring to the table  issues which they will seek coming out of the 
particular situation," insisted CTUSAB's general  secretary, Dennis DePeiza.

"Our members of various affiliates whether they are  nurses, police, 
prison officers, (they) are engaging in  more active ways, and it has 
a lot of implications for  them. The demand that is placed on them . 
. . emerged  as a result of these escalations and is something that 
concerns us within the worker's movement," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine