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.