Attorney General, Dale Marshall, concedes that Barbados has a major problem with illegal guns but reports progress in getting some of the guns off the street with more than four hundred guns and thousands of bullets seized over the past four years with a major gun seizure just yesterday.
Mr. Marshall was speaking at a media briefing at government headquarters.
“In 2017, the members of the Barbados Police Service recovered 94 firearms in 2017; in 2018 they recovered 82 firearms. In 2019 Police interdiction efforts netted 86 firearms, in 2020 eighty-nine firearms were recovered, for the year 2021 fifty-seven firearms were recovered and for the period first January of this year to July 7, the police have so far recovered 55 firearms. In fact, only yesterday. A successful police operation resulted in the seizure of a significant number of high caliber handguns.”
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Voice of: Attorney General, Dale Marshall
The attorney general says gun smuggling is a major problem and complained of what he says in the past were inadequate controls at the Bridgetown port and weaknesses in other government departments that are being addressed.
He also spoke of the people behind the gun running and criminal activity and promised they would be dealt with.
“But they’re also enablers, people who are behind the scenes, people without a public face, who are the bedrock of the criminal endeavors. They’re the ones who provide the resources who provide the wherewithal who provide the protection who provide all that is needed for these young men who ended up finding their way before the courts. These enablers are a source of quick and easy money for many of our young men and women, and in particular those from disadvantaged communities. But rest assured that these enablers have a day of reckoning coming.”
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He spoke of efforts to speed up the judicial process so that cases are dealt with more quickly and to give the police whatever the need to get the job done.
Police Commissioner Richard Boyce promised a no-nonsense approach to the gun violence.
“Violence, especially firearm enable violence, will not be tolerated. And that is the message I would like to say to those persons who are out there in possession of firearms. It is not the Barbadian way of life. It was never the Barbadian culture. So I want to re-emphasize that message that wherever those guns are, the members of the Barbados police service, we out and about taking those weapons out of those persons hands.”
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The police commissioner also promised all efforts to ensure a safe Crop Over Festival.
Our men and women will be in their numbers out in the field and making sure and making to be safe and secure in those type of environments and situations. So that is what I can tell the public. Yes, we already are numbers are engaged. We are in that mode for giving that quality police service to all members of the public.
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Voice: Police Commissioner Richard Boyce.
