All hands on deck.
That is the approach being adopted by members of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) as they continue to grapple with gun violence in the country.
Traditionally, the Rapid Response Unit (RRU) and the Special Services Unit (SSU) have executed patrols and stop and search duties.
But the Traffic Department are also getting in on the act.
According to Assistance Superintendent of Police (ASP) Parnell Browne, Head of the Traffic Department, they too will be doing their part to rid the streets of illegal firearms.
“Sometime during 2024, some people will be inconvenienced because these firearms are not being transported by foot, they are being transported on the roads by motor vehicles,” ASP
Browne said.
“So, we at the traffic department, in collaboration with the officers in charge of crime, CID
(Criminal Investigations Department), and the other units will be collaborating to ensure that these firearms, once they are being transported on our roads, we have a good opportunity of
taking them off the streets,” he continued.
ASP Browne added that once discovered, illegal firearms will be seized, and the occupants of the vehicle arrested.
“Traffic is not to deal with traffic alone, we are also in the process of preventing crimes from happening on our roads,” ASP Browne went on saying.
The comments come in the wake of another record year with 55 homicides and 52 murders recorded for 2023 this compared to 42 in 2022, then a record for the number of murders
committed in a calendar year.
And of the 52 murders committed in 2023, it was noted that 43 of them were gun related.
Past operations by the RSVGPF have yielded 29 illegal firearms and 290 rounds of ammunition and according to the country’s Commissioner of Police, Enville Williams, that operation is expected to continue into 2024.
He called on individuals in possession of illegal firearms have been given the opportunity to turn them in during the gun amnesty which will commence on March 31 and run until May 1.
The focus, he said, will be to enhance the and improve community safety and security by reducing the threat of illegal firearms and ammunition as well as reducing the likelihood of
illegal firearms getting into the hands of criminals.
“We are asking persons in possession of illicit firearms and ammunition to turn them in to the police without being prosecuted for them,” the COP said.
During 2023, six illegal guns and 33 rounds of ammunition were turned over to the police, Williams revealed.
“And we are urging Vincentians who might have these – even if the formal amnesty period have not yet commenced – to contact your local police station, contact a police officers,
contact somebody who you trust in to reach out to the police to turn in these firearms and we are giving the assurance that you will not be prosecuted for turning in these weapons,” Williams said.