KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, CMC – Deputy Commissioner of Police Frankie Joseph is pleading with people with illegal guns to turn them over to law enforcement agencies, warning that St. Vincent and the Grenadines are having too many mothers who are becoming single parents.
Last year, the island recorded 55 homicides, with 52 of them being classified as murders.
“But interestingly, 43 of those were committed by the use of illegal firearms,” Joseph said, adding, “We are too small a country to have so many unlawful firearms in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.”
Joseph said that since the amnesty began at the beginning of this month, four firearms and 52 rounds of ammunition have been surrendered to the authorities. The National Firearms Amnesty (NFA) will run until May 31, 2024.
The NFA is a government program in collaboration with the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) to restore order and security to the multi-island nation.
“So, we are hoping that this amnesty is going to be successful because we want to rid the streets of these illegal firearms.
“We want the residents not only of Ottley Hall and Edinboro but also of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to be able to feel safe in their homes. And not only in their homes but to be able to walk in their communities and feel safe,” the acting top cop told a town hall meeting.
The authorities have also noted that gun violence has left several men in the West Kingstown communities dead or nursing injuries over the last few months.
The latest was recorded last Tuesday when Camran Miller was shot dead under a shed along the roadside. That same night, gunmen went to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital. They made another attempt to end the life of Connell Jack, 26, of Ottley Hall, who was nursing gunshot injuries he sustained two days earlier.
“We have too many single parents in St. Vincent and the Grenadines all because of unlicensed firearms,” Joseph told the town hall meeting that had been planned before the latest acts of violence.
“We have so many mothers who are rearing their children alone. Why? Because unlicensed firearms have killed the fathers,” Joseph said at the town hall meeting, which was one of several being held across the country to promote the gun and ammunition amnesty.
“And there [is only] so much that a single-parent mother can do, especially for young boys. Because you need that father figure in the home to give these young boys certain guidance,” the Deputy Commissioner of Police said.
He said that in the absence of a father figure in the home, young males look for guidance from other young men.
“And most of the time, in a lot of cases, they look to guidance from the wrong set of people who would mold them into criminals and encourage them to get involved in criminal activities,” he said, adding, “So, we are definitely calling on the people…to surrender their firearms.”
The deputy top cop said that people should be able to leave their homes at night to go to church and feel comfortable that they will get back to their homes safely.
“We want the young men and the young woman in the various communities to feel safe that they can go to parties and get back whether two, three o’clock [in the morning] without being so fearful that they might lose their lives on their way back home,” Joseph said as he appealed to parents and guardians to encourage their children or wards to surrender any unlicensed firearm or ammunition in their possession.
Joseph noted that unlike 20 years ago when the last amnesty was held, holders of unlicensed firearms could also surrender their weapons to a justice of the peace, minister of religion, member of the House of Assembly, or lawyer.
“And the important thing about this amnesty is that it is a no-question-asked amnesty… They cannot even ask you your name, where you live, or telephone number. Because that is what we put into the document,” Joseph said, noting that people can surrender any part of a firearm in addition to weapons and ammunition.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police said that a person can walk into any police station or even his office, put a firearm on the desk, say they want to hand it in as part of the amnesty, and then go about their business.
“They cannot call you back to say, ‘Come! Come! Come! Come! What is your name? … There will be no prosecution for you,” he said, adding that the authorities are drafting stricter gun laws to take effect after the firearm amnesty.
A person caught with an unlicensed firearm can be sentenced to 14 years in prison, a fine of EC$20,000 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents), or both.
Meanwhile, Superintendent Clayton Francis, head of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), said “a small minority” of persons in Ottley Hall and Edinboro are engaged in criminal activities.
Francis noted that Orlando Guy, 36, Dwayne Banfield, 34, Symcy Williams, Keith Davis, and Camran Miller had been shot and killed in the Ottley Hall-Edinboro area since December.
“And these are the things that concern us at CID. And these men, young men, our young men in the prime of their lives. You may know why they lost their lives. But for me, as head of CID, most of these guys were innocent people,” he said, adding that while Williams was known to the police, the others only came to the attention of the police when they were killed.
“How did you feel, Edinboro? Young men lost their lives, and all of them died with the use of firearms, and some of them died high daytime, in the morning when you’re taking your children to school, they met their death.”
Francis said it bothers him that children witness some of these deaths.
“It is not right. What do you tell your children when they ask you, ‘Mommy, what was that?’
“When you hear a ‘bow! Bow! Bow!’ or ‘bang! Bang! bang!’ … when they see the dead man lying on the ground, the children ask you, ‘Mommy, who is that person?’ What will your answer be? How will you respond? How do you feel to see that your kids are seeing these things? And it grieves my heart as a father,” Francis said.
“Children are our future. They should not be allowed to live in a community where persons are dying in their presence. As a community, we have to stand up. I’m begging you. I’m encouraging you to stand up and take back your community from criminals,” Francis said.
“Too many guns in these communities. And some people are hiding their guns from criminals. And it might be you today and maybe your relatives tomorrow or the next day. So, it affects everybody,” Francis said.
and then 