LAST YEAR, Acting Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith expressed concern about the number of illegal firearms in the country and charged there was ample evidence that many of these guns were entering the country through legitimate ports of entry. He went further, stating: “They are either assisted by officials or not detected by them at our border . . . . This is an untenable situation which has to be addressed . . . .”
The reaction from two quarters was particularly interesting. Firstly, some operatives in the Customs and Excise Department, a very critical border protection agency, took offence, suggesting guns were not entering the island through any channels for which they held responsibility.
On the other hand, residents from some of the communities usually associated with the rampant use of these weapons said while they did not doubt the acting commissioner, police should stop looking at the proverbial “small man” who happens to be the user since he does not have access to the ports of entry.
Last week, however, Commissioner Griffith’s words came home to Barbadians with striking clarity when a young man was arrested when he went to the Bridgetown Port to clear a parcel that contained four semi-automatic pistols. The Bridgetown Port and the “small man” were fingered and catapulted into the limelight.
We do not believe the commissioner of police is infallible or beyond reproach, but we do recognise he sits in a very key position where his access to vital intelligence would surpass that of most ordinary citizens as well as highly placed officials. While questioning his assertions, on the face of it, can’t be out of place, seeking to publicly discredit what he says without producing strong counter evidence does nothing more than confuse the issue.
Barbados has a problem with illegal guns, and they are not falling from the sky. We have seen contraband concealed in some of the most ingenious ways and when customs officers find themselves faced with surveying more than 20 000-plus shipping barrels in a few weeks, it is possible for the unwanted to pass undetected.
Additionally, it is now commonplace for Barbadians to shop overseas via the Internet for big ticket items – from car parts to appliances – increasing the possibility of the importer or others with access to the items hiding contraband within them.
We therefore wholeheartedly endorse the approach of the commissioner in calling for greater cooperation from personnel of all agencies involved in the fight against criminals. We also accept that the fact that an illegal item made it past a particular officer undetected does not make him or her a criminal or mean he or she intentionally assisted those who would harm our society by importing guns and drugs.
But, by the same token, we also know that not every person who works as a border control agent, whether as a Government employee or for a contracted private provider, comes or leaves with clean hands – it’s just a fact of today’s society. Those who speak for these agencies and their employees therefore should resist the urge to behave as though they are defending angels. There are bad apples everywhere and the Commissioner of Police has a place in the orchard that allows him to be able to identify them.
The person charged in the most recent illegal guns seizure is innocent until proven guilty and we must respect that, but the nature of the discovery of the items speaks volumes about how we might have ended up in the current illegal guns conundrum.
