The CARICOM Crime Gun Intelligence Unit (CGIU) was launched at the Headquarters of the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) in Port of Spain on Monday.
In his address, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds said the new unit will significantly enhance the Region’s capacity to detect and trace firearms, especially if those firearms have been used in the perpetration of acts of crime and violence.
He said the Units, developed for member states, will also serve as intelligence hubs and coordination centres for local and regional responses to major crimes involving firearms.
“Trinidad and Tobago and the wider Caribbean have, as you all are already acutely aware, experiencing, not just a surge, a tsunami in crime and violence, largely driven by the trafficking of illegal guns. This (Unit) is our response in part, to it.”
The Minister explained that the centres will use cutting-edge forensic science and crime gun evidence to support the investigation and prosecution of violent criminals.
“Notwithstanding, we have a good idea from the records, where and how these weapons are coming into T&T and we are taking action as the law and the constitution and our international collaboration allow. We are taking action into doing the best we can.”
CGIU is an interagency collaboration between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), law enforcement agencies, forensics labs and prosecutors committed to stopping gun crimes.
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