Enhanced use of technology in the fight against crime and the introduction of a regional response unit topped the list of outcomes from last week’s three-day meeting of the region’s security chiefs which concluded on Friday at the Grand Coastal Inn on the East Coast.
In a statement issued on Saturday the security officials said that the outcomes of the meeting, including the possibility of introducing a regional response capacity and the enhanced use of technology to support law enforcement, will inform the Crime and Security discussions due to take place at the meeting of the Caricom Council of Ministers responsible for National Security and Law Enforcement. This meeting will be followed by the Special Summit of the heads of Caricom on Regional Security, both scheduled to take place in Trinidad and Tobago in April, 2008. The statement did not go into detail as to what exactly was recommended, although it noted that among the general issues reviewed were the proliferation, trafficking and use of firearms and drugs; kidnapping, murders, gangs and maritime piracy.
The Caricom Standing Committees of Commissio-ners of Police and Military Chiefs met here in extraordinary joint session to review the current crime and security environment in the region. The meeting was mandated by Caricom Heads of Government at their recent Inter-sessional Meeting in The Bahamas. The joint statement noted that Caricom Heads had requested that the meeting identify critical national and regional anti-crime and security priorities, and brainstorm options for policing and security responses considered necessary to achieve a reduction in crime and violence in the immediate and short term.
Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Commodore Gary Best had told reporters on Thursday that the creation of a regional rapid response unit and a request for international assistance to fight rising crime were among several initiatives which were considered. Best said that the region had to harmonise its fight against the crime scourge, noting that the criminals were collaborating to conduct their nefarious business and if they could do so, then as security chiefs they must do the same. He said then that they were hoping to revive the Caricom Operational Planning and Co-ordination Staff (COMPACS), which was created for last year’s Cricket World Cup. Best said it was within the COMPACS framework they would be working to create the regional rapid response unit.
Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, who has lead responsibility for security in the region, had floated the idea of a regional rapid response unit back in February. Manning had called for a fully trained and equipped rapid response Pan-Caribbean law enforcement unit to police the region. He said then that the security challenges of the region demanded a well-trained and equipped unit that could operate legally in any Caricom country in time of need.
Assistant Commissioner of St Lucia, Vernon Francois, had told reporters last Thursday that the movement of illicit weapons across the region and extra-regionally was one of the areas they dealt with.
The meeting had taken on greater significance for Guyana in the wake of the two recent mass killings at Lusignan and Bartica which claimed the lives of 23 people.
In attendance were security chiefs from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Associated States of Anguilla and Bermuda. Delegates also included the Chairs of the CARICOM Standing Com-mittee of Chiefs of Immigra-tion and of the CARICOM Standing Committee of Comptrollers of Customs; the Chair of the Regional Infor-mation Technology Sub-Committee (RITC); Crime and Security Programme Coordinator of the CARICOM Secretariat; and Direc-tors and other senior officers of the CARICOM Implemen-tation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), the Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC), Regional Intelligence Fusion Centre (RIFC) and the Regional Security System (RSS).
