Caricom member states have elected representatives to serve on the newly-created Regional Integrated Ballistic Information Network (RIBIN) board to start its work, pursuant to a decision taken of the Fifth Meeting of the Council of Ministers Responsible for National Security and Law Enforcement (CONSLE).
Dr Judith Mowatt, director of the Forensic Science Laboratory in Jamaica was elected to serve as chairperson, a press release said. Director of the Forensic Science Centre of Trinidad and Tobago, Arlette Lewis, has been elected to serve as vice-chair. Both the chair and vice-chair have been appointed to a two-year term.
Other board members selected at the inaugural meeting are the Commissioner of Police designated to represent the Standing Committee for Commissioners of Police, President of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police (ACCP), Head of the Integrated Ballistic Information System (IBIS) Unit in Barbados; Executive Director of Caricom Impacs; Legal Advisor of Caricom Impacs; Regional Crime and Security Strategy (RCSS) Co-coordinator and IT Manager of the Joint Regional Communications Centre (JRCC).
According to the press release, the rising level of firearm incidents combined with an ongoing reliance on manual traditional methods of firearms identification has contributed significantly to a backlog of criminal cases across the Region. With the common agreement and the signing of the RIBIN Charter and Participation Agreement, Caricom countries will, for the first time, begin to share ballistic information across multiple jurisdictions. Through RIBIN, the Region will be better equipped to prevent and solve gun crimes.
In conducting its functions, the new board will oversee the overall governing structure for RIBIN. The RIBIN mechanism will provide Caricom states with the capacity to track guns and ammunition used in crimes. This will increase member states’ capacity to link firearms used by specific gangs and also allow them the capability to trace the connections in the organised trade in illicit guns and ammunition.
