On the heels of a spate of murders this past week, including the killing of a pregnant woman and Friday’s kidnapping of a businesswoman, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is assuring the public that the Government, and the wider national security apparatus, are doing all they can to ensure that criminals are captured and brought to justice.
In a statement released this morning, the Prime Minister urged citizens to avoid the temptation of illegally arming themselves against criminals, warning that they may be providing those criminals with the weapons to destroy them and other potential victims.
The following is the full text of the statement issued by the Prime Minister.
STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER ROWLEY
We at the National Security Council meet fairly regularly, we take certain decisions and we have certain operations in place.
There are demands being made on the Police and the wider Security Services and the national security services are being constantly resourced to keep them available and effective. The brazenness of the criminals is rooted in a belief that:
1. they will not be apprehended
2. even if apprehended they have nothing to fear from the judicial system.
We plan and execute strategies to prevent these truths from prevailing and that they are wrong on both counts.
Statistically, the results are not satisfactory but we, as a country, remain focused on getting better results at every turn. For example, only recently we approved the addition, at request, in emergency mode, 50 new vehicles to the patrol fleet of the Police and the Defence Force.
We are continuously engaged in detecting and managing the millions of rounds of ammunition and the thousands of firearms which are circulating within the country. To this end, we appeal to the public to assist in this fight, to eliminate these frequent outrages and gun crimes, in general, by providing as much information as you are able to so that the security service personnel can get ahead of the criminals before they callously add to the death and destruction that a handful of citizens wreak upon the vast majority of the population.
An illegal gun in the hands of a citizen is not security to anyone. It is simply a clear and present threat to the lives of all citizens since any such weapon can only be used in committing a crime and frequent use of such weapons only help to add to the suffering.
If you know something, undertake to say something. The protective services will continue to go after the weapons and their handlers, but their jobs can be greatly enhanced by increased information streams from the sphere of public spiritedness.
The best holiday gift that can be afforded to any potential shooter is to keep secret the existence of his/her deadly tools and the intention to use them. The protection of the society is a 24-hour-seven-days-a-week exercise, which will remain the duty and focus of the state, as we continue to confront all those who choose violent crime as their contribution to the nation’s challenges.