Trending in Jamaica News: Jamaica needs to implement more robust measures to tackle gang violence and the trafficking of illicit firearms to the Island.
Jamaica needs to implement more robust measures to tackle gang violence and the trafficking of illicit firearms to the Island. This was the message the Deputy assistant secretary for Caribbean affairs and Haiti, Barbara Feinstein, admitted to journalists on Tuesday, Nov 15, 2022, at the US Embassy in St Andrew. She implied that the US is dissatisfied with the return on its investment.
She said the US recognise that illicit gun trafficking is a huge problem in Jamaica and the broader Caribbean region, and the US needs to play an important role.
She pointed out that the US offer support to the Jamaica Constabulary Force in the form of equipment. And training to enhance their ability to interdict guns and improve their forensic capacity to identify where the guns are coming from. She also said the US recognise that it needs to do more in the US to tighten the domestic loophole.
She mentioned that during the past year, the US Congress has passed meaningful legislation attacking gun violence and closing loopholes that encouraged illicit gun trafficking.
Feinstein reiterated that through the US Government’s support to the Caribbean Community, there is a specific clause dedicated to dealing with illicit weapons trafficking. And working with individual countries in Caricom to create action plans.
“I think gang violence is a shared problem between the United States and the Caribbean and some of the strategies that we are looking at here in the Caribbean to address it also come from interventions in the United States as well, for instance the work that has been undertaken in Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles,” she said.
“Some of those methods we have also brought to bear in our programming and would look to see what lessons can be drawn from that but it is a concern and something we are looking into,” she added.