No safe harbors

The long-awaited and promised Caribbean Community arrest warrant and treaty are about to be rolled out across the region, making it easier for law enforcement to corral criminals and suspects who try to hide out in other jurisdictions.

The legislation is harmonized, meaning that it will be broadly similar, if not the same, in nearly all 15 members of the CARICOM grouping.

While in Guyana for the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, leaders stayed on for a workshop on worsening violent crime in the region, its impact on national budgets, crime as a mental health issue, and, of course, a discussion on the need for the U.S. to help stem the smuggling of guns to the bloc.

The leaders had met Modi and his delegation for a half-day summit during which help was promised from India in several areas, including turning large quantities of annoying sargassum seaweed, which wash up on tourism beaches across the Caribbean, into fertilized for commercial usage, among other areas of assistance.

Trinidadian Prime Minister Keith Rowley is the lead head of government responsible for overseeing crime and security issues in the grouping. He was among those who praised technicians and others who drafted the harmonized legislation that will provide law enforcement with an additional tool to work with.

“This legislation marks a bold step toward a safer Caribbean. Our little criminal punks must now know that there are no safe harbors in any of our CARICOM territories, “Rowley said.

“I am particularly pleased to hear that we are there. Our little criminal punks must now know that in every CARICOM territory, the law applies to them equally with respect to warrants for their restraint and apprehension in anticipation of their successful prosecution, that there are no safe harbors in any of our CARICOM territories,” he told colleagues. We need to confront this urgent challenge of violence and insecurity.”

Grenadian Prime Minister and current bloc Chairman Dickon Mitchell also warned against those in crime, noting that “every citizen should be secure and have the opportunity to realize their potential with guaranteed human rights and social justice.”

The leaders also complained about the continued smuggling of hand and high-powered weapons to the region from American destinations, with Rowley appealing to US authorities to step up cooperation to prevent the avalanche of arms from coming into the bloc. He also noted making legislation in the US to allow federal agencies to treat trans-state, cross-border trafficking. “These developments are helping us to slow the flow of arms to territories and to identify perpetrators and facilitators,” he said, adding that the region found “receptive ears” in Washington.

Additionally, the Trinidad-based Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS) has established a database on gangs and gang members as a key resource to help law enforcement agencies fight gangland activities.

Governments in Trinidad, Barbados, The Bahamas, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Antigua, among others, have complained about an exponential increase in gun violence in recent years. Trinidad, for example, appears to be on course to tall up to 630 plus murders this year as it is averaging about 50 each month. The 2023 figure was placed at 599.

The legislation provides for an arrest warrant to be issued against a person reasonably suspected of committing an offense, charged with an offense, fled from justice after having been convicted, or is the victim of an offense involving a sentence of one year or greater. Judicial officers at the level of a judge or higher can issue a CARICOM arrest warrant and preside over hearings to determine repatriation.

In his contribution to the workshop, PM Gaston Browne of Antigua suggested that colleagues and the region pay greater attention to mental health and its link to criminal activities. He also blamed controversial lyrics in some musical genres in the region for the current state of play.

“We must be more respectful of others; we must recognize the other types of crime and the transnational organized crime, the facilitators. Governments are now called upon to place more resources to better handle the upsurge of crime and violence. Many of our youths are showing a lack of empathy and an overall disregard for authority. Therefore, we as leaders in the community need to focus on a total re-culturing of our households and broader society.”

He pointed to the lack of civility and the need for the intensification of strategies to encourage drug demand reduction, the need to increase public education programs, the reduction in access to firearms, and the proliferation of youth gangs, which he said “must be at the core of our interventions.”