RSVGPF acquires a set of hydraulic shears

The Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force (RSVGPF) now has at its disposal, a set of hydraulic shears.{{more}}

The shears were handed over to the police on Tuesday by the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), in conjunction with the United States Department of State Weapons Removal and Abatement.

The handover of the hydraulic shears is part of UNLIREC’s firearms destruction and stockpile management assistance package, which got underway in April 2010 and of which St Vincent and the Grenadines is a beneficiary.

Amanda Cowl, Political Affairs Officer with UNLIREC, further explained that the delivery served two purposes: to ensure the permanent technical and human resource capacity to undertake the destruction of surplus confiscated and obsolete firearms and to complement the program by UNLIREC to provide material to be used for increasing the levels of storage and security, and therefore reduce the possible occurrences of the theft of firearms from police or government holdings.

As part of the arrangement, officers were trained in the use and maintenance of the piece of equipment, Cowl added.

“And I am confident that the national authorities will continue in the destruction on a regular basis with or without the assistance of the United Nations,” she said.

To support the initiative, Cowl said that UNLIREC would be reviewing this country’s legislation relating to firearms, ammunition and explosives to ensure harmonization with the relevant international legislation.

Meanwhile Keith Miller, Commissioner of Police, said that the delivery of the piece of equipment comes at a time when the police force is in the process of becoming more modernized.

“We are witnessing the modernization of the police organization, not only in terms of our police personnel, but also in respect to our assets,” Miller said.

He added that the hydraulic shears came right after the police force had received some laptops, which he said would assist in computer forensic investigations.

An officer has already been trained and Miller said that another applicant with a degree in Information Technology (IT) was also recently interviewed.

To complement the hydraulic shears, Miller said that the force was also equipped with ‘eTrace’ capabilities, which is an internet based firearm trace submission system, developed by the United States federal government Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that provides for the electronic exchange of traced firearm data in a secure internet based environment.

“It makes me feel very proud to be working in an organization where we are not operating in ancient times, but we have become so modernized,” the Commissioner said.

“This morning, with the handing over of this piece of equipment is no exception. We are moving by leaps and bounds and we are operating now on par with many developed countries,” he continued.

As he thanked UNLIREC, Miller said that he was grateful to have received the piece of equipment, as the old method of disposal, which was practised around the region, was not necessarily the best way.

Previously, confiscated firearms were dumped into the sea, which proved to be an environmental hazard, Miller said.

But he said the process to acquire the hydraulic shears was not an easy one.

“Our responsibility was to satisfy a number of criteria and I am happy that we met the threshold,” Miller said. (DD)