Regional forum on Forensics and Ballistics

She made the statements during her welcome address to delegates from the Caribbean, the United States and Canada who participated in a forum on Forensics and Ballistics, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of- Spain on Monday.

“It is important to understand that our efforts in order to be effective cannot be confined to individual country initiatives.

There must be greater collaboration and communication between our countries, as far as exchanging information, intelligence gathering and improving training initiatives in the field of forensic science and ballistics,” Jennings-Smith, lamented that the failure of investigators to properly secure and maintain evidence and the lack of standardized protocols in ballisitcs, have contributed to the recent backlog of criminal cases in local courts, further stifling the effectiveness of courts to convict firearm related offences.

“A reality in Trinidad and Tobago is the significant backlog of criminal cases before our courts. As a result of this, cases are ranked on priority and are not dealt with as quickly as they should.

This should bolster our need to improve the evidence gathering process and rethink our quality management protocols to further streamline work processing.” Callixtus Joseph, Regional Crime and Security Coordinator for the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), echoed, the Minister’s call for further review and assessment of current evidence gathering techniques and urged regional leaders to remain proactive in their fight against crime and criminality, adding that a culture of violence in the region has taken hold of daily life.

“We must address the issue of rising incidence of firearm related homicides. Illicit firearms are now a part of growing culture of violence in the Caribbean region and it is something that affects everyone, as such cases chokes our development and tarnishes the image of the entire region.” According to reports from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS), violent crimes decreased by 6.7 percent in 2015, however approximately 81 percent of murders involved the use of a firearm as the weapon of choice.

The two-day forum, sponsored by the governments of the United States and Canada, and the United Nations Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC), is aimed at improving capacity- building in the field of forensic science and ballistics testing. The organisation which is geared towards tackling issues of violent crimes and international terrorism in the Caribbean, has in the past facilitated training programmes for various law enforcement agencies in the Caribbean in these fields as part of attempts to reduce the incidence of gun-related crimes and gain better insight into patterns of illegal arms trafficking within the region.