Gun amnesty, cuddling criminals in church won't work

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday is not impressed with the acting police commissioner's call for gang members to surrender their guns, calling James Philbert's initiative "desperate".

Philbert has been meeting in churches and in his officer with former gang members who have said they are ready to change their lives and turn to God. He is encouraging other gang members to do the same and has even set up a hot line for them to phone in for help.

The top cop is prepared to do everything to protect those who call for help. But Panday told the media Thursday the police move won't stop the killings and the crime epidemic.

"It sounds as though you have thrown your hands in the air and said come and be good boys," the former prime minister noted.

"To have the Commissioner of Police making a call like that is the worst act of desperation I have ever seen," Panday told the Trinidad Express. "It is a rather naive call, one would hardly expect for the criminals to give up their guns, yet I wish him all the luck in the world and I do hope that the criminals will have a change of mind and give up their guns to him," he said.

Independent Senator Dana Seethal is not impressed either, especially with the new love-in approach that the police are adopting.

"It is inexcusable because it's really saying to frequent criminals that you can be forgiven and be rid of all the ills of your past," she said. Seetahal said such a plan won't work because prisoners would question why they didn't have the same opportunity.

"What about people who have given themselves up in the past and were not given such immunity, how would they feel. What about people who have committed one offence? That to me would be total inequity," said Seetahal. "

It's like telling somebody do it the Christian way, I am God and I will forgive you of all of your past trespasses", noting that the initiative violates the principles of justice. Instead, she suggests that gang leaders surrender their guns and be allowed a plea bargain.

Chairman of Keith Noel 136 Committee, Stephen Cadiz, supports a gun amnesty but he told the Express the police chief must be very clear on whether this is an actual amnesty. "There is need to clarify if this is an amnesty or not, what are the terms and conditions. The Commissioner can't just make a blanket statement like that, people who may want to surrender their guns would need to know clearly the conditions," he said.

Cadiz added that a gun amnesty must go hand in hand with some way of trying to prevent guns from continuing to come into the country.