Saturday, October 15, 2011

Amend the anti-gang legislation, Rowley tells Parliament

The Leader of the Opposition suggested to MPs on Friday that Parliament should amend the Anti-Gang legislation to give the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) an opportunity to review cases before anyone is charged under the new law.

Keith Rowley made the point during his contribution to the debate on the 2012 budget.

Rowley has consistently called for an end to the State of Emergency, arguing that it serves no useful purpose.

More than 100 persons charged with being involved with gangs have walked free since being arrested because DPP Roger Gaspard has told the courts that the state did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute them.

Rowley told Parliament it is time for the government to make the change that will fix flaws in the bill "so that we can prevent abuse and go after the real gang members and gang leaders who we set about to target when we spoke on August 21st."

He also suggested that the $1000 special allowance for members of the Protective Services is not enough to deal with national security and urged the government to do more to regain the public trust.

"We expect and demand continued investment and training of law enforcement personnel with a view of improving detection mechanism and statistics," Rowley stated.

"We expect and demand further advancing in the CCTV camera programme and police response times.

"We expect and demand a sustained gun retrieval exercise not being content as the Government seems to be, with the retrieval of a relatively few firearms over a few weeks. Some of which Mr Speaker, bear close resemblance to those used by Sir Henry Morgan and Francis Drake.

"If this is achieved Mr Speaker, naturally there will be far less guns in the hands of reckless youngsters who contribute significantly to the mayhem in our society."

The opposition leader said the government needs to introduce more social programmes to help reduce crime in the country.

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Jai & Sero

Jai & Sero

Our family at home in Toronto 2008

Our family at home in Toronto 2008
Amit, Heather, Fuzz, Aj, Jiv, Shiva, Rampa, Sero, Jai