MEDIA RELEASE
To: All Editors
Date: 23rd January 2024
From: The Office of the Leader of the Opposition
ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS MUST BE PROVIDED WITH FUL’S AND PERSONAL FIREARMS
Opposition Leader: We cannot reasonably ask our law enforcement officers to put their personal safety at risk, daily while on duty, only to leave them unprotected when they leave their workplaces. I call on the Government to immediately act to provide FUL’s and personal legal firearms to all our law enforcement officers. These brave men and women can rest assured that if no action is taken by this Government, the UNC will move without delay to provide said licences and firearms upon our return to Government.
Murders of prison and police officers have occurred with increasing regularity over the past years. There have been numerous reports of threats to law enforcement officers, with some acted upon, such as the brazen attempted assassination of deputy prisons commissioner Sherwin Bruce.
The Prison Officers’ Association of Trinidad and Tobago General Secretary Lester Logie is quoted in a daily newspaper as saying “My view is that all law enforcement officers, once they meet the criteria and they have been properly vetted, that they be issued an FUL certificate so that they could purchase their own firearms to protect the lives of themselves and their family.”
It is only right that provisions must be made to provide all of our courageous law enforcement officers with personal legal firearms paid for by the State, so they can protect themselves and their families when they are off duty.
We cannot reasonably ask our law enforcement officers to put their personal safety at risk, daily while on duty, only to leave them unprotected when they leave their workplaces. This is urgently required in light of the constant murders of law enforcement officers, with some hits reportedly being ordered from behind bars.
Law enforcement is an exceedingly high stress and high-risk occupation. The murders and constant death threats are having a traumatic effect on officers of the protective services and their families. The fact is that these officers have already been vetted and meet the competence criteria as they do handle firearms during the course of their duties.
It is hypocritical that some Ministers and members of their families are the holders of several legal guns, while law enforcement officers are not afforded the same means to protect themselves and their loved ones when off duty by this Government.
I call on the Government to immediately act to provide FUL’s and personal legal firearms to all our officers. These brave men and women can rest assured that if no action is taken by this Government, the UNC will move without delay to provide said licences and firearms upon our return to Government.
END
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, MP
Leader of the Opposition
23rd January 2024