FBI assistance to come shortly, security officials say
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Ivor Blake |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AN official in the Ministry of National Security has indicated that assistance sought from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Gang Intelligence Unit should be had shortly as the US-based agency has already agreed to provide support.
Some time ago, the Prime Minister of the Federation, Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas told the country that assistance was sought from the FBI with a view of dealing with the emergent gang situation that local security forces and the wider populace have had to contend with.
Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, Ivor Blake, spoke exclusively with SKNVibes and indicated that while he could not provide a specific date, he said that the arrival of the FBI in the Federation is being anticipated.
“We have requested the assistance, they have responded and they said that they will provide us with that assistance. We hope that it is anytime now, maybe as early as September. They have given the commitment so we are waiting for them to indicate a time.”
Blake explained that the assistance which is expected to be provided by the FBI Gang Intelligence Unit would give insight about the inner-workings of gangs and activities related to them. ~~Adz:Right~~
“The FBI Gang Intelligence Unit would assist us in doing some analysis on the type of gangs we have here and the gang activity and see if we can develop a profile, so to speak, of the gang and related activities. Basically, they would be assisting us in the setting up of a database in capturing statistics on criminal activities that are directly related to gangs.
So what will happen is, where any incident is reported to the police that involves gang activity, it would be documented and captured in a particular format that will inform us in terms of those specific activities or incidents that directly relate to gangs or gang warfare.”
This catalogued information, Blake noted, would assist the powers that be in making crucial decisions in tackling the gang phenomenon.
“Those pieces of information will inform or help us in our decision-making process so that we can point out those activities that are directly related to gang activities,” he said.
