The Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) kick started its positive youth engagement exercises yesterday by educating students of the dangers of firearms and reminding them of their important role in the fight against crime.

Officers attached to the Firearms Tracing Investigative Unit visited students from Aquinas College and R.M. Bailey Secondary schools and engaged them in dialogue about illegal firearms and firearms interdiction.

Head of the unit Superintendent Ken Strachan noted that with firearms increasingly ending up in the hands of young people, particularly teenagers, it is vital that police take a proactive stance and reach out to high school students.

These weapons, he added, are often glorified in media, but he said young people most understand the danger they pose.

“Our message is very simple,” Superintendent Strachan said.

“Turn the guns in and as long as you seek to do that whether you choose to do it directly or indirectly, that weapon that has the potential of causing a life, can be brought back to our care so that we can continue to make this Bahamaland a safe place for us to continue to live in, work, visit and play.”

Principal of Aquinas College Shona Knowles added that crime prevention has been incorporated in the school’s curriculum.
She said that while many of the students are already familiar with firearms, they need to understand the implications of being in possession of illegal weapons.

“A lot of them have been exposed to firearms whether in their homes or their neighbourhoods and so they needed to know that for the most part that the firearms that they are exposed to are illegal and they need to be taken of the streets because they do kill,” Mrs. Knowles said.

“And so it was important that we get them to understand that they have a very important role to play in eradicating crime and removal of guns from the streets.”

Tuesday’s exercise brought students up close with some of the firearms that officers have interdicted from the streets.
Illegal firearms are used in most of the violent crimes that occur.

Superintendent Strachan said the RBPF has made a strong commitment to maintain the programme, adding that similar exercises will take place throughout New Providence.