Speeches & Op-Eds
E-Trace Handover Ceremony Remarks
October 27, 2005
It gives me great pleasure to welcome to the Embassy this morning Assistant Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson and Jimm Langley from the U.S. Department of Justice's Crime Gun Center in Miami. We are here today to launch a new program to facilitate tracing of small arms. This initiative is the latest in a long and continuing line of cooperative law enforcement efforts between the United States and The Bahamas.
The proliferation of illicit small arms and light weapons in regions of the world suffering from political instability and violent conflict has proven a major obstacle to peace, economic development, and efforts to rebuild war-torn societies. In places like Sierra Leone, Kosovo and Colombia, thousands of innocent civilians have been killed and tens of thousands more displaced by ethnic and civil conflicts perpetuated in large part by easy access to illicit weapons. In other parts of the world, criminal elements traffic in illicit arms as a way to fuel their illegal enterprises and to bring violence and intimidation to the streets.
To help counter these threats, the United States has adopted a multi-faceted strategy containing a variety of tactics, especially building and enhancing law enforcement and legal capacities. Our approach focuses on practical, effective measures to address the problem of illicit weapons trafficking.
One vital tool is the eTrace program managed by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. eTrace enables law enforcement agencies to track the movement of a recovered firearm from its first sale by the manufacturer through the distribution chain to the retail purchaser. Tracing firearms in this way helps link suspects to a firearm in a criminal investigation, identifies potential weapons traffickers, and uncovers local and international patterns in the sources and kinds of crime guns.
Empowered by this tool and this equipment, the Royal Bahamas Police Force will have state-of-the-art access to essential information about weapons used for criminal purposes here in The Bahamas. This information will make it easier for the RBPF to counter the threat posed by illicit weapons and to work with the courts to put violent criminals behind bars.
Over the next several days, Mr. Langley will be working with the RBPF to set up the eTrace equipment at various locations and will also be training police personnel on how to utilize the system. We greatly appreciate this initiative by the Department of Justice and welcome eTrace to our shared fight against criminal activity in The Bahamas.