And while the commissioner maintains that police officers are creatures of the law, the Minister Of Home Affairs believes that making certain adjustments to the law will enable officers to carry out their duties more effectively. He says there are a number of changes and mechanisms that need to be put into place in order to address both gang intervention and gun control.
Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs
"I think there is high time for us to have a discussion a consultation period even because I don't think necessarily the state of emergency was designed for this type of gang intervention so to speak. And so we could start having the discussion of amending legislation or even amending the constitution for a gang detention period as opposed to utilizing the state of emergency because like you rightly said there is just a very small handful of young men that insist on carrying out this type of criminal activity. They do not want to change. I know that a majority of them do want to change but there is that handful that will continue to wreck havoc and so we will continue to apply pressure. But I think in terms of amending legislation that is one aspect we can look at. A different mechanism to put in place such as a gang detention period. Also we are going to be looking at over the course of the next three months, amending legislation for gang and gun violence and so having possession of a firearm as you know could carry up to 5 years imprisonment. We are looking to increase that penalty. Again going through a consultation period with all the stakeholders with magistrates with judges and the DPPs office to see how we can improve the firearms act and increasing the penalty for illegal firearms and perhaps even establishing a specialized court to deal with gangs and gun violence. So a specific Supreme Court or high court judge that will address specifically matters and issues arising out of gang and gun violence."
