Criminals are developing the culture and it has significant impact, he said at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), between Guyana and the United States (U.S.), which would allow illegal firearms entering this country to be traced through a web based project called ‘e-Trace’, at no local cost.

Mr. David Johnson, from the American Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was also present when U.S. Ambassador, Mr. John Jones and Minister Rohee affixed their signatures and Guyana joined a 30-member network of countries using the system.

e-Trace is a web-based request submission process that provides for the electronic exchange of crime guns data in a secure environment by the Bureau.

The networking assists federal, state, local and foreign law enforcement agencies by tracing the origin of U. S. sourced firearms that have been recovered in criminal investigations.

The systematic tracking of the movement of firearms recovered by law enforcement officials is from creation by the manufacturer or introduction into the U. S. commerce by the importer through the distribution chain to the first retail purchaser.

The trace of a firearm retrieved at a crime scene to develop investigative leads may link it to a criminal investigation, identify potential traffickers and detect in-state and international patterns in the sources and kinds of crime guns.

With that boost to a country’s law enforcement capacity, the participating agencies with access to the Internet can acquire 24/7 real time capabilities and facilitate the electronic submission of firearm trace requests, monitor the progress, retrieval of completed results and query related data.

REGISTERED USERS
Through e-Trace, registered users have the capability to initiate a search in various ways, including the use of the firearm’s serial number, individual’s name, type and date of crime and date of recovery, too.

It is expected that this will enable law enforcement agencies to develop investigative strategies to reduce firearms-related crime and violence.

Other of e-Trace benefits include:
* law enforcement’s ability to interactively develop investigative leads relative to trace requests;

* a significant decrease in the turnaround time required to process a trace request;

* improved data quality of trace related information by providing real time data validation;

* law enforcement’s ability to monitor the status of traces in a real time environment;

* law enforcement’s ability to view, print and download completed trace results and

* law enforcement’s ability to generate statistical reports and perform online analytical research relative to the country’s jurisdiction.

According to Minister Rohee the benefits are welcome as they affect the welfare and development of Guyana.

IMPORTANT STEP
He said the signing represents an important step in the collaborative efforts between Guyana and the U.S. and happened at a time when this country is working towards increasing the capacity of its law enforcement bodies.

Rohee said the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) is also making efforts to ensure firearms are traced and, with e-Trace, its work will be much more efficient.

He pointed out that, in order to implement the programme, Guyana has to procure the software and hardware, train eligible officers and name the users.

Rohee said the prospective users are persons who have proven themselves and will be authorised by joint agreement.

Asked why Guyana took so long to committing to such a project, he said each country has its own internal processes and Guyana could only have signed after completion of its own.

Additionally, because the venture is free of cost to Guyana, the collaborators had to agree they would assist in every possible way they can in the implementation locally.

Johnson, in an invited comment, said some firearms make their way into Guyana through the U.S. illegally and his bureau is committed to assisting in the reduction of the number of such weapons and crimes.

Ambassador Jones also lauded the potential of the new venture and said it is a step that allows Guyana to participate in the international fight against terrorism.