- Gun Amnesty January 19 to January 23, and January 26 to January 28, between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m,.
- Gun amnesty is not a “cash for gun” programme; surrender of firearms is public safety, not a financial incentive.
- Surrendered firearms are subject to forensic examination, and those firearms surrendered will be subject to ballistic testing and appropriate recourse.
- “127 steps to order in Saint Lucia” to the Prime Minister and Minister for National Security, describing it as a tactical approach to restoring public order. A copy of the document is to be shared with the media.
- According to police statistics, Saint Lucia recorded 70 homicides in 2025. Public arithmetic has the number much higher.
- 700 polygraph vettings were conducted in 2025; sensitive units are now fully vetted.
By Caribbean News Global 
CASTRIES, St Lucia – The Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF), gun amnesty from January 19 to January 23, and January 26 to January 28, between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., that forms part and parcel of a “new plan for 2026-27” and described as a strategic starting point rather than an end in itself – is ancient law enforcement – Old tools fighting modern criminality.
The RSLPF is asserting that the gun amnesty strategy leads to the removal of firearms from communities and minimises public risk. And, the focus of the amnesty is also based on ‘public safety, not ‘financial incentive’. Furthermore, a “127 steps to order in Saint Lucia” to the prime minister and minister for national security, Philip J. Pierre, is prefaced as a tactical approach to restoring public order.
The fundamentals
While longstanding legal trade and illegal cross-border transactions are ingrained in daily life, the counteraction to fighting with ancient tools, to simply interchange prohibited firearms, ammunition, or related items, that is usually tied to some type of reward program, has generally resulted in the re-purchase of newly-fangled firearms and accessories.
- Gun amnesty is not a “cash for gun” programme; surrender of firearms is public safety, not a financial incentive, according to assistant commissioner of police Luke Defreitas.
Fundamentally, the option to legally dispose of undesirable firearms and/or to conceal without cause, leaving the optional acquisition of new strategic assets by bad actors (criminals, domestic troublemakers, drug barons, legal and illegal cross-border traders), would eventually mean that law enforcement must conceptualise and advance a national security framework to upstream (bad actors) new acquisitions.
The recycling spectacle has been – Take in the old, use taxpayers’ reward/money to buy new guns. In the case of Saint Lucia, the replenishment of prohibited firearms by criminal elements intent on plying their trade is generally completed faster and more superior to the arsenal of the RSLPF.
At the RSLPF press conference on January 15, 2026, assistant commissioner of police Luke Defreitas advised that the gun amnesty is not a “cash for gun” programme. In addition, surrendered firearms are subject to forensic examination, ballistic testing and appropriate recourse.
- You cannot govern what you cannot measure – applies to the gun amnesty.
Measurable success
According to police statistics, Saint Lucia recorded 70 homicides in 2025. Public arithmetic has the number much higher. Notwithstanding some positive developments, such as the expansion of RSLPF interceptions, seizures, and arrests described in certain circles as “measurable success,” transnational crime networks are advantageously more capable and more agile, adapting to existing and new methods.
Aside from this, and to necessitate sustainable reinforcements that translate into statistical decline and to influence positive change in socially acceptable behavioural patterns, legal resources and policing adaptation demands momentum.
However, improving the fundamentals of policing must provide support for deterrence and address gaps that undermine previous gains. The continuous issue has been strained in a pragmatic transformation in law enforcement to address domestic and cross-border crime, illegal possession, intelligence and trafficking in firearms.
In this context, a critical analytical lens is contingent on technical, operational and tactical capacity, finance, and administrative factors (a new toolbox) to understand the present, anticipate what happens after the amnesty ends, and maintain ongoing situational capability.
- Lack of trust in law enforcement is detrimental, especially when it can be measured.
Security preoccupations need strong collaboration
Increased regional and international collaboration must consist of enhanced and integrated investigative protocols, research and development.
Technical specialisation to enhance detection capabilities (human, specialised equipment and research and development, and digital transformation), must enhance the totality of the national security apparatus more accommodative within a national security council, inclusive of (immigration, migration, RSLPF) and auxiliary units, SLASPA, Bordelais Correctional Facility, fire service, NEMO, media/communication, legal/justice, etc.
The collective control of the state security apparatus and related auxiliaries makes for rapid and efficient deployment, leveraging the strength of each on a collective platform that amplifies standard procedures, demonstrating their practicality.
These collaborations complement each other, infuse collaboration and harness combined synergies. The strength of collaboration and introspective depth often amalgamate to create sophisticated channels delivering a collective uniqueness to demographic segments.
- 700 polygraph vettings were conducted in 2025; sensitive units are now fully vetted.
Data-driven enforcement operation enhances safety
The deployment of advanced technology to deliver results in the fight against trans national crime is tantamount to putting the people of Saint Lucia first. This commitment and prioritising digital transformation must be efficient for law enforcement agencies to facilitate the coordination of transnational crime.
The objective is to attain unfathomable public change to the landscape. The almost free hand that criminal elements have in doing battle with the RSLPF and legal entities in the country is unwarranted.
Remarkably, the commissioner has stated, no different from others, a “zero tolerance” approach to gun-related offences. But realistically, the colonial mindset of the RSLPF and its fragmented administrative infrastructure is well documented.
The RSLPF has passed its useful existence and is desperately in need of a complete do-over.
Considering its limitations, the deficiency of managerial thoughtfulness and technical talent is apparent in the process of strategic planning, implementation, resource allocation, and daily execution of law enforcement.
A walk through the corridors of Castries, Vieux-Fort, and Soufriere, and/or a drive-through the by-ways of Saint Lucia reveals non-existent public order, traffic management and crime deterrence.
Beyond that, there continue to be significant improvements and modernisation in national security physical infrastructure, which are much-admired and celebrated. But, to complement this, the larger state of affairs must translate to citizen security and service standards, delivered on a measurement scale.
To which, the integration of modern performance data processing and the use of advanced technology must be applied to intercept sophisticated criminal networks that have infiltrated most state institutions. And consequently, legitimising uncommon practices and expansion in the absence of national security reform.
- “127 steps to order in Saint Lucia,” to the prime minister and minister for National Security, described as a tactical approach to restoring public order is much anticipated.
