Minister for National Security Rayburn Blackmoore called for a “robust and serious” system to tackle illicit crimes on the island.
He was addressing a 3-day Inter-Institutional Roundtable meeting from April 8 to 10, 2026.
The meeting was organized by the Commonwealth of Dominica’s Government, through its Ministry of National Security and Legal Affairs, in collaboration with the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) and the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (CARICOM IMPACS).
The purpose of this engagement is to bolster national efforts to tackle the issues of illegal firearms and armed violence. The event will assemble high-level representatives from across government sectors, including national security, policing, justice, foreign affairs, gender affairs, and monitoring and evaluation, among other key institutions.
The ministry said through a press release that these discussions are part of Dominica’s continued push to advance the Caribbean Firearms Roadmap, a regional initiative focused on curbing illicit weapons trafficking, reducing violence, and enhancing public safety throughout the Caribbean.
“The illicit trafficking of firearms can only continue with a certain degree of facilitation, which means therefore because you have people benefiting from the proceeds of crime, you have players within the various agencies, both private and public, who are facilitating the culprits,” Blackmoore said.
According to him, the system must be robust and serious enough to identify those players and to rid them out of the system.
“We live in a small society, homogeneous communities, where everybody knows each other and as a consequence, we harbor criminals,” Blackmoore remarked. “And if we are serious about the future of this country, all of us have that moral responsibility to do what we need to do to identify those who have made it their vocation to corrupt every institution in this country, including our young men, who have been used as mules to carry out the trade of worthless, no-face individuals.”
He continued, “And if we are serious about the future of this country, we have a responsibility to stop the pretence and to stop pointing fingers, because when you point your finger, the thumb is back in your face.”
Blackmoore stressed that it is imperative for people to put aside politics and deal with this threat to Dominica’s “civilization and civility.”
The #1 priority of any government is the safety and security of its people. Are Rayburn Blackmoore and all his other colleagues serious about national security? We have the same Labour administration in power for just shy of three decades. Crime has been steadily escalating. To this day, there’s no strategic crime plan in place to protect life, limb and property. A colossal failure of leadership!
The Roosevelt led autocracy believes that they can talk and promise away crime. Reducing crime to a negligible limit takes strategic planning and hard work, consistency and determination. Promises alone will not work. Time for talking is over. Roll up your sleeves, put on your boots, wear your thinking cap and get started. The criminals can be defeated.
He continued, “And if we are serious about the future of this country, we have a responsibility to stop the pretence and to stop pointing fingers, because when you point your finger, the thumb is back in your face.”….ohhhh eh-heh-eh!
For once I will support Poopooyou’s call. But he must never forget some of the very persons of concern are sitting at the table with him. Does “ALLEGEDLY” being in bed with a drug dealer up north when you hold a senior position in the Crim8inal Justice System ring a bell? Does “ALLEGEDLY” sending mules to Guada to bring back kick-back money on the ferry ring a bell? Does “ALLEGEDLY” taking kick-backs from contractors on the DIA and other Public Works related projects ring a bell? Let us begin by taking down the white color criminals among our leadership and the rest will follow.
STOP focusing on Ma-Showkoe child because he poor and cannot afford a lawyer. Time will tell bro!
name me a few crimes that are not ILLICIT then
That immediately grabbed my attention ( illicit crime). This is like saying the car ‘reversed backward’.