Blackmoore urges stronger action against illicit crime at national security roundtable

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.”