The stockpile of approximately 56 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition stolen from the San Fernando Municipal Police Station following the killing of police officer Anuska Eversley could now be in criminal hands and fuel an escalation in violent crime, security consultant Dr Garvin Heerah has said.
The Express reached out to Heerah yesterday following death of Woman Police Constable Eversley and the disappearance of arms and ammunition that had been lodged at the station.
Criminologist:
Renee Cummings
“Troubling is the clear indication of the evolving boldness and capability of organised crime groups. This incident underscores a dangerous reality: criminal networks are no longer operating on the periphery but are demonstrating a willingness to directly target State security infrastructure, eliminate officers of the law, and seize weapons to strengthen their operational capacity,” he said.
“The killing of a police officer in such a context is not only an attack on an individual, but an assault on the authority of the State,” he said.
He added that the attack represents a disturbing and highly sensitive national security threat.
He said is also raises serious concern with regards to the integrity and resilience of what is supposed to be layered security systems at law enforcement agencies.
“Police stations and municipal bases are intended to be hardened environments, secured not only physically, but procedurally and technologically, and a breach of this magnitude signals potential vulnerabilities that must be urgently assessed and addressed across all similar installations nationwide,” he said.
Equally disturbing is the loss of approximately 56 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
“These weapons, now potentially in the hands of criminal elements, represent an immediate and elevated risk of violent crime, including reprisal attacks, gang escalation, and organised criminal operations,” he said.
He called on Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro to initiate a “full-scale and multi-agency response.”
“This should include coordinated efforts among intelligence units, investigative divisions, forensic services, and specialised tactical teams. A high-level technological approach, leveraging surveillance analytics, digital forensics, communications tracking, and data integration will be essential in reconstructing the incident, identifying perpetrators, and recovering the stolen weapons,” he said.
He further described the attack as a “wake-up call” and an urgent need to raise the security protocols across all national security installations islandwide.
“Immediate reviews of access control systems, armoury management procedures, personnel vetting, surveillance coverage, and rapid response mechanisms must be undertaken as precautionary measures,” he said.
Maximum authority?
Criminologist Dr Renee Cummings described the attack as a negative criticism of the State’s protective services despite the country being under a state of emergency.
“How does a failure of this magnitude occur during a period of maximum authority?” she asked rhetorically.
She said that at a time where the police have greater powers of arrest and investigation it appeared that basic control collapsed across armoury security, surveillance, command oversight and personnel protection.
She added that yesterday’s attack, which ended with the death of a police officer, occurred inside a facility that should function as a hardened site—a fortress of protection.
“When the State cannot secure the controlled environment of its own installation or safeguard an on-duty officer within it, its capacity to deliver public safety at scale is not credible,” she said.
“If the State cannot guarantee the controlled safety of one officer within its own walls, on what basis can it claim to secure the safety of an entire nation?” Cummings said.
