Criminal gangs actively recruit schoolboys

ACP Trevor Bailey said on Monday night that criminal gangs are recruiting boys who are still in school uniform.

Bailey was a guest on “Voices,” a talk show that aired Monday nights on WEFM.

“If you look at some of the individuals who associate with these gangs, we see young boys who are still in school uniform, and that is how they choose to go and congregate before they go to class. When they break for lunch and in the afternoon before they go home.”

Bailey said those in power should soon look at laws specifically targeting gangs.

“Soon, those in power will have to look at laws that specifically target these gangs. Because the truth is, we can’t let them germinate.”

“The longer we continue to address them directly, the more influence they will have, the more assets they will accumulate, and the accumulation of assets will give them some kind of authority, some kind of power, some kind of freedom with which to operate.”

“If you sell drugs and you’re involved in robberies and murders, chances are they’re going to use the drug money to buy guns to commit robberies and murders.”

Bailey said we should not be naive about what is happening around us and bury our heads in the sand.

“If we turn around and pretend nothing is happening, we could wake up one morning and hear 10, 15, 20 guys holding an AK-47 in a random geographic location and just shoot it up into the air. We don’t want to go there. We don’t turn around because our eyes are on them and they know we have eyes on them. They know we’re watching them. And that’s our job. That’s what SVG taxpayers pay us to do,” Bailey said.