ASP Elseworth Moss, one of the officers in charge of the ‘School Policing Programme,’ which assigns Royal Bahamas Police Force officers to government-run primary and secondary institutions, said a young child was spotted on a primary school campus with a toy gun which appeared to be real. He added that police stationed at the child’s primary school, were quick to respond and take the toy gun away from the child. In addition, he said that officers then confiscated all of the toy guns from the lunch vendor.
“We found a child on the school grounds with one of those toy pistols and after speaking with him, we were able to identify a vendor that sells little treats for kids outside of the school’s premises, as the person who was selling those items,” said ASP Moss. “We were able to take away those toy pistols from the vendor.”
According to Mr Moss, officers gave the vendor a serious warning about the potential dangers primary school students could be exposed to.
“We were able to approach the vendor and explain to them the consequences of selling these (guns),” he said.
Reportedly, because the incident involved a primary school student, the police were unable to reveal the name and location of the school where the incident took place.
However, ASP Moss said a new initiative launched by law enforcement officials, would enable officers stationed at the government schools to stop some vendors from placing students at risk.
He explained that officers assigned to the various schools around The Bahamas, have now been told to closely monitor the type of products vendors are selling to school students.
Reportedly, law enforcement officials are hoping that the new initiative will deter lunch vendors from selling items that are not suitable for students to have in their possession.
“What we do now, is allow officers that are stationed at the schools, to monitor the vendors at the schools. We are doing this to ensure, that whatever they are selling are not items that should not be sold around the school’s premises,” said ASP Moss.
Moreover, the authorities have said adults and children with ‘fake guns’ in their possession, are placing themselves and others at risk.
In recent police reports, officers were lead on a high speed chase after a young male, robbed the Centerville Liquor Store with a toy gun. Police have said that they are trying to steer children away from such type of behaviour.
By: LaShonne Outten, The Nassau Guardian
