00:00Police Commissioner Alistair Govaro says too many lives are being lost because people choose retaliation over cooperation with law enforcement.
00:09Speaking to members of the media, the Top Cup reflected on the murder of a young Belmont resident last year
00:15and the tragic consequences that followed.
00:18This brings me back to July last year. A young fella named Diane Roberts was killed in Belmont and I
00:28sent for his father to come and see me.
00:32After speaking with the father, he indicated to me, boss, I know who do it, I go sort it out
00:37myself.
00:40Sadly, he was one of the three victims in this homicide that took place in Belmont along with his two
00:46-year-old child.
00:48The Top Cup says a situation like these highlight the dangers of vigilant justice and why citizens must be willing
00:55to share information with investigators.
00:58What I want to do is make a call for persons who have that information to share to the police
01:02and to not take matters into their own hands.
01:05Because had he given me the evidence to put the persons who had his son in the ground, we would
01:11have been able to capture them and put them behind bars.
01:14Guevaro also expressed concern over the increasing use of high-powered weapons in violent crimes, saying tighter controls are needed
01:23to stop illegal firearms from entering TNT.
01:26It is indeed a saddening state of affairs in the country when persons use high-powered weapons and we have
01:32multiple victims from just one incident.
01:34And it goes to show that we need more stringent controls on how firearms are coming into the country in
01:40a legal way.
01:41The police commissioner says fighting crime cannot be left to law enforcement alone,
01:46adding that family members and the communities also have a responsibility to speak up when they know someone is involved
01:53in criminal activity.
01:54At this point in time, I want to make a collective call to the citizenry.
02:00It is your sons, brothers, your families, you know that they are in possession of illegal weapons
02:08and they are committing these heinous crimes and you are remaining silent.
02:13And that in itself is an indictment on society and how we should approach how we deal with criminality in
02:21going forward.
02:22He says public cooperation remains critical if police are to effectively tackle violent crime
02:27and reduce the number of illegal firearms on the nation's streets.
02:31Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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