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THE UNITED States Marshal Service, which has operations in Jamaica and Haiti, has been kept busy in Jamaica over the past few months heightening efforts to apprehend persons involved in violent crimes, weapons and narcotics trafficking and other illicit activities.
"They have been very busy. We do a lot of work with Jamaica and the Dominican Republic and other countries in the region. However, we can't arrest anybody in another country. We rely entirely on the authority that is inherent in each country," James Schield, chief of International Operations in the office of the associate director, told The Gleaner on Tuesday.
Responding to queries about any form of assistance given by the service towards the drugs-for-gun trade in Jamaica, Schield said the primary mission of the service is to locate those persons for which the agency has arrest warrants.
"We will bring our expertise in a country to provide assistance in locating and apprehending those individuals who have been indicted in the courts for such offences. So we can't deal with arrests, so we leave that up to the individual countries."
He indicated that the Caribbean region is a priority for the US attorney general, who has asked that the components within the Department of Justice provide that assistance and training and establish relationships with law-enforcement agencies.
Schield, who also gave a presentation on 'Crime Has No Borders' at the 32nd Crime Stoppers International Training Conference on Monday, indicated that the Marshal service provides training in capacity building for regional countries to help their law-enforcement agencies to be on the cutting edge in protecting themselves and the public institutions from the organised crime elements that are establishing root in the region.
David Wallace of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who gave a presentation on cybersex crimes at the conference, told The Gleaner that part of the Bureau's mandate at the conference was to prepare the region for what could soon be an onslaught of this activity.
He said while cybersex crimes are not prevalent in the Caribbean, it may be just a matter of time before it rears its ugly head. "We are working with foreign partners, with legal attachés, with people in 75 embassies across the world, including Jamaica," he said.
"One of the reasons we are here is to try to expand and to ensure that they (countries in the region) are aware of the emerging threat from international criminals from Eastern Europe, Africa, the United States as well, and ensure that we get ahead of the criminal syndicates."