Police to pay 'top dollar' for guns

ST. THOMAS - The V.I. Police Department is offering people with illegal guns the opportunity to turn them in to police with no questions asked and to get paid for doing so.

Police on St. Thomas will buy back guns on Friday and Saturday at the Virgin Islands Taxi Association offices near The Old Mill.

Assistant Police Commissioner Raymond Hyndman said police will pay "top dollar" for firearms turned in to the police.

Hyndman said the initiative was funded by a donation by a private business.

"This initiative is a little different in that a member of the business community advanced the funds," Hyndman said. "This is another way that we can remove guns from our streets."

Hyndman said he was uncertain how successful past firearm buy-back programs have been, but he reiterated that this initiative will pay more for the guns that past programs.

"They will get top dollar," Hyndman said, comparing the program to the many cash-for-gold brokers in the territory. "You will get more for your gun than you will for your gold."

Anyone with a gun, legally registered or not, can bring it to the Virgin Islands Taxi Association headquarters to turn in from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

"You can come freely to this venue and bring in your gun; we won't be asking you any questions at all," Hyndman said.

St. Thomas Police Chief Rodney Querrard Sr. said firearms will be examined and a price determined at the Taxi Association. Those turning in the firearm will then be paid for the weapon, and the gun will be secured.

Querrard said this also will be an opportunity for people whose firearm licenses may have lapsed to turn it in to police.

"If there's a burglary, that firearm could end up on the street," Querrard said.

"When transported here, we recommend that you secure the firearm in the locked trunk of the vehicle," Querrard said. "Take the opportunity. Let's get these firearms off the street."

Querrard said that if people transporting firearms to the buy-back are stopped by police for a traffic violation or other reason, they should tell the officer their destination and that the firearm is in the car. He said as long as they can show that they are on the way to the buy-back, they will not be cited for the illegal firearm.

"They will probably get a police escort," Querrard said.

Dee Baecher-Brown, president of the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, said the agency will serve as a third-party fiduciary for a $10,000 fund created for the gun buy-back program. She added that if more donors would like to come forward to support the program, the foundation will add them to the fund.

"If donors would like to help, we would welcome the assistance," Brown said

Brown called the initiative a "pilot program" that likely will be followed by a similar buy-back program on St. Croix.

"It's so dangerous to have unlicensed firearms in your home," Brown said.

Sen. Shawn-Michael Malone, whose office initiated the program after being contacted by a financial donor, said businessman Steve Mitchum made the $10,000 donation to begin the fund.

"We need more community assistance. Anything we can do to chip away at gun violence, that's what this program will do," Malone said.

Querrard said that, if anyone would like to turn in a firearm but cannot travel to the Taxi Association, they should contact the police department and arrangements will be made on a case-by-case basis.

- Contact Sean McCoy 774-8772 ext. 365 or email smccoy@dailynews.vi.

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