Amid a record wave of gun violence, with 23 shooting deaths recorded so far for the year, The Barbados Police Service is already seeing results from its strategic deployment in community hotspots, Commissioner of Police Richard Boyce has revealed.
The police service is actively adapting its operational strategies in response to evolving criminal trends, the top cop said as he appeared on Tuesday night’s Government Information Service In Focus programme, which examined maintaining law and order in Barbados.
“We have been successful so far in taking 49 firearms out of the hands of criminals so far for this year, and when you look at last year, we were able to take 22 firearms; so we see that increase, massive increase of taking weapons and ammunition off the hands of the criminal element, and we are continuing those types of efforts to bring the situation under control,” he revealed.
Despite being significantly understaffed, the constabulary has strengthened its capacity through support from the Barbados Defence Force, Commissioner Boyce stressed.
“That has worked tremendously well for us. We are an organisation now who are 200 persons short, manpower wise, so BDF… on board and partnering with us has made our job much easier. We’ve been able to put persons in certain locations to address these issues. Currently we are looking at roughly five major groupings or gangs of persons, so we have persons in locations that would bring the situation under control. We have been making some tremendous successes over the past couple of weeks and months, I must say,” Boyce added.
The police chief pointed to the wider regional context and the impact of firearms-related violence amid the ongoing fight against crime.
“If you have looked through the Caribbean and further afield, you find that law enforcement officers, they are fighting similar battles where crime and criminals are concerned, so we are on the right track to see how things are going. Even though we see an increase in the murders this year, by six compared to last year, there is an overall point that shows us that we are managing crime in totality with a reduction.”
He added: “We know that firearms can develop into multiple incidents, multiple crimes, when a man or whoever it is discharges a firearm. You’re looking at roughly 15 plus shots, so you can see the mark of collateral damage that can occur when a person’s discharged firearms.”
Efforts were under way to further stabilise crime hotspots and reduce violent activity through targeted operations and partnerships, Commissioner Boyce further revealed. “We have put the analysis in place. We have deployed persons to go out there and work with us. We have partnerships with various agencies in Barbados and further afield, and those things are working for us.”
Also appearing on the programme, Minister of Legal Affairs and Criminal Justice Michael Lashley highlighted the increased presence of the police and army as part of efforts to maintain order in affected communities.
Lashley said: “Police officers along with BDF soldiers are on the road to ensure that there’s peace and that the law and order is kept in Barbados. In terms of community policing, we’ve actually now looking to see how we can redevelop it and make it more palatable to those communities that we call the hotspots.”
The recently announced gun court will be designed to fast-track firearm-related cases, he added, while not giving a timeline for its establishment.
“This gun court basically now will be there to hear matters that are related under the Firearms Act, particularly possession of firearms, matters that are related to gun-related offences.”
Lashley stressed that the government’s focus is on swift justice and reducing court delays as part of the wider crime reduction strategy.
“How are we going to engage the police, engage the community at large, we want to have a one-nation approach, and that is what you hear me sometimes speak about harbouring. Because if the whole of the nation is on board, we cannot tolerate a small section of society who believe that it’s right to harbour persons who are really impacting on the safety and welfare of Barbados and Barbadians. We want safe justice but how are we going to ensure it?”
He added that a multi-pronged approach is essential: “I think that’s what Barbadians are really calling for, obviously, is really immediate interventions and long-term interventions with respect to how we’re going to treat the issue of gun violence in this country and public safety and public welfare.”
“The question of engaging civil society, engaging all of those agencies that can impact and of course, touch those persons who are at risk and those who we want to keep away from the criminal justice system; those who are within the criminal justice system, when they come home, how we’re going to treat them so that they will never ever again touch the criminal justice system.”
Criminologist Cheryl Willoughby pointed to the wider social impact of gun violence, particularly on men in Barbados.
She said: “We have a situation where over a five-year period, you have 240 men being murdered between 2020 and April 2026. It tells you that we have a problem because these men were fathers. These are men that were brothers, these are men that should be contributing to Barbados’ productive sector, but they’re deceased.”
Willoughby also highlighted a strong link between offenders and family involvement in crime.
“Fifty-seven per cent of those inmates who were incarcerated or on remand for either murder or some gun-related offence, had other family members who were also involved in similar offences. We had 29 per cent for murder, meaning family members who were previously involved in serious crime, 20 per cent for firearm-related offences, 14 per cent for robbery, so 80 per cent of incarcerated relatives were males and involved also in serious crimes.”
The findings pointed to a clear intergenerational pattern of offending, said the government crime researcher.
“It means that these young people are coming from environments where serious crime is normalised.”
Willoughby stressed the urgent need to address underlying value systems within society as part of any long-term solution to crime.
(LG)
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