It is up to individual funeral homes to ensure they have adequate security in light of the increasing crime and violence, says president of the Barbados Association of Funeral Directors, Ian Griffith.
In the wake of a man being gunned down outside a funeral home in June after viewing his brother’s body, and a stabbing incident last year at another, he said funeral homes must treat security like any other
business would.
“As long as you have persons traversing in and out of your business, you should have security methods that would ensure the safety of the employees as well as the safety of those persons who are visiting the business,” Griffith told the DAILY NATION recently in an interview.
“There’s no great difference between funeral homes and any other business when it comes to security, not in the society that we are in right now.
“Any person who runs a business that will have members of the public traversing in and out of their business should have security as a very important aspect of their daily operations.”
The president said the association would not mandate its members to get security officers or closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, though those were considerations given the current climate.
“I think that is a matter of individual preference for the particular funeral homes. There are some methods of security that funeral homes can engage in. You have things like CCTV cameras and . . . doors that wouldn’t make it easy . . . for persons to come in and out of the building. So those are pretty standard security measures that any business should take,”
On June 26, Rashawn Brathwaite, 27, of Valley Land, St George, was shot multiple timesas he was leaving
St Hill Funeral Home, Civilian Road, Bush Hall Main Road, St Michael, after viewing his brother’s body.
Last October, Romel Andre Williams, 42, of 2nd Avenue, Edey Village, Christ Church, allegedly stabbed his uncle, 63-year-old Trevor Devere Bradshaw, at Paramount Funeral Home in Hindsbury Road, St Michael, during a viewing of the body of Bradshaw’s brother, Williams’ father.
Bradshaw subsequently died and Williams was charged with the killing.
Griffith said while those violent acts were shocking, they were indicative of modern society.
“Are the [killings] at the funeral homes any different to any shooting at any other area of the community? I mean, when we consider what has been happening in our society right now across Barbados, whether or not it was at a funeral home, we’ve had in the past, over the years in Barbados, such incidents happening at business spaces or close to business places, like entertainment centres, restaurants, food places. So I don’t think it’s any different, like I said, to any other business with regard to how it came about. I don’t think we are any different.
“That is the society that we’re in right now, unfortunately, so measures to curb or protect would definitely be the wise thing to do,” he said.
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