Police in Barbados send warning to criminals

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados police have warned of a crackdown on criminal activities after the island recorded three murders so far this year.

Barbados recorded 50 killings last year.

“It has not been comforting from the perspective that 13 days into the year, we have three homicides, we have instances of robberies, we have had youth crime, and we have had some concern about the whole area of roads policing. I say roads policing because it is perhaps one of the areas we have to emphasise at this meeting,” Acting Commissioner of Police, Erwin Boyce, told a news conference.

“Three homicides, and from our preliminary investigations, they were interpersonal violence and intentional,” he told reporters, insisting that Barbadians must not be made to feel they cannot go about their daily business without being anxious or living in fear of crime.

Boyce said that for the most recent murder “investigation of the matter is in the embryonic stage…we have assembled a team . . . to do the investigations and to make sure that every area of concern is unearthed.

“What I am saying to those persons who think they are strong enough and bold enough and brazen enough and brash enough to do these things, we are going to get you. We are going to get you; The Barbados Police Service is going to get you; and we are going to get you sooner [rather] than later.”

Boyce said that there is no place for such callous antisocial behaviour where gun-toting individuals are going around shooting people, indiscriminately.

“So, whether there are influencers who are driving people to commit certain behaviours, we are pursuing the investigation to take care of all persons who are in some way connected with the commission of the offence,” Boyce said, promising that the police would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the streets of Barbados are not taken over by criminals.

“We are going to pursue those matters with the kind of robustness that is required to make sure that Barbados remains a safe place; that there are no ‘no-go areas’ in Barbados; that people don’t have to be going to a petrol station and looking around; that people don’t have to sit in an area and be anxious whenever a vehicle passes. “That is the thrust of the investigation, to identify and to get the perpetrators of those matters,” Boyce said, addressing also the heightened use of vehicles to commit serious criminal acts.

“We recognise too that crime is very mobile, and that vehicles are being used in the commission of serious crime. It is important that we get our road policing up to the level that we need to in order to protect not only the persons on the road, but to identify those offences, and to take the necessary action in relation to infractions or violations on the road.”

The acting top cop said the visibility of mobile patrols and the strategies they use to tackle issues of concern will continue in earnest.

“While we want to zero in on those persons who are offending on the road, we are also paying special attention to those motorcyclists, who from time to time, have been creating traumatic experiences for other users of the road. So, from a road policing perspective, we are going to be very focused on bringing back some order to the way we do things on the road.”

Boyce said that the police service considers an especially worrying development where, so far this year, some “very young” men appear to have taken up crime as an adventure or a way of life.

He said said while the police officers will play their part in tackling crime, every citizen must contribute to the ongoing effort to create a safer Barbados, advising residents to adopt a “see say” attitude to crime, where information can be shared with the police anonymously.

“What we need to emphasise at this exchange is that what you see, what you know, we need to know and we need your eyes. We need to ensure that every person understands their role in the fight against criminal activity. It is not only for the police to gather the evidence because we believe that is reactive. It is for us to work with you in a proactive and a preventative way, to gather the information from what you see and what you know.”

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