est. 2007

Barbados Underground

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Crime Wave

Against the background of a spike in the number of murders for 2019 – up by 200% compared to 2018 – the attempt by Deputy Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce to assure the public that although the increase in the number of murders for 2019 is a worry, the overall crime rate was down to…

Against the background of a spike in the number of murders for 2019 – up by 200% compared to 2018 – the attempt by Deputy Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce to assure the public that although the increase in the number of murders for 2019 is a worry, the overall crime rate was down to support his summation that Barbados is not gripped by a crime crisis.

The blogmaster understands the role Deputy Commissioner Boyce attempted to play in the prevailing environment. It is not dissimilar to what the late Prime Minister David Thompson, former Central Bank Governor Marion Williams and the late Supervisor of Insurance Wismar Greaves did when news broke that CL Financial in Trinidad had encountered hard times in 2007.

The time has come for Barbadians to accept that there is enough blame to go around to explain the current state that has seen 14 murders for the year. As the blogmaster is tapping the keys to post this blog there is a report of another shooting in the Black Rock area. On the ground what we are hearing is that gangs in Barbados have become very active in a fight for turf. This is not a situation that can be solved overnight by throwing security forces at the problem. There is irony in the memory of that time when the former Attorney General Maurice King pronounced that there were no gangs in Barbados.

We have to stop with the effusive rhetoric and political gamesmanship when discussing the escalating crime situation in Barbados.  The blogmaster sides with the view that politicians will say anything to be elected which conflicts with what is required to govern. Some people give the impression they revel in the crime situation unravelling in Barbados. A true Bajan cannot feel joy at this time

For many years the blogmaster has been posting about the weeds sprouting on our manicured lawns. Many then accused BU of being overly negative, yet here we are. Our education system continues to graduate children who are functional illiterates and lack the capacity to exercise logic and reason among other deficiencies.

Where do we come from here?

The blogmaster is aware that in every community across the island they are citizens who if they were to listen to conscience are able to expose the criminal elements to the authorities.  We have the opportunity to win back our little country by a few people doing the right thing. If as a country we fail to persuade those in our midst with information to share with the authorities, it will get worse. Is this the Barbados we want for our children?

182 responses to “Crime Wave”

  1. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    “you all like to waste time discussing US politics so why not spend some valuable time in solving Bim’ s crime problems even in theory”

    Come now @Greene, one discusses topics about which one has a strong interest…many of us ‘waste time’ discussing WI cricket too or how come Brazil got spanked so badly 2 world cups ago by the Germans, or when the Patriots will be beaten…lots of stuff over which we have absolutely no control…so that’s a total cop out!

    The point I pushed back to you was made by the Blogmaster basically: “…how […] we defend against rising gun and violent crime [is no easy] conclusion”.

    I suggest to you that many Bajan (brianiacs and others…we can go back to CoP Durant as a prominent example) have fleshed out many a plan to fight this issue but putting meat on bones does not by itself a healthy body make!

    This recent spate of killings is a singular series of events based on some specifics happening on the blocks but of course the overall drug and gang warfare is now a very well ingrained problem that no mere words will solve …with or without brianiacs ! We all have wonderful theories because too many counties and local naves have battled the same issues but effecting them is still not easy.

    Case in point ..just recently colleagues at a local school were discussing – no implementing- strategies which reminded me of those which had to be adopted by principal Clarke of ‘Lean on Me’ fame/infamy….so yes, the theories and constructs are known but in this local true to life movie I don’t see a nicely wrapped happy ending here!

  2. David Avatar
    David

    The blogmaster prefers self censoring, it makes for a more sustainable change in behaviour. Unlike you some of us live in hope that the impossible is possible. The nature of who we are is what it is, we have to coach the best out of people by appealing to their good sense.

  3. WARU, Crazy & Unstable, Hogging the Blog Avatar
    WARU, Crazy & Unstable, Hogging the Blog

    “cause according to Enuff in LaLa land…none of them are qualified or have the requisite expertise and qualifications or specialities to do the jobs themselves…”

    and that includes addressing corruption and crime waves..

    Although they all LIED and said on the political platform that they were all qualified to run the country….so next election…Mia and all the other political parties will have to FIRST …tell bajan voters…just how many millions of taxpayers money they will need to spend on consultants once elected..before they start with the lies and self promotion of how qualified they are…..since we all now know that none of them are qualified to manage any country…without qualified consultants….

    wuh if Mia is reelected…she will have to recall the same consultants..at taxpayers’ expense…cause neither she and the others will be specialized or qualified in 4 years 3 months.

    And the beauty of this is…Enuff & Co can’t even tell me ah lie…lol

  4. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ William,

    Well said. The blog needs direction, not only in terms of politics, but generally. What do we know about the White Oaks deal and why have we not fully discussed it? What about Venezuela and the ‘neutral’ CARICOM position? What about a proper discussion of crime policy? Snide remarks and deference to orthodoxy do not make for mature discussions. Then there is the vulgarity.

  5. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    David,

    Change the blog to that dry stuff and many will go elsewhere. You can learn plenty from BU if you look for it. This is not a site for academics. The good stuff is mixed in with the fluff. Most people do not have that kind of attention span for long dry discussion.

    And so I ask you, David – what is your target audience?

    I am not one to gossip much and extreme vulgarity is not my thing BUT those who are dissatisfied need to do their own thing. and cater to the audience they prefer. Why stick around and moan?????

    Or have they already tried and failed???

    #wanttoborepeopletodeath

  6. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    The target audience frequents BU daily. Unlike a few on the blog who have a lot of time on their hands, the BU household is a hectic place. We have neither the time or appetite to review comments and delete based on some subjective view. When that time comes we will close the blog.

  7. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Having some fun fretting some Englishmen on BBC sports. Some of them are actually blaming the pitch, saying we prepared the pitch to suit ourselves and that the pitch was lousy, pushing the limits of cricket pitches. I didn’t see an uneven bounce, just bounce available to taller bowlers.

    These are the things that annoy me about certain people of the colonial persuasion. They think we should prepare facilities to suit them as though the cricket field is some hotel!

  8. Barbados Underground Whistleblower Avatar
    Barbados Underground Whistleblower

    @ GP

    The violent and drug trafficking criminals in Barbados also feel more emboldened when they saw Mia after the election on a video on Social media that I later copied on BU from Facebook smiling and socialising with three of the main Barbados druglords including Nigel Bounty Pinder.

    Five of the main drug lords plus well known trickster and drug trafficker Reggae Promoter Freddie Hill were also invited to Parliament.

    What messages do you think is being sent to boys on the blocks who is seeing this?

    In Trinidad the current Prime Minister Rowley fired one of his Ministers who invited a known drug lord from his own constituency to a Function at the President’s House.

    All standards in Barbados have broken down and the blocks are intelligent enough to see the COLLUSION.

  9. WARU, Crazy & Unstable, Hogging the Blog Avatar
    WARU, Crazy & Unstable, Hogging the Blog

    “Or have they already tried and failed???

    #wanttoborepeopletodeath”

    Lol..lol

  10. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Donna March 2, 2019 4:40 PM

    Having some fun fretting some Englishmen on BBC sports. Some of them are actually blaming the pitch, saying we prepared the pitch to suit ourselves and that the pitch was lousy, pushing the limits of cricket pitches. I didn’t see an uneven bounce, just bounce available to taller bowlers.

    These are the things that annoy me about certain people of the colonial persuasion. They think we should prepare facilities to suit them as though the cricket field is some hotel!

    OFF COURSE THEY DO
    THEY HAVE ALWAYS CHANGED THE RULES TO SUIT THEM

    SOON THE RULES WILL BE AMENDED TO STATE THAT TALL FAST BOWLERS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO PLAY AGAINST THEM

    I HOPE THAT THEY DONT EVEN REACH THE SEMI FINALS IN THE WORLD CUP

    I LOVE TO HEAR THEM GROAN AND MOAN WHEN THEY LOSE

  11. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Barbados Underground Whistleblower March 2, 2019 6:25 PM
    I AGREE WITH YOU 100%

  12. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    It’s amazing we talk about the need to change and rethink our approach . We speak about the political class impotence and a simple suggestion to the blogmaster is scorned!
    BU has a readership that surpasses any blog based in our country. It would be in our interest if it at least tries to focus more and attract the thousands of young minds , that we say are in need of direction.
    Let us not say “ we like um so” because it serves our purpose.
    I certainly did not suggest it becomes a “boring” blog. Quite frankly I do enjoy most of the contributions.
    I am plesantly amused by those who say if you don’t like it to go somewhere else. Reminds of returning nationals especially from England, who used to be told to leave if they complained about anything.
    We want change once it does not upset our comfort levels.
    Yep, they used to complain about the then creeping crudeness and incivility that was emerging; they used to complain about poor service, they used to complain about our addiction to lateness.
    They were told they were mad and longer fitted into the “culture”.
    Now look wuh happen. I say no more.
    Thanks.

  13. William Skinner Avatar
    William Skinner

    Should be “ no longer fitted into the “culture”. My apologies.

  14. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ William

    It has been ever thus. To really see what Barbados is like, just go overseas and look back. When you are in a little hole and all you can see are the people crowding you, you get a different picture. It is what I call Plato’s Allegory.
    Remember the little German girl who was kidnapped and held in a badly lit room for years; when she got out she had realised the world had moved on. Barbadians cannot help looking back – to colonialism, to slavery, to Barrow, to the good old days. We punch above our weight.
    They are scared of the unknown, of the future, of the unfamiliar. They find comfort in learning by rote, repeating the same thing over and over again, the better they do the more they think they are ‘educated’.
    They are like people in an asylum who believe they are free, until they notice the waves washing up on the shore are in fact keeping them (and their minds) imprisoned.

  15. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    Image, no caribbean nations manufacture guns or ammunitions, yet , the society is awashed with these deadly instruments.

  16. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    The spread and upsurge of fatal gun crime across the region is a trending phenomenon over the last fifteen years. Only a few islands are the exception( eg. Dominica and Grenada). And if it continues like it is, they too will become victims sooner or later.

    The irony in all of this, is that, our economy is built on tourism. And gun violence and tourism don’t go together.

  17. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    I sincerely hope this current murder spree is an aberration or a blip going forward. We must do everything in our power to nip it in the bud before it becomes normalised.

  18. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    How many people in Barbados attend lectures and who attends them? I attend lectures (and watch those I miss on Say it Again on CBC) and I can tell you the audience is usually small and made up of the same old educated people. If you try to start a serious conversation with the man on the street he tires quickly. You can continue to make your contributions in your own way. I enjoy reading them and often agree with you. (That’s for William not Hal.) What I am trying to say is that the average reader whom David might be trying to awaken will not be drawn in by you and Austin. Even I, though at first startled by the delivery, after being informed by Bush Tea that I was in a rum shop came to understand what BU is about. I grew up with rum shops in my village and often fell asleep to the sounds and I must admit that I miss them. Pearls of wisdom were often shared along with plenty of nonsense and when they wanted a dispute settled they turned to my father as the voice of reason.

    A few pearls of wisdom are still shared here found in the midst of plenty of nonsense but even a village idiot should have a voice Villages worked when that was the case.

    The purpose of BU may not be to thrash everything out in one day but to plant seeds that grow gradually in the minds of the average man.

    I remember a pearl of wisdom I received from a co-worker who wore 1970 s clothes and an afro long past the sell by date.

    One day I asked him why he wouldn’t replace his beat up briefcase and he said –

    “You Bajans take the last hundred dollars out of your purse and buy a better purse. Then you walk around showing off an empty purse.”

    That follows me around every time I go shopping. I never looked at spending money the same again. It took a while for my habit to change but I have arrived!

    The years of dry financial lectures did nothing.

    Two Bajan style dry wit sentences eventually did the trick.

    By the way, he was a man who frequented the rum shops.

  19. David Avatar
    David

    @Donna

    You are a very smart person

    You could have substituted purse for Apple phone.

    Some things never change.

  20. David Avatar
    David

    @fortyacresandamule

    You are scarce as Freundel on BU these days?

    Any ideas the initiatives we should be taking to arrest the problem?

  21. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    GP,

    Most of the Englishmen rejected the idea though. There is still hope.

  22. Talking Loud Saying Nothing Avatar
    Talking Loud Saying Nothing

    Interesting debating going out. Sadly, I cannot contribute as I’m about to visit the north of the island. Check the links below.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-47419535

    https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34487450

  23. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    David,

    They may not change for everybody but they change for some. I have planted that seed win my son and boy can he save! He thinks before he spends but still has a group of friends with whom he shares freely. I am amazed at the friendships that he has managed to build and how strong they are. These young people share everything they have with each other. Freely without keeping an account. My son has friends who, on getting a vacation job rush to buy him Christmas gifts and one who has left school and is working handed over a wad of cash he had in his pocket on a chance meeting “because he missed his birthdaY.” All these young men say it is because my son shared so freely with them when they needed it. There are some girl friends who do the same. And so my son is thrifty without being stingy. Perfect!

    The distrust and selfishness that does not allow us to work together in business enterprises is not evident with these young men and women. I see many positives in these.young people. They give me hope.

  24. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    seed in

  25. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    @David. Fruedel, LOL! Your too funny. I am still in the house.
    Like most social problems, crime and violence is complex in its causation and requires a multi-prong attack in its curtailment. Gang violence and its attendant of gun homicides, focus of attention should be placed on these two main areas in my opinion :

    A robust antigang legislation with teeth. Someting along the line of a RICO legislation. Follow the money. However, I am not naive, more easy said than done. Along the same path the police service will need its own reforming.
    Border protection should be top prority.The security architecture at the port, where most of the illegal guns enter the country, should be revamped. All containers entering the country should be scanned. Port security personels should all under go fit and proper check along with polygraph testing.

  26. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    If the people want guns, they will get guns. If the people want drugs, they will get drugs. I have heard that the gang warfare is more prevalent when the police manage to intercept too many drug shipments. I hear that the gangs then steal each other’s drugs and therein lies the problem. I learnt this from a hairdresser with bashment clients who anxiously await the proceeds of the sales.

    We will never eradicate the drug trade. What we can do is reduce the number of participants in it by providing opportunities for those who see no other option. It is about managing the level of crime rather than eliminating it.

  27. fortyacresandamule Avatar
    fortyacresandamule

    @Donna. I agree, crime will always be here with us. However, this recent upsurge in gun homicide violence should be vigorously stamp out and not allow to become the norm. Becuase if we don’t , dog eat our supper.

    In the late 90s, St Kitts was marred by gang and drug violence. The authorities at the time turned a blind eye or think this will just pass away. It never did. st Kitts murder rate is one of the highest in the world since.

  28. Fractured BLP Avatar
    Fractured BLP

    It is indeed amazing that Dale ” Smiley ” Marshall had all the answers to Barbados’ crime situation prior to May 2018.

    So much so that on Kadooment Day 2017 – when there was unwarranted gun violence on Spring Garden – this same Dale Marshall berated the then AG Adriel Brathwaite , and told all and sundry that Brathwaite ain’ t have a clue about solving Barbados’ crime situation.

    Now , between January 1 2019 to March 19, 2019 – the same Dale Marshall as AG has presided over – 19 MURDERS !

    And all he has done is to , SMILE , more !

    Retribution !

  29. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Fractured BLP

    I hope you realize the name “Fractured BLP” you used to ridicule the BLP back-fired, because you’ve now become a “FRACTURED and DECIMATED Democratic Labour Party.”

    You even elected the three (3) time loser Verla DePeiza to lead your party and she is “painfully” struggling to address serious issues.

    now, would you please tell BU what policies either BLP or DLP administrations could implement that would prevent a man from “putting on a mask” and going into a village to shoot, rob, kidnap, rape or assault an individual, breaking into a house, car jacking or committing any other serious crime?

    Better yet, tell BU what Adriel Brathwaite would have done to prevent the 18 murders In Barbados so far for this year?

    I’ll remind you to read your DLP’s 2008 and 2013 manifestos and come to BU to inform us what policies and promises relative to the crime situation contained therein that were implemented or fulfilled.

  30. Fractured BLP Avatar
    Fractured BLP

    Asstax

    The least you say about DLP policies the better for you.

    You need to address that the FACTS that the BLP had all the answers before May 2018 – and now 9 months later their CHICANERY has been exposed !

    Even Jeffrey Loss – tic is waking up to the fact and lamenting that even his City constituents are turning their backs on him !

    That’s the RETRIBUTION for the LIES & PROPAGANDA the Blasted Lying Party (BLP) fed their supporters wid !

    Tek dat in yuh tail !

  31. Mariposa Avatar
    Mariposa

    Lol
    But aint that the Truth
    Lies Lies and lies
    Boy the chickens coming home to roost.
    Not good

  32. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    Fcuktured BLP

    The typical yard-fowl…… you did not address the substantive issue, but went on to write political rhetoric that you’re famous for spewing.

    But we all know you’re an expert in “the fundaments of chickens coming home to roost,” because you likewise experienced
    “RETRIBUTION for the LIES & PROPAGANDA the Demonic Lying Party (DLP) fed their supporters wid”…….

    ………. when you were “OVERWHELMINGLY” and “RESOUNDINGLY” REJECTED by the ELECTORATE (including your SUPPORTERS)………. 30-0 at the polls on May 24, 2018.

    BTW, wuh part Fumbles Stuart, Chris Stinkliar, Todd, Bandit Chaser Irene, Esther Buyer-Suck-who, Denis Lowe-down and de rest uh DEM gone?

    Uh know uh cud go to Moontown and find Kelly; de Pitbull duz be getting more drunk in he bar; Michael Lashley busy representing de ZR and mini-bus men (dat he gave PSV permits to for small fee); and the USA’s judicial system ALWAYS KNOW wuh part Donville “it can’t be business as usual, bring solutions” Inniss duz be (thanx to the ankle bracelet)……

    …….. but wuh part de rest uh DEM gone?

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