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What About Crime Stupid II – Rest in Peace, Live in Peace

Submitted by Kammie Holder I am sad and why I am sad for the nut man has been killed by the gun of yet another thug. This is a young man who I have known for over 40 years, hard-working, a family man who was very ambitious and toiled everyday to provide bread for his…

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Submitted by Kammie Holder

I am sad and why I am sad for the nut man has been killed by the gun of yet another thug. This is a young man who I have known for over 40 years, hard-working, a family man who was very ambitious and toiled everyday to provide bread for his two kids.

What is more disheartening is that the gun is killing more than Covid and the authorities seem totally incapable of disinfecting our society of these callous thugs. Sometimes the end must justify the means, and sometimes we must temporarily give up our freedoms for the greater good of our society.

Bigger guns for law enforcement and harsher penalties will not deter a mindless thug who has no value for life from taking the life of another. These thugs need to be flushed out of every nook and cranny, for the casual callousness and bravado exhibited is worrying.

May I suggest, better usage of the eavesdropping technology to detect the source of these guns rather than tapping the phones of harmless mouth giants makes better sense. Are we seeing a failure in some specific area of intelligence gathering that needs plugging for we do not manufacture guns in Barbados. Why do we have to always wait until it really hits home to get real action on crime.

Common sense tells me our crime fighting measures are failing and needs new brains on board, innovative strategies, public consultations and ideas from public. The police may think they have a noosphere of knowledge on crime fighting but non of us are equipped with a catholicon for crime.

 

The time is right for community policing to embrace a volunteer force similar to the US and UK model where persons up to age 60 are trained and work alongside regular police officers. Perhaps, some will arrogantly as usual knock another idea without further exploration. We are not talking about the ill treated, disrespected special constable arm, we are speaking to a properly equipped new unit with its own chief.

Covid mitigation measures perhaps will cost us more than a well established auxiliary police force. Can we ignore or quantify the cost of not acting? Decreased investor confidence, travel advisories, increased healthcare, increased critical care cost and decrease tourist arrival will all lead to less FX for Remy hair and Hennessey imports.

Crime is everybody’s problem and who better to engage to help mitigate spiralling crime other than well vetted citizens among the masses.

Rest In Peace Randy, will be the retort of many but we must also Live In Peace.

93 responses to “What About Crime Stupid II – Rest in Peace, Live in Peace”

  1. Greene Avatar
    Greene

    @Baje

    General Mia she was referred to, according to Caswell- lol

    to the Hivers and those who pretend to be neutral, i just couldnt help myself there- lol

  2. GP Avatar
    GP

    to solve the crime problem in Barbados, I think we should bring in Mac Guyver

  3. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    @Baje

    General Mia she was referred to, according to Caswell- lol

    to the Hivers and those who pretend to be neutral, i just couldnt help myself there- lol

    Xxxxxxxxx

    MIA WAS SEEN ON ELECTION NIGHT MAY 2P18 CELEBRATING WITH AT LEAST 3 OF THE SAME MAJOR DRUG LORDS BEFORE THEY WERE INVITED TO PARLIAMENT.

    MIA KNEW HOW THEY MADE THEIR BIG DOLLARS SOME DONATED TO BLP CAMPAIGN WHILST THEY ALSO GOT PEOPLE OUT TO VOTE IN THEIR STRONG HOLDS.

    MIA IS INDEED A GENERAL IN THEIR WORLD AS THEY KNOW SHE HAS THEIR BACK AND WILL KEEP THEM OUT OF PRISON WHILST BIG BIG MONEY IS SHARED.

    MANY LOCALS ARE SO BRAINWASHED MANY CAN’T SEE THE EMPRESS HAS ON NO CLOTHES.

    SO THEY WILL CONTINUE TO SUFFER WHILST LIVING IN FEAR OF STRAY BULLETS AND MAYHEM.

  4. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    Correction

    MIA IN A VIDEO ON SOCIAL MEDIA WAS SEEN ON ELECTION NIGHT MAY 2018 CELEBRATING WITH AT LEAST 3 OF THE SAME MAJOR DRUG LORDS BEFORE THEY WERE INVITED TO PARLIAMENT

  5. David Avatar
    David

    https://www.gofundme.com/f/randy-selman-nut-man-home-going-memorial?utm_source=whatsApp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet

  6. David Avatar
    David

    On a blog dealing with a pressing crime problem and what do you and others do?

    Steuspe

  7. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Hal Austin September 26, 2020 10:21 AM “I am told it is now a crime in St Lucia to attempt suicide. I am not sure if they will send you to prison if you are successful.”

    Nonsense straight out of Roman Catholic belief.

    Abortion is also a crime there.

  8. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    On a blog dealing with a pressing crime problem and what do you and others do?

    Xxxxxxxx

    WE EXPOSE REALITY.

    WE ARE NOT PART OF THE PROBLEM ON THE ISLAND OR ARE WE ENGAGED WITH/IN CRIMINALITY ON THE 2X3 ISLAND.

    STEUSPE

  9. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Hal Austin September 26, 2020 10:51 AM. “Attempting to kill yourself is a heinous crime..? I wonder which mind this came from. Even Europeans got rid of that nonsense years ago.”

    What do you mean by “I wonder which mind this came from?” It came directly from the minds of the Europeans who colonised the Caribbean. They are the ones who wrote the laws making attempted suicide, male homosexuality [but not female homosexuality], and the termination of unwanted pregnancies illegal.

    Straight outta Europe.

    I’ve never believed that ending a pregnancy is either illegal or immoral…not once i learned that one of our neighbors attempted to end her unwanted pregnancy, her 4th, by taking rat poison. Sadly, maybe it is a good thing that she did not survive, otherwise her society which holds poor black women in deep, deep contempt would have charged her with attempted suicide and attempted murder.

    Yes stupid laws, straight out of Europe.

  10. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Donna September 26, 2020 11:28 AM “But if these boys are being used by persons high up in society, we can expect that nothing will be done because the lives of poor foolish little black boys don’t matter. They are expendable. What matters is that rich people make more money.”

    Most sensible comment so far.

  11. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Crusoe September 26, 2020 12:43 PM “…the dragon at the end…You want resolution, start with that. I gone though. I am scared of dragons.”

    I am a country girl and I know that if the tail of a lizard is cut off, it will grow a new tail.

    i am wondering, if we cut off the heads of the big shot gun and drug dealers, will they grow new ones?

  12. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Donna September 26, 2020 2:51 PM

    Steupse! The diseased mind is at it again. Republicans in the US are the biggest criminals.

    I don’t know Donna.

    i don’t watch much TV.

    But I endured a 2 hour wait at the doctor’s this morning, and the waiting room TV was on BBC.

    And looka what BBC said about Hal’s favorite city, “London is the center of international money laundering”

    if you are a drug or gun dealer, if you are a human trafficker, if you are a terrorist you will need to launder your money, and the banksters in Hal’s favorite city are always willing and ready to help.

    Apparently one of their favorite customers in on the FBI’s ten most wanted list

    And I sat there and thought to myself “nothing much has changed”. Was it not the same London banks which for hundreds of years provided banking services and other comforts to British and other European slave traffickers.

    The same thing now, except it is mostly not slaves, but drugs and guns, and the descendants of slaves are killing each other while the London banksters get richer.

    And fatter.

  13. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    @Sargeant September 26, 2020 1:10 PM “Dale spoke about the US authorities intercepting 18 high velocity guns that were destined for Barbados. Nuhbody thought to ask if Barbados was the destination who were they addressed to?”

    Is that where my little package went to?

  14. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Cuhdear Bajan,

    Heard long ago that London is the money laundering capital. But they love to blacklist us for a few pennies.

    The Dukkaran economist woman is correct that they discriminate against countries on the basis of colour.

  15. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    The problem with Greene is not with people pretending to be neutral. He has a problem when people identify and call him out on his trick of giving examples of BLP corruption in a weak attempt to prove the DLP isn’t.

  16. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    Cuhdear BajanSeptember 26, 2020 5:14 PM@i am wondering, if we cut off the heads of the big shot gun and drug dealers, will they grow new ones?
    +++
    The question is, WHO are the ‘big shots’. THAT may be your problem. Plus, how do you stop something that is internationally run?

  17. David Avatar
    David

    Overhaul the national consciousness
    The shooting death of Randy Selman, known as “the Nut Man” has resonated with Barbadians because the nation knows him. Not know-know him like how you know a close friend.
    But know him in the sense that many of us saw him regularly, and what we saw we took note of and were impressed by. Condolences to his family and friends who really knew-knew him. And condolences to the families and friends of all those who have lost their lives to gun violence whom the general public may not have known, whose deaths may have gone unnoticed.
    Do you recall the days when a shooting was big news, regardless of who was shot? Now, news of a shooting comes like a report of a burst water main. That may not be such a good analogy because it sometimes feels like we are a bit more concerned about the waste of water than we are about the waste of life.
    Or maybe it is not the waste of water we are concerned about. We don’t seem to mind wasting water as long as our own pipes still have water coming through them. God help those poor souls in the North. God help those poor souls whose lives are directly affected by gun violence. We also don’t seem to mind lives being wasted as long as those lives aren’t those we know-know, or love and we still have workers. In a colonial society like ours, people, citizens, don’t seem to matter so much as workers do.
    Randy Selman was special. He was known as a worker, the kind that we celebrate, an entrepreneur. He was seen to be productive and a fine example of the industriousness we claim to make no wanton boast about. If he was water, he would be the water that was well channelled, not the water flowing wild.
    Killed by the gun
    Many of the other people killed by the gun are seen more like water from a burst main. They only seem to concern the people who they are directly connected to. And further more, the assumption is often that they must have been flowing wild by choice anyhow, so them returning back into the earth is treated as almost natural and tolerated, like the run-off from the rain. But in a water scarce country rainwater not being collected is wasted water too.
    It was reported in the news that Selman began his profession straight out of St George Secondary School at 15 years old. This is another reason Barbados appreciated him, for making the choice not to run wild when so many others in similar situations make different choices. He channelled himself and many wonder why others don’t do the same.
    Yes, human beings may have more choice in the direction of their flowing than water does, but that does not mean that the pipelines which a person enters do not matter. The pipelines which we force our children through, the schools, the educational system are outdated, dilapidated and broken. The same for the pipelines that shape us throughout adulthood. They are at best not stemming, and at worst helping to cause, the wastage of human life.
    Yes, the water may be drying up at the source. Yes, the family structure, which is the reservoir
    from which human behaviour flows may need renovation. This only makes the national water management systems, and people development systems more important. It does not help that the pipes are made of lead and leaking or that the these systems are poorly designed.
    I don’t know about looking to import new people. I do, though, believe in putting as much energy and focus into fixing the broken people development systems we already have. Little tweaks like going republic or removing the 11-Plus, or removing Nelson’s statue are fine, but must be part of an overall initiative to overhaul the national consciousness.
    By national consciousness I mean, mine, yours, everyone’s. If you are a born and/or raised Bajan, you have been touched by the untreated intergenerational trauma of slavery and colonialism. Trauma does not sit quietly in the heart and mind of an individual. It spreads and travels like a rain of stray bullets, through time and space or water from a burst pipe.

    Adrian Green is a communications specialist. Email: Adriangreen14@gmail.com

    Source: Nation News

  18. John Avatar
    John

    It doesn’t matter how many big shots in the drug trade are disposed of, all that matters is the existence of a demand for drugs.

    The society is sick and it is all in the mind.

  19. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Quaker John

    Sorry to digress. But a few years ago we talked about the man, aged then in his 90s, who rode a bicycle up the hill in Providence. Sadly he has died, aged 101. He was a great Owen Arthur fan, the only blot on his enormous character. A long and noble life. May he rest in peace.

  20. John Avatar
    John

    Thx

    I’ll let my old cane cutter friend know.

    We often talk about him when we pass his old hang out at the corner.

  21. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    One can decriminalise the use and the sale of drugs. Perhaps that would take the big bucks out of it.

    There will always be crime because there are those who are just wrong’uns. They are in the minority. There are those who would rather die than commit a crime. Those two are in the minority. There are those who go with the flow or according to circumstances. Those are in the majority. If we change the circumstances of these people they will be law abiding citizens.

    So it is about minimising crime rather than eradicating crime. I believe it could be done with a holistic approach.

  22. BAJE Avatar
    BAJE

    ANOTHER YOUNG MAN DEAD IN THE NEW ORLEANS.

    “GIMME THE VOTE AMD WATCH MUH”

    STEUPSE

  23. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    COVID19 deaths per million population:

    San Marino 1237
    Peru 975
    Belgium 860
    Andorra 686
    Bolivia 668
    Spain 668
    Brazil 666
    Chile 660
    Ecuador 637
    USA 632

  24. Cuhdear Bajan Avatar
    Cuhdear Bajan

    Still some places reporting zero COVID19 deaths:

    Anguilla
    Bhutan
    Cambodia
    Dominica
    Eritrea
    Faeroe Islands
    Falkland Islands
    Fiji
    Gibraltar
    Greenland
    Grenada
    Laos
    Macao
    Mongolia
    New Caledonia
    Saint Barts
    Saint Kitts & Nevis
    Saint Lucia
    Saint Pierre & Miquelon
    Saint Vincent & the Grenidines
    Seychelles
    Timor Leste
    Vatican City
    Western Sahara

  25. UK Donna Avatar
    UK Donna

    7 With with underlying health conditions or old die in Barbados from Covid and read 4 die with dengie in St Vincent and 34 get killed in Bim. Here in london we may be going on a lockdown as the government seems lost.

  26. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    With crime and drugs, what about the Trini connection? There is a strong one.

  27. David Avatar
    David

    What is the similarity between New Orleans and the Pine where the last two gun murders occurred?

  28. David Avatar
    David

    Today’s Nation editorial.

    Gun crime worrying 

    COVID-19 HAS FORCED Barbados into focusing on two critical areas. The first has been how to contain a health pandemic which has the potential to claim many lives. The second is how best to respond to the tremendous economic fall-out which has left as many as 40 per cent of the working population unemployed.

    The violent gun crimes problem which was top-of-mind before the pandemic has, as a result, slipped below the radar as the political effort has been on getting a united effort to contain the health threat.

    During the national lockdown in the height of the pandemic, there was a lull in the gun crimes as people stayed indoors and there were fewer opportunities for street crimes.

    Whether the number of murders in 2020 is approaching the unprecedented and unacceptable 49 recorded last year is not the crucial point at this stage; it is the unrelenting shooting spree being reported too frequently again. It remains a worrisome situation.

    The brutal killing of popular small businessman Randy “Iran” Selman last Wednesday outside of his home in The Pine, St Michael shocked and shook not only those in his community but many others near and far. It was another senseless murder and reminds of the problem at hand.

    Regrettably, gun violence in this country is at an epidemic stage and this can be deduced from the number of incidents being reported with increasing frequency. Attorney General Dale Marshall may speak of crime overall ticking down, but shootings and murders have remained fairly consistent, and it is gunrelated offences which scare most citizens. It has the potential to undermine some of the initiatives to restore economic recovery such as the Welcome Stamp programme.

    The pandemic has exacerbated the financial stress and many people face undeniable hardships which may push some of them into criminal activities. That is a real risk some people may consider.

    This will require interdisciplinary studies by the sociologists, criminologists and others

    to look at the violent crimes and the negative impact on children, families and social services.

    Such an approach needs quick results, recommendations and implementation. The real challenge will be to get people back to work and not allow economic disparities to widen and ferment a feeling of hopelessness.

    As we envisage life after the crippling coronavirus pandemic, there must be concerted efforts in place to motivate citizens to support the police in greater measure in this fight against gun crimes. Asking people to come forward and say something about what they know simply has been unsuccessful, as has the threat of stiff jail sentences failed to be a deterrent.

    The police must win the hearts and minds of people in communities across Barbados even as they must enhance their intelligence gathering. Most importantly the Government must fill the numerous vacancies within the Royal Barbados Police Force. This is the ideal time given the number of qualified people in the job market.

    Regrettably, gun violence in this country is at an epidemic stage and this can be deduced from the number of incidents being reported with increasing frequency.

    Source: Nation

  29. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    The Nation article is honourable on the face of it. However, the obvious relationship between the drug trade and guns was not touched on.

    Nor that investigations have not been able to identify the real heavy men behind the trade. After years, why is this?

  30. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    ” Crime and violence”. Be careful what you pray for ,because you may get it. A prediction by Thompson? Or the inevitable outcome of emphasis on the wrong things.

  31. David Avatar
    David

    The point has been made repeatedly, Barbados is a small and incestuous society. Will leave the comment right there.

  32. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    Are we becoming a nation of violence? Or are we already a nation of violent people. I see several varieties of violence in Barbados every day. Gun violence is only one manifestation of hate and frustration in this society. We need to get to the fundamentals. I tend to agree with John. The society is sick and it starts in the mind. What are we,all of us, telling ourselves?

  33. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ David BU at 9 :56 AM

    Because Barbados is “small” and “incestuous”, are you going to spend millions of dollars to build offshore islands and import 80 K people ? How do you know that the offshore islands will not change the sea currents and remove the shoreline from around the original Barbados?. And that the imported stock of people will have a defective gene that would wipe out the original inhabitants?

    I just thought I would “intellectualize” the discussion a little bit . Lol !!!.

  34. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    As long as black on black killing stays in the impoverished areas………

  35. Vincent Codrington Avatar
    Vincent Codrington

    @ Hants at 10:49 AM

    Barbados is too small and interconnected to speak in terms of” impoverished areas”.

  36. David Avatar
    David

    @Vincent

    Hants in his inimitable way is not disagreeing with you. By associating the crime with depressed areas it confirms what we know.

    >

  37. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    @ Vincent
    So-called impoverished areas do not commit crimes. Individuals do. I remember, years ago, the police surrounded the Pine and everyone going in and out was searched. It was the most barbaric, brutal, piece of Eastern European policing that would make even the Chinese look liberal.
    And, as usual, there was not a single word said. I believe Hammy Lashley was the only person to speak out. We have a cultural interpretation of crime that says if you are black, unemployed, live in traditional areas then you are prone to criminality.
    In reality, it says more ab out the society than it says about the youths.

  38. Crusoe Avatar
    Crusoe

    The drug trade, I believe is half of the problem, because yes, some will turn to the drug trade to make money, because they need money, there is the other side, that the drug trade is pushed, because it makes a significant amount of money for those at the top. The trade also is international and with the volume of drugs spoken about, has to have serious people backing it, international people.

    The only way to deal with this aspect, is to work with international agencies to bring the culprits to justice.

    With the exception of that trade, there needs to be more done to develop communities, skills. However, the problem lies in getting people to do. Speak to tradesmen and many of them have difficulty getting an apprentice to work with them. No one is willing to spend the time to learn, to put in a few years of hard work to become a skilled worker, let alone the many years to become a master craftsman.

    This is where guidance is needed, from sociologists, not talk, but an implementation plan to get youngsters to open their attitudes to a different culture. But that needs to come from elders, who show a work culture.

    Not sure if you understand where I am coming from. It is not something that cna be solved in days, or months, but will take a few years to change.

    The focus is all wrong. I see the fetes and party cruises photos and I am appalled at what some of the girls wear. If I had a daughter she would not be going out so. What of the young men who see girls dressed so, as a viable partner? What are you thinking?

    We need to look at our standards. I am not hypocritical, do not believe in hiding things like the old colonial days. But at the same time, we need to have standards.

    My worry is that the situation on that front is too far gone. There are some great young people too, so there is hope, I hope.

  39. Raw Bake Avatar
    Raw Bake

    I would suggest that finding young people to learn trades and do apprenticeship is not a problem.
    Check with the BVTB.

  40. Raw Bake Avatar
    Raw Bake

    Getting many of them to work for what they consider to be peanuts is another matter.
    It’s far easy to sell wrapper and fanta. No?

  41. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Anyone falsely naming an antagonist as a coronavirus contact in order to force them to self-isolate can be fined £1,000, under new regulations coming into force today, which also ban pubs and bars from playing loud music or allowing people to sing and dance.

    The new offences are among a string of new restrictions included without fanfare in legislation published yesterday, just hours before they came into effect.

    And ministers came under fire from a former Conservative chief whip for failing to inform MPs and the public before they became law.

    Health secretary Matt Hancock was forced onto the defensive in the House of Commons by a string of Tory MPs who said the poorly-communicated offences were proof that ministers should introduce restrictions only after a parliamentary debate and vote.

    Former chief whip Mark Harper told him: “[These were] 12 pages of detailed laws, with lots of detail and criminal offences and duties – including duties on employers and directors and officers with serious criminal penalties.

    “That’s why we need to scrutinise the detail of the legislation before it comes into force and give our assent to it, not just allow you to do so by decree.” (Quote)

  42. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    CRIME PREVENTION

    A prominent attorney working on reform of disciplinary procedures for attorneys, says there are options on the table to help the profession root out corrupt members and continue to rebuild the name of the profession.

    Marguerite Woodstock Riley QC, who was called to the Bar in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, believes a suggestion to remove temptation from lawyers who may be prone to wrongfully use clients’ funds, particularly in land deals, could be achieved if two cheques were written, one in the attorney’s name for his fees and the other in the intended recipient.

    https://barbadostoday.bb/2020/09/29/qc-suggests-way-to-stop-lawyers-stealing-clients-money/

  43. TheOGazerts Avatar
    TheOGazerts

    Testing

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