Of interest to many coming out of Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s press conference yesterday was government’s planned response to the number of murders which have surpassed 2023. See BU’s Homicide Tracker on the sidebar.
The crime situation has been a worry for many years and although full blame for the decline in law in order in Barbados cannot in fairness be ascribed to government, it is a major stakeholder in the process of maintaining law and order.
For example, the amendment to the Bail Act should have been completed by now even if the drafting had to be outsourced or prioritised over several other pieces of legislation enacted. The increase in violent crime – specifically the number of murders – is symptomatic of serious social dysfunction in the country. It is obvious to many of us it there is no quick solution to arrest the problem, the fact there is no coherent comprehensive plan to tackle the problem is not comforting.
There are a few issues commonsense indicates should not be politicised with crime being one. Given the current state and the inability of successive governments to fight crime this blogmaster is suggesting the Barbados government declares a state of emergency for an initial period of 3 months. During this period the courts will work 24 hours, police leave will be cancelled, ports of entry will be manned or supervised by an elite group selected from the Barbados Police Service and Barbados Defense Force, check points established to frisk and search, curfews to be used strategically, assets seized from criminal activity to fund victims and significant rewards for information to locate crime bosses, expand a covert program to co-opt former gang leaders to assist in the fight. The blogmaster is not 100% comfortable with the last suggestion but difficult situations require hard decisions.
The point: government and support entities in Barbados must take draconian positions to arrest crime if we are serious. On the flip side we must create programs to assist households and families struggling with managing at risk behaviour. The job of the social practitioners must be elevated above doctor, lawyer and engineer using the mantra many hands make light work.
It does not matter the grandiose economic plans of government, we must return Barbados to a state where a single murder is big news. If we are unable to send a strong message that a criminal or lawless act will be dealt with harshly, we will continue spinning tot in mud.
At the root of our problem is that we are a people who lack discipline. Unfortunately it is a characteristic of Western culture and the liberal democracies we subscribe. Recently the blogmaster read how Japan was able to maintain ‘spotless’ streets without having garbage cans. In a word, it requires relevant laws that are enforced without favour to fashion the right behaviour in citizens, to develop the right culture – see article Why Japan’s streets are spotless.
The blogmaster is known to be an optimist BUT is feeling pessimistic regarding proposals made public by the prime minister yesterday. We need to get active as a country, the proposals signal more of the same which translates to the crime situation worsening.
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