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Whether considered official or not, the most important thing is that crime and particularly homicides have increased markedly under this BLP regime, for multiple years.
Therefore it’s the trajectory which is vastly more important than whether this current increase is merely a massive but temporary spike and therefore would be unrepresentative of the lower but upward trends continuing for a full year.
The writer needs not seek definitional, political, pretense. Underlying the expansion in crime is the failure of this regime, and the one to follow, to address causation at root. It’s maybe the best indicator of the state of the economy regardless of what the nebulous numbers may say.
The only ray of hope is that, per population, the country is not yet as bad as some neighbours. We fear this dissimilarity will not hold.
WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN WHEN ALIGN WITH DRUG DEALERS WHO ARE MONEY LAUNDERERS?
JUST ONLY HAVE TO LOOK AT THE JAMAICA OR TRINIDAD MODELS.
There have been eight murders for the year. One has been domestic and one by foreign workers. One seems to be committed within a family. The other five all follow an identical pattern. Obviously , like it or not, the majority of these murders seem to be gang/ drug related. This pattern is similar to murders occurring throughout the region. Another similarity is the demographics of these murders and the response ; frequent repetitive statements by Prime Ministers ? Attorneys General ; church leaders etc. One country has declared a soft state of emergency , that is focus primarily on known criminals and criminal activity, concentrated , it appears, in specific areas.
It clearly shows that the region is failing to fight a common problem. There is no “ray of hope” anywhere and regardless of statistics the effect of these murders have an exponential effect throughout the region wherever they occur. In other words citizens are now forced to expend limited financial resources on modern home security tools that act as deterrents . This puts a financial drain that inhibits expenditure on other needs.
We cannot continue to lodge all socio economic problems in feel good responses. We have a regional crime problem that can only be effectively addressed by an all out war on the perpetrators and the underlying causes of the problem.
Agreed William. Like it or not, negative or not, it will get worse.
Pacha disagrees!
For there are countries in the region with long lasting high crime rates, high murder rates.
In the case of Barbados, and speaking based on the statistics, the average number of murders in Barbados over recent history has been about 30.
And yes, there have been in more recent years several deviations from this mean.
In these circumstances, and unlike the unsophisticated approaches of William Skinner and his new best friend here, it will be markedly easier for Barbados to reestablish those normal rates of murders than countries like Jamaica, for instance, which has had a deeper history of high crime or Belize which has a similar population to Barbados but has had, for many years, murders as high as 160 per population and as low as just under 100.
Those here, including rasssoul Willian Skinner, so rooted in the simplistic, have failed to advance any discourse beyond the simpleton’s. These broad assertions are always aimed at converting readers to the ignorance, like religion, of yes or no, good or bad, evil or good.
Per usual, we’ll expect your every rejoinder. ‘I ain’t so’.
@ Pacha
Who on earth will disagree that it might be easier to bring down the number of murders in Barbados than in other countries with larger sizes , populations and more murders ?
However you do present a relatively interesting response in relation to Belize.
Perhaps, we should find out what Belize is doing to contain its murder rate.
@William
Belize has implemented many policies and initiatives suggested here and elsewhere to attack crime. It is the reason the blogmaster is not optimistic about Barbados achieving success because we are not serious about implementing major reforms although it must be said one side does not fit all.
Here is what can be found on the Internet.
1. Targeted Law Enforcement Operations
• Operation ACT (Addressing Crime Together): Launched in 2017, this initiative involved increased police presence in high-crime areas, strategic checkpoints, and targeted operations against known gang members.
• Intelligence-Led Policing: Belize has improved its crime data collection and analysis, allowing law enforcement to anticipate and respond to criminal activities more effectively.
2. Community Policing and Gang Interventions
• Conflict Mediation: Authorities have worked directly with gang leaders to broker truces and reduce retaliatory violence, especially in Belize City, the epicenter of gang-related crime.
• Youth Engagement Programs: Community-based initiatives provide alternatives to gang involvement, focusing on education, vocational training, and mentorship.
3. Regional and International Cooperation
• Partnerships with CARICOM, the U.S., and Mexico: Belize has collaborated with international agencies for intelligence sharing, training, and resources to combat transnational crime networks.
• Anti-Narcotics Operations: Crackdowns on drug trafficking corridors, especially those linked to Mexican cartels, have disrupted major sources of violence.
4. Judicial and Penal Reforms
• Stronger Prosecution Mechanisms: Reforms aimed at reducing case backlogs and improving conviction rates have helped deter violent crime.
• Prison Rehabilitation Programs: Efforts to rehabilitate offenders rather than just incarcerate have shown promising results.
5. Socio-Economic Initiatives
• Poverty Reduction Programs: Addressing the root causes of crime, such as unemployment and lack of opportunities, has been central to Belize’s long-term crime reduction strategy.
• Urban Renewal Projects: Investments in infrastructure, housing, and public spaces have helped reclaim areas previously dominated by gangs.”
You in your own inimitable way have totally missed the point. We’ve grown well accustomed to such.
As long as the murders and shootings are limited to ordinary Bajans nothing will be done.
@Hants
Maybe but it probably has more to do with a lazy approach by many leaders in civil society to problem solving.
BELIZE SHOULD NEVER BE COMPARED TO THE 2X3 ISLAND DUE TO IS LOCATION AND CLOSEST NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES.
MEXICO WITH ITS CARTELS ARE AMONG THE HIGHEST KILLERS, PRODUCERS OF NARCOTICS AND SELLERS IN THE WORLD.
Belize is situated on the northeastern coast of Central America, bordering Mexico to the north and Guatemala to the west and south, with access to the Caribbean Sea to the east; its high death rate is largely attributed to factors like prevalent gang violence, particularly in Belize City
Drill down on the killings. Each killing is a separate story and reason and is not just an accumulated total number and has a victim and a murderer both with a name and has a narrative details how and why the crime was committed, another point to make is people who kill others would also readily kill police who try to stop them.
@ Pacha @ David
Why share such info with @Pacha. Is he aware that Belize has just recorded its lowest murder rate in ten years.
@ Baje @Pacha
@Pacha conveniently forgot such well known facts/factors. He also conveniently forgot the size of Belize when compared to Barbados.
@William Skinner February 5, 2025 at 8:55 am “There have been eight murders for the year. One has been domestic and one by foreign workers. One seems to be committed within a family.”
3 of the murders for the year have been committed by intimates:
On January 2nd my kinsman Antonio Rochester, 50 died by truck. His STEPSON Omel Waldron has been arrested and charged with murder.
Pedro Benico a migrant worker died by a bladed instrument on January 14. His NEPHEW John Hernandez has been arrested and charged with murder.
Ebony Downes-Tempro, 19 died on January 25, allegedly by a bladed instrument. It has been reported that police are questioning a 25 year old man, allegedly the father of her two children aged 1 year and 1 month. No reports of who is caring for the two very young children who are likely to have lost both parents even before they can say “dada” or “mama”
My understanding of these 3 are that these are domestic violence incidents even though 2 did not take place at home. My understanding of domestic violence is that it occurs not only at home but at any place. And that is occurs not only between husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend, but between 2 people who have or have had any kind of familial relationship.
I expect that these domestics are much more difficult to prevent than “gangster” murders.
David, this debate is always interesting bcz it’s topically and it’s affecting society, and of course it fills us with dread. We generally feel safe in our own homes etc but when bullets fly in the streets any of our friends or family can be targets: so qaaqit’s scary.
But these chats invariably just cover that sensational scary aspect and side step realities.
Although of course there are lessons to be learned in crime fighting from all sources it’s impractical to cover regional homicides with one crime prevention ACT [addressing crime together!), as Jamaica’s situation is not ours nor can Belize nor TnT.
I agree that it’s shocking to EVEN mention the vastness that is Belize, with those surrounding neighbors in same breath as Bdos… our similar pop size is totally irrelevant.
From Belize City on Caribbean Sea coast to other major city Belmopan in interior may be just over an hour on a good travel day but a few hours more and you are in Guatemala and hours further north or south is smack into Mexico or Guatemal as noted. How can that nation be compared to Bim re crime prevention!
Long story short let’s stop all the hyperventilating and (to your credit) focus on the factors (drugs, govt apathy, changing societal practices drugs and massive influx of guns, govt apathy, youthful indifference, politicians using the drug mafia to their benefit, political apathy- did I mention that). that drive these murders.
You get the point!
We are too small for this status quo to continue because eventually it will include the deaths of very innocent folks …
THIS can be solved with draconian measures … there is no will to do so.
@Dee Word
Nothing to add.
William Skinner
You are intelectually dishonest.
Yes, we were well aware of that lowest number. 87 or 94 depending on who one believes. For the commissioner of police the garífuna Chéster Williams, attorney general and the government have given one number while the opposition spokesman, senator and former attorney general Michael Peyrefitte has been like you in arguing for the higher number.
We hope the above would show that there is always deeper knowledge about every rasssoul Pacha talks about, not like you! We’re surprised that even you would stoop so low to achieve a gotta moment. Pacha is impervious to these cheap tricks.
But again William Skinner you are, like a man in the streets, missing the rasssoul point and mis characterising land size in the incidence of murder, like only you could have. These mere statistics cannot, by any developed mind, be considered in isolation. We have to look dynamically at a whole range of factors for causation.
For Belize has a population of around 400,000. Barbados has a population of around 300,000. Jesus Christ man, even if we assume 87 murders that is still about 37 more than Barbados with a similar population.
When another demographic indicator is added to the equation, the land size of Belize vs Barbados for example, 166 miles squared verses nearly 9,000 miles squared, even the man in the street could see that the Belize homocide rate, in the last and lowest year, is still about 65 percent over Barbados’.
Indeed, the size of Belize per population, as a demographic factor, should mean less murders should be committed as opposed to Barbados where people are confined to Saint Michael and Christ Church mainly, these being the highest contributors. Even given, that a high number of murder in Belize occur within a section of Belize City. Belmopan being the political capital.
Skinner, you’re a waste of time. Have the last words.
Stray bullets are flying at gas stations. Where do the family members of politicians get their gas?
Any one of them could have caught a bullet at Kirtons, at Charles Rowe Bridge, at Sheraton Centre, at PALMETTO SQUARE outside the House of Parliament!
In fact, MP Sonia Browne stressed on the floor that, “This is coming too close to home. My daughter was at Sheraton the day before the shooting.” She also referred to an incident at Blades Hill as too close to home.
There has been another shooting at Sheraton Centre since the one to which Dr. Browne referred, more wild west than the first, which was up close and personal.
I remember too, a woman who was killed by a stray bullet at Eagle Hall.
It is not as though the politicians and their families are not at risk.
I’M TIRED OF ALL KILLIN’…
NO POLIETICIAN, LEADER OR CRIMINOLOGIST HAS THE ANSWER TO VIOLENT CRIME
Murder begins with the “RED RAG” in our mouths – called, #TheTongue!!!
More “MURDERS” are committed everyday by the use of the tongue than with all the weapons of war!!!
Thus, as opined by “SCRIPTURE”: “OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF A MAN’S HEART – HIS MOUTH SPEAKS…” (Luke 6:45)
So “STINKING, ROTTING, FESTERING GARBAGE” (in) – “MURDER OOZES, SEAPS & SQUIRTS (“out”)!!!
Surely then, “VIOLENCE & CRIME” are symptomological of a “HEART CONDITION” which in reality is a “MATTER OF THE HEART”!!!
If the “LOGIC” naturally follows, then for a surety, if “HEART MATTERS” are not addressed in a person’s life – the weight of what they carry will “SEWER SPILL OVER” into what we just witnessed in the Risbergska School in Örebro, Sweden with the “RABID” & untimely “EXECUTION” of 11 individuals!!!
For out of men’s heart come “EVIL” that metastasizes in the “TONGUE” (A HELLISH INFERNO OF SERPENTINE FIRE), then given the charred wings of a fallen dragon will unleash “DEATH & DESTRUCTION IN ITS WAKE”!!!
You can teach all the “CRIMINOLOGY” you want – nothing will change until the “HEART ISSUES” are sorted…
THIS IS WHAT THE ACADEMIC LITERATURE SAYS – (WITH ALL DUE (misplaced) RESPECT 2 THOSE WHOSE JOB IT IS 2 FORMULATE STRATEGIES THAT ARE PISS-POOR IN THEIR RUDIMENTARY IMPLEMENTAION STAGES)
Criminologists work assiduously to address dangerous crimes like murder, but the complexity of these issues often makes solutions challenging to implement and sustain… (THIS IS ALREADY THE CHECKERED FLAG OF DEFEATISM)
The reasons why definitive answers or quick solutions are elusive are as follows:
1. Complex Causes of Crime
Crimes like murder are often rooted in a combination of social, economic, psychological, and environmental factors, such as poverty, inequality, mental health issues, substance abuse, and lack of education. Addressing these root causes requires long-term, multifaceted strategies. (GREAT WORD SALAD* THAT HAS TOO MUCH OF 2 MANY THINGS WHICH ULTIMATELY LEADS 2 INDIGESTION)
2. Diverse Societal Contexts
What works in one community or country may not work in another due to differences in culture, legal systems, and resources. Policymakers must tailor solutions to specific contexts, which can slow progress… (THE AGEOLD ARGUMENT OF DIFFERENT STROKES 4 DIFFERENT FOLKS – AN OXYMORONIC, JACKASININE CHAIN OF DRIVEL THAT PUTS 2 BED ANY MODICUM OF POSSIBLE CONSENSUS)
3. Political and Resource Constraints
Politicians often face competing priorities and limited budgets. Funding for crime prevention, mental health services, and education may be deprioritized in favour of other issues. Additionally, political polarization can hinder consensus on effective policies… (MORE CLAPTRAP OVER THE MUNDANE NATURE OF HUMAN HARMONIZATION & CLEARLY THE LACK THEREOF GIVEN THE VAUNTED PROPENSITY OF MEN TO DUCK, DIVE & DECEIVE IN A MORBID QUEST 2 PASS THE BUCK)
4. Limitations of the Criminal Justice System
The criminal justice system is reactive, focusing on punishment rather than prevention. While incarceration removes dangerous individuals from society, it does little to address the underlying causes of crime or reduce recidivism rates… (HERE IS THE CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF THE MELTING ICE CREAM TOWER OF BABEL [a Babylonian edifice] OF MASS CONFUSION, MASS HYSTERIA & MASS FEBRILE PSYCHOSIS UNDERGIRDED & UNDERPINED BY CRIMINAL MINDS WHO WEAR LONG ROBES & SAY LONG PRAYERS)
5. Evolving Nature of Crime
Crime trends change over time due to technological advancements, societal shifts, and new challenges (e.g., cybercrime, organized crime). Keeping up with these changes requires constant adaptation… (WE LAY CLAIM 2 PUTTING A MAN ON THE MOON (if at all possible given the planetary science) – HOW IS IT THEN THAT KEEPING ABREAST OF EVOLUTIONARY TRANSMORGRIFICATIONAL CHALLENGES CANNOT BE MET WITH SUPPOSED TECH SCIENCE AT OUR DISPOSAL) #MoreCRAP
6. Public Perception and Fear
High-profile crimes often lead to public outcry and demands for immediate solutions, which can pressure politicians to adopt punitive measures rather than evidence-based, long-term strategies… (THE LIMP-WRISTED SISSIES WHO RUN OUR WORLD – (#BottyBOYS & #MuffDIVINGSistas) WHO CELEBRATE THEIR RIGHT 2 PERFIDIOUS, IDOLATROUS, SERPENTINE WORSHIP – BELIEVING THAT IN THEIR RANCID, WRETCHED STATE OF MIND THAT THEY CAN PROFFER JUST LAWS BASED ON TWISTED MORAL VALUES) #WhatACROQ*
7. Research and Data Limitations
Criminologists rely on data to understand crime patterns and evaluate interventions, but data can be incomplete or biased. Additionally, ethical considerations limit the scope of certain studies… (NO AMOUNT OF MATHEMATICAL MODELLING WILL CHANGE A DAMN THING OR TO USE THE WORDS OF THE BLOGMASTER [#MoveTheDIAL*] IN ANY SIGNIFICANT MANNER, FOR IT IS JUST BARS, CANDLES ON A COMPUTER SCREEN THAT MEANS DIDDLEY-SQUAT IN THE INCANDESCENT LIGHT OF DAY)
8. Balancing Rights and Security
Policies aimed at reducing crime must balance public safety with individual rights. For example, increased surveillance or stricter laws might reduce crime but could infringe on civil liberties… (THE WOKEARATI HAVE CREATED THE PROBLEMS SO ENTRENCHED & INDEMNIFIED WITHIN POSTMODERN SOCIETY – A HELLSCAPE WHERE MEN FIGHT THE FIRES OF HELL WITH A WASH CLOTH & A TEA TOWEL)
9. Global and Systemic Issues
Some crimes, like those linked to drug trafficking or terrorism, have international dimensions that require cross-border cooperation, which can be difficult to achieve… (#OneName: “NAYIB BUKELE”)
10. Prevention vs. Reaction
Preventing crime is often more effective than reacting to it, but prevention efforts (e.g., education, social programs) take time to show results and are harder to measure than reactive measures like arrests…(POST-WAR INDUSTRIALIZATION & THE RAPID EXPANSE IN THE LAST 80 YEARS HAS SEEN A QUANTUM LEAP IN HUMAN & SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE – YET THE TORTOISE OF MORAL EQUIVALENCY IS ON A SLOW DEATH MARCH 2 THE GATES OF HELL)
CONCLUSION:
What Can Be Done? (OF ALL THE QUESTIONS – THIS BLARRING ACCEPTANCE OF THE FACT THAT ALL THESE SO-CALLED GOOD FOLKS DO NOT HAVE A DAMN CLUE)
So they conclude that while there are no easy answers, evidence-based approaches can help reduce violent crime:
(a) Investing in education, mental health services, and economic opportunities.
(b) Implementing community policing and restorative justice programs.
(c) Addressing systemic inequalities and improving access to resources.
(d) Strengthening international cooperation to tackle transnational crime.
Ultimately, reducing dangerous crimes requires sustained effort, collaboration, and a willingness to address both the symptoms and root causes of violence…
IF MY GRANDKIDS ARE GONNA’ SPEND 100 GRAND TO LEARN THIS KINDA’ SHYTE* THEN I AM BETTER OFF SENDING THEM 2 FIGHT IN THE NEXT, UPCOMING UNJUST WAR* THAT IS SOON 2 BE FOUGHT FOR CLEARLY LIFE HAS NO VALUE BEYOND A CHICKEN THAT IS SLAUGHTERED FOR SUNDAY LUNCH!!!
#YetGodFORBID
#WhatAWorld
#Heavens2Betsy
#MutuallyAssuredDestruction (M.A.D.)
Donald Drumpf is at it again.
On violence, he’s signed a presidential statement about which Shannon Davis would be quite proud.
A executive order denying visas to transgender athletes to the 2028 Olympics, people who are biologically one thing but self define as something else, though some will continue to assert that matters are not always so clearly defined.
From Obama to now, every Bajan PM, especially Mía Mottley, has soborned the violence of transgender, biologically male athletes competing again women in wholly unfair and violent contests – an opportunity for murder.
In boxing for example, real women have been mauled by such pretend women wearing g-strings panties around large stones, up front and centre. One real female boxer pained this writer when she complained that she had never been struct so hard, that the power of her transgendered opponent was overwhelming.
Every violent thing the wokeists have done seems to have taken rights away from women. These feckers have even made every spoken word an article of faith.
We couldn’t even describe women breast feeding as we’ve always done. Orthodoxy required us to say some shite like ‘people are chest feeding’. As though men or others have ever done.
Drumpf is right to so act. While the criminal progressive wokeists are to be eternally condemned for opening the door to this abomination merely as a means of covering up their criminal past and by which empire sought to distract the gullible from its decline.
Well spotted yet again Pacha…
Bad as he is, Trump has been empowered by the abject idiocy of the alternatives in the Republican, and especially in the democratic parties.
….somewhat like how Froon, Stinkliar & DLP company set the stage for the 60-0 mess we now have – (not to mention the shiite Altar they built at the Garrison…)
What a bunch of brass bowl clowns.
From gender equality to gross sexual deprevity, to trans gender criss crossing and weirdoes ‘identifying’ as various objects, things and concepts, ..these jackasses have been SO GROSSLY offensive and obviously possessed, that average voters were FORCED to pinch their noses and refrain from voting, …or even to vote for an even BIGGER jackass – BUT WHO CAN AT LEAST SEE THAT BULLING IS SHIITE.
(in OUR case, for someone who could at least speak coherently – even if the words meant nothing meaningful)
What a world nuh!!!
Isaiah 1-4 details a vision of a future time that was revealed to Isaiah.
With uncanny accuracy, it says the the time would come when wisdom will be taken away from the world. (There is ONLY one source of REAL wisdom), and it then outlines the consequences in vivid detail…
It will be dread in Babylon…..
Worth a read…..
Allow me to come from a next angle.
I am always amused at how Bajans run around the mulberry bush and start comparing themselves to other nations.
Unable to solve any of their problems, they look for others who are in the a similar situation or worse off and say “we are not the worst”.
Hopefully, they will one day examine their complete collection of ‘not the worst’ trophies and say ‘you know, we suck on several measures’.
It is only then that we will star solving our issues.
Women are being attacked from both sides. On the right they are dying from lack of access to D & Cs and even necessary abortions. On the left they are being attacked and exposed to violence by transgenderism.
While we are praising Donald Trump, we should remember that he has taken control of women’s healthcare decisions, enabled forced birth on rape victims, even young girls, and recently signed an executive order making it easier to escape the consequences of rape on college campuses.
What this suggests to me is that it is stupid and dangerous to embrace extreme ideology of ANY kind.
One side is intent on depriving women of full adult human rights. The other side is trying to bestow women’s human rights to the gender confused males. I sympathise with the abnormal, but we cannot upend the normal lives of the ninety-nine percent of normal people for the one percent abnormal It makes no sense. I don’t see supermarket shelves lowering themselves for short people to be able to reach the top. Some crosses one just has to bear.
However, as a black woman, it was two strikes against when it came to Trump. And with Democrats, I believed that common sense would eventually be restored. Because transgender women rapists in women’s prisons would have exposed the stupidity, as it did in the UK.
If legally we accept them as women, then there is no valid reason to keep them out of women’s prisons.
The inconsistencies are too glaring to be sustained.
Not to mention, when you give identification and change birth cetificates to acknowledge transgender females as females….how’s a man supposed to know to whom he is getting married? Another test to accompany the STI tests, I suppose. This is a recipe for disaster!
And yes, it probably played a part in the defeat.
Thankfully, I believe our government is well aware that the accommodation of transgenderism is the one thing that could hand the reins to Ralph Thorne.
Barbados is not an island! It exists in a world where crime too has been globalized.
Murder international inc. Indeed, we’re told about a case where an alledged killer could have been transnational.
These mouthings that answers to any questions are to be purely domestic in character are fanciful.
Such people, who prefer myopia, should comfort us by telling us, for example, that violence on TV is not a factor within the Bajan culture. Or economy, as another example.
The country will do best by opening its eyes to all the forces driving violence and the best measures practiced everywhere to control it.
@ David It is telling that of the top 20 countries with the highest homicide rates in the world 12 are from the Caribbean. Even territories like Turks and Caicos has one of the highest homicide rates per (100,000 population). This suggests to me that this is a Caribbean-wide cultural problem which is not even confined to independent countries, therefore the political climate might have little to do with it.
Based on my personal observation, Caribbean culture has degraded further in the last 25 years or so. Has anyone on this blog ever heard of memetics? Memetics is the study of memes. Memes are defined as “Ideas that are passed from one member of society to another, not in the genes but often by people copying them.
In the period 1980s-2010s the Jamaica had the greatest cultural influence in the Caribbean. During that period, Jamaican culture in itself went downhill because of several factors; economic collapse in the 70s, inequality, lack of educational attainment, substance abuse. This cultural degradation is often referred to by some Jamaicans as “slackness”. The sad thing is as Jamaican culture got more “slack”, it’s influence increased throughout the rest of at the same time. This cultural change also happened in other Caribbean countries who’s economies performed much better than Jamaica’s over the decades.
This slackness phenomenon can be seen in the rise in music promoting sexual promiscuity, violence (including shooting people for disrespecting you) and literally doing anything to acquire cash.
In recent times there has been a another development. Some of the most popular artistes and well know gangsters among the youth in Barbados and the Caribbean aren’t from Jamaica any longer but from Trinidad, know as Trinidad, since they sing about what is called “badness”.
These developments has led to a culture where a significant portion of parents (who grew up in the 1990s) have no moral compass and neither do their kids. This is worrying in a social media driven world where the peer pressure is pointing boys toward badness.
Cultural change cannot be reversed in a short time span, but we can start with holding parents accountable.
@General
The comment made by you is equally relevant to this blog and the worrying crime situation in Barbados. In the same way China has created the leadership, culture of excellence; discipline etc is also true for Barbados but in the reverse given our indiscipline, lawlessness etc. Where is the opportunity to believe the situation can improve in the prevailing environment?
@Pachamama There is no argument on that point between you and I. Read my last point where I said that the future viability of Barbados’ economy will depend on services and research.
The reason is simple. Research and Development is one of the few areas where you can acheive global competitiveness with a small population, given that you need to reach scale.
Developing AI models is an R&D process. People marvel at the fact that DeepSeek only costs $6 million to develope. This might be true, however, Deepseek is a story about how science and technology research and education in China is much more broad and acessable in China than it is in the U.S.
The $6 million does not take into account the years of investment in Chinese science Education by the government and the open research culture that exists in Chinese business clusters. DeepSeek’s sucess comes after years of state and private investment in people and institutions.In the coming education reforms, I propose the creation of a center of excellence for science and technology (in a small country like Barbados you only need one.). It will take the best and brightest science students at the 5th and sixth form students and prepare them for the future so that when they reach Univesrsity level a culture of innovation already exists.
@General
Caricom as you are aware declared crime a health crisis if that is the term. The problem is that we have not seen measures implemented across the region to communicate the serious of our predicament. It seems like business as usual for the most part with political actors preferring to execute political to accrue popularity. Then again this is the business of politics.
At last we have an emotion free response to some Caribbean issues. As we have often stated, if the foundation for developing our citizens has outlived its usefulness we need to confront this reality.
Anybody who has been paying close attention to our socio economic malaise, would know that our educational system is as much responsible for crime as any other factor.
In order to develop a progressive national psyche, we must have an education system geared to such a goal.
We have the intellectual and human resource talent, throughout the region, to transform the system , but we have chosen to expend it in other areas .
It all comes back to our mirror image: how do we see ourselves and more importantly how do we think.
To put it very mildly: any system based on elitism can only produce elitist thinking.
@David The ironic thing is, although that aspect of the culture has spread like a cancer throughout the Caribbean, many Jamaican do not endorse it.
Most Jamaicans who recently moved to Barbados that I have met are hard working, focused, family oriented law abiding people. They have come to Barbados to earn a higher income. Their sons can’t come near them with that gangster talk.
@General
Not sure about your last comment given the crowd Vybes Kartel pull at his last concerts. Understand early bird tickets going almost gone for Barbados.
So what do countries like Iceland Japan and New Zealand have that we in the Caribbean don’t? Besides the lowest crime rates globally that is.
You can start with EXTREMELY HARSH GUN LAWS THAT ARE ENFORCED. This speaks to persons caught with guns as well as crimes committed with firearms. Justice is swift and dam serious in these countries when it comes to these offenses.
Most of these murders and serious crime are gun related here. If illegal possession and use of the firearm had a more serious cost to the criminal than the robbery or 3rd party wounding or death of another, what would be the case then?
Anyhow let’s keep talking while the bodies keep falling! After all talking is what we are best at.
@Pachamama February 5th at 2:57 PM “…Barbados where people are confined to Saint Michael and Christ Church mainly, these being the highest contributors.”
3 St. Michael
2 Christ Church
1 St. Lucy
1 St. Philip
1 St. Thomas
@Terence Blackett February 6, 2025 at 7:08 am “Murder begins with the “RED RAG” in our mouths – called, #TheTongue!!!”
Nope you are so very wrong.
All 8 of the murders in Barbados so far this year; and more than 90 % of the murders in Barbados and worldwide are committed by MALES.
So murder begins in the TESTICLES.
But our “authorities” in Barbados and worldwide are still mostly male, so the male authorities seem afraid to offend their male “brothers” and to do what is necessary to stop or reduce the murders.
Please note also that old men, those over the age of 60 or 70 or so, and who have little testicular power left rarely commit murder.
@Terrence Blackett at 7:08 AM “Crimes like murder are often rooted in a combination of social, economic, psychological, and environmental factors, such as poverty, inequality, mental health issues, substance abuse, and lack of education. ”
But women and old men also suffer from poverty, inequality, mental health issues, substance abuse, and lack of education, in fact it may be argued that women and old men suffer MORE from these problems and yet women and old men rarely commit murder.
Why?
You do have a way of trivializing a serious problem.
@Donna “…how’s a man supposed to know to whom he is getting married?”
Folk wisdom advised
Never buy a pig in a poke.
I hope that artificial intelligence has not over rider this ancient wisdom.
Re: the British rapist who claimed to be transgender still possessed male genitalia as of February 2023; and further his own mother said he had never expressed to her any desire to be female, and his estranged wife said that she had noticed no femaleness in him.
So just another bad behaved MALE.
@David February 7, 2025 at 12:12 am “You do have a way of trivializing a serious problem.”
When did truth speaking become trivial?
If we do not properly define a problem, how can we come up with a serious solution?
We act as though murder is a universal problem.
It is not.
Truthfully women [and old men] rarely murder.
Murder is a problem created and sustained generation after generation, and across all national boundaries, religions, and political systems almost solely by males.
You may have the last word.
@ Cuhdear Bajan,
If we castrate men as you appear to be alluding to. Where will you find your next conquest or should I say virile ZR conductor or driver.
Over the last few years, in rhe UK, we have witnessed a spate of female murderers whose victims have been almost 100% male.What say you?
General and Terence have outlined the broad causes and inculcated culture is a significant part of the root issue.
However, the catalyst for all of this violence is the rise over the past twenty years of gangs and the narcotic drug industry.
The gangs, connected with international gangs renowned for violence and strongly intertwined with the narcotic industry, are by definition, violent.
It is what they are, just a a bird flies, as a fish swims.
Together with the heavy rise, both in Barbados and internationally of the narcotic industry and use, where the lords demand their pound of flesh, it is inconceivable that we can expect any other outcome, than a rising murder rate.
While Terence has outlined necessary progressive measures to actually build a culture of civilisation, before that is done, the only priority is to eradicate the gangs and the narcotics trade and the lords involved.
There is literally no other solution.
Draconian measures may, or are likely to be necessary.
But it must be done.
We have been here before, and we acknowledged some years ago that gangs are a significant problem that must be addressed.
Alarm over sale of mock guns
Concern is being raised as some local merchandisers are selling toy guns, some of which resemble the real thing.
A woman, who requested anonymity, said she was shocked when she went into a store in Wildey, St Michael, and saw toy guns which replicated real guns such as Glocks and the AK-47.
“I was shocked because I also sell toys at Christmas and two years ago I brought in toy water guns but they were confiscated by the Customs officer who told me that they were not allowed. So to walk into a store and see a gun marked Glock and AK-47 on display and looking like a real gun with bullets was shocking to me. I want to know if there are different rules for people who own stores and those of us who are considered roadside vendors.”
Investigations revealed that several stores, such as iMart Pharmacy & Convenience Store and Shop Now Home Supplies Barbados, the Wildey, St Michael store where the toy guns were spotted, were selling these play guns in abundance, ranging from $25 to $150.
The Weekend Nation reached out to Assistant Commissioner of Police David Griffith, who said the sale of the toy guns would be investigated. Two police officers did visit Shop Now Homes Supplies and inspected the toy guns which were displayed on two shelves. The boxes also contained replicas of grenades and bullets with shell casings.
A man at the store, which sells exclusively China-made products and who identified himself as the manager, said the toy guns had been sold there “for quite some time”.
Sales, he added, were good and the products were selling like “hotcakes”.
One of the toy guns bore the name “Glock” on the gun after the Austrian-manufactured brand polymer-framed semi-automatic firearm. It was being sold at $28.65. Another, selling at $53.55, had the name AK-47 written on the box and also shared the stylings of the real Soviet-designed assault rifle.
When shown the photographs, a retired police firearms expert told the Weekend Nation: “By the look of these, I can see them being confiscated.
They appear to fire a projectile and if so, according to the Firearms Act, they would be classified as a firearm,” he said.
He quoted the Act which states: “A gun or other barrelled weapon of any description from which any shot, bullet or other missile may be discharged, whether or not it is at any particular time capable of being fired.”
A senior lawman also told this newspaper police had no powers to confiscate the toy guns and it would be a matter for the Customs Department.
“The image of the Glock would concern us as it replicates a real weapon, but the police would only get involved if it were purchased and used by an individual in the commission of a crime, or even if it was pointed at someone who believed it was real and feared for their life.”
A firearms expert, who was associated with one of the gun clubs in Barbados, also expressed concern about the replica Glock.
“It is the right size. The only thing is that the bar is slightly bigger. It has the size, it has the same width, it has the same Glock logo and the indentations seen on the Glock,” he said, as he placed his licensed weapon next to the toy gun. The only difference was the colour.
He said: “Honestly, if you paint this gun black, that would pass as a firearm. If you pull that on me at night I would think it was a firearm. That would pass as a firearm – it looks realistic. These should not be selling. I question how they got into Barbados.”
When contacted, Comptroller of Customs Owen Holder said the matter would be investigated by Customs enforcement officers.
“There are certain conditions that you can import a toy gun under. If it makes a noise and emits an object, then it is confiscatable but it must be able to emit something. If it does not make a noise or emit an object, then it is not illegal.”
Last December, Dennis de Peiza, general secretary of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB), called for the sale of toy guns to be banned, charging that they were a gateway to children eventually graduating to utilising illegal firearms. (Nation News Desk)
REAL GUN
TOY GUN The toy gun which resembles a Glock is selling at Now Barbados Home Supplies for $28.50. Gun experts say it resembles the real weapon down to the size and indentations.
At left, is an image of a real Glock. (Picture by Reco Moore.)
Source: Nation
YOUTH ‘UNREST’
SCHOOL COUNSELLING ‘INADEQUATE’ TO TACKLE RISING YOUTH VIOLENCE
By Sheria BrathwaiteThe national guidance counselling programme is “inadequate and too weak” to address the alarming increase in student violence, including stabbings and assaults on teachers, former president of the Barbados Association of Guidance Counsellors, Saul Leacock, has warned.
Citing an overworked and understaffed counselling system as a key factor in the escalating crisis, he suggested there was a great need for specialist counsellors. These challenges, he said, were hampering the school’s ability to effectively deal with the students of today, who, according to him, are more restless, angry and depressed.
“Children are becoming more and more aggressive, and it has a lot to do with the fact that children are unhappy. They are not satisfied with a lot of things, he told Barbados TODAY on Thursday. “There are many factors responsible for children behaving aggressively. One is what they see within the home. Children of that nature who are involved in fights and so on, come from a depressogenic environment where there’s a lot of fighting and quarrelling and cursing and lashing out at the parents.
“They are not happy with what is happening within the home; sometimes it’s parental violence against them, sometimes they’re not getting what they want, like a specific gadget or something like that, and sometimes it is that they feel that their needs are not being met.
“Sometimes it is what they see with who they hang around with on the block; how the significant others in their lives, other than their parents, that is their friends, how their friends deal with situations and anger management.”
Leacock said these factors had a considerable impact on young people and that was why many of them were acting out at school and engaging in violent activities such as stabbing their peers and assaulting teachers, which he noted was on the rise.
Last school term, there were several reported stabbings at various secondary schools and even an attempted stabbing at a primary school. On Tuesday an altercation between two students at the Barbados Community College ended with one of them suffering stabbing wounds.
There have been several student-teacher assaults between late last year and this week, with a student punching a female teacher at Coleridge and Parry Secondary School in her face, teachers have told Barbados TODAY.
The president of the Barbados Union of Teachers confirmed that he had written to the principal to discuss the matter.
Against that background, Leacock said the national guidance counselling programme was inadequate and too weak to effectively respond to rising youth delinquency.
He said guidance counsellors had a lot to do under their purview such as teaching Health and Family Life Education, which involved sexuality sessions, drugs, anger management; crisis intervention; and providing counselling on a case-by-case level for various issues involving career guidance, developing work experience programmes, setting up career showcases, welfare problems and deviant behaviour. What exacerbated the issue, he added, was that in most cases there was only one counsellor to several hundred students.
There are 21 secondary schools in Barbados and only two of them — St George Secondary and St Leonard’s Boys’ — have two counsellors each.
Leacock suggested that counsellors needed specialised training to deal with students with behavioural disorders and psychiatric problems.
He said: “Guidance counsellors are overworked, they are overloaded… they need increased manpower. . . Some schools have one counsellor to 800 or 900 students . . .
There are about 29 counsellors and they are divided into guidance counsellors and school counsellors and then you have safety officers.
“At some schools, you need at least one guidance counsellor for two year groups, some schools have up to six forms. Two year groups can be a lot of challenge, especially third to fourth form, those are the ones that like to defy. Then we need trained experts to deal with children who have mental challenges and disorders. Then they are some who have a little more than that like schizophrenia tendencies and some are bipolar. So there is a need for more guidance counsellors and training in specialised areas.”
Leacock also said he was deeply concerned that the schools had a playground for students to express delinquent behaviour, adding that what was more worrying was the fear school children seemed to be instilling in adults.
“The schools are the location of expression because they don’t want to be seen as soft or don’t want to be bullied,” he said. “They feel that if somebody embarrasses them or incriminates them, they, without control, have to respond. Apparently, it (teacher assaults) is on the rise and I am sure counsellors are getting more cases with violence and aggression. They feel that they have something to vindicate, to show they are tough or a force to be reckoned with, that is the situation with the young people in general.
“Sometimes children are defiant, have oppositional defiance disorder or some suffer with conduct disorder and therefore they can’t control themselves. They have the sort of mentality of let me see what you are going to do if I don’t do what you tell me.
If they are stronger and look bigger than some teachers, they want to retaliate, they don’t fear consequences. Teachers may be [too] frightened to report to the principal or the ministry and the parents are frightened for the children too. They are not afraid of anybody.
“Some of them lack consequential thinking and the significant others (people they look up to) are resorting to permanent solutions to solve temporary problems. That is stabbing to death or being involved in fights that can be injurious.”
This was problematic, he said, because these students when they left school were continuing their deviant behaviour and went on to commit crimes.
“Some of them are being paid to commit crimes and they get good money too,” said Leacock. “Some people are lending some, [aged] 17, 18 and 19, guns in order to perform their operations; the police spoke to this. Some of the young people have no control and the parents cannot tell them anything, let alone the teacher or somebody else and they will deal with you if you attempt to correct them.”
With a better and more equipped guidance counselling programme in place, along with stronger parental support and education, Leacock said the situation among the youth could be improved. He therefore called on the relevant authorities to implement a multipronged approach to tackling delinquency among young people.
“You do have a way of trivializing a serious problem.”
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What do you expect from a ‘Simple Simon’ – whose main achievement is to catch decent ZR vans, …and grumble incessantly about not having a man….
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