18 responses to “Carried by 6 or tried by 12”

1. 

   David

   August 2, 2025 at 6:46 am

   
   

   De Peiza unveils DLP’s report on crime situation

   Former president of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), attorney Verla De Peiza, is calling on Government to address the wave of crime sweeping the nation.

   She said the country was at a critical boiling point with 31 homicides for the year, alongside other violent street crimes and attacks on the elderly.

   “We know that it is a whole-of-country issue but we want to know how the Government is leading,” De Peiza said.

   “Crime is, for the most part, a response to something, so whilst we have to have immediate responses, we also need to have visionary proposals so that we’re dealing with the immediacy of the problem and also doing our best to roll back the issues that create the environment for crime in the first place,” she added.

   She was speaking at a press conference in the Opposition Leader’s Office, Thomas Daniel Building, Hincks Street, The City, yesterday, where she presented a report of the DLP’s Commission on Crime.

   Titled Blueprint To Rescue A Nation,

   the 200-page document aims to analyse the crime situation in Barbados to determine the root causes, and establish policy and legislative initiatives to address the social decline.

   De Peiza, who chaired the commission, said the report was available in print and would be accessible to the public in digital form by the third week of August.

   She said while the report presented a comprehensive look at crime from an education, governmental, economic and social perspective, it also tackled the psychological impacts of the violence.

   “It is literally a disease in society now. CARPHA (Caribbean Public Health Agency) has indicated now that crime is a health issue and they are relating it to the pressure on health institutions, but this report also deals with it in terms of mental health pressure.

   “Not just the pressure in terms of managing the care of those who are injured from crime, but then we still have the perception of crime, which has people staying home.

   “That is unhealthy for a society as well. So all of that has to be addressed,” she added.

   Commissioned in June 2024 by Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne, the report was compiled through town hall meetings and face-toface conversations with members of the public discussing deficiencies in Government and its approach to crime.(JRN)

   Source: Nation

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2. 

   David

   August 2, 2025 at 6:49 am

   
   

   Thorne raps Govt over cops, Customs

   Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne has hit out at what he says is Government’s handling of both the police and Customs department.

   He charged that they had become subject to the control and influence of Government.

   “We’ve asked this Government to pass a new republican constitution so that power and responsibility is properly defined under the Constitution; so that you will have a Police Service in which it is clear that it is insulated from the control of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet.

   “It is not a mere formality. It is about the [exercise] of power evidenced in Government’s relationship with the Police Service, and evidenced in Government’s relationship with the Customs department,” he said.

   He was speaking during a press conference at the Opposition Leader’s Office in the Thomas Daniel Building, Hincks Street, The City, yesterday where a report of the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) Commission on Crime was presented to him by attorney and former party president Verla De Peiza.

   With other DLP members present, Thorne said Government’s mishandling of the Customs department was contributing to the growing incidence of illegal firearms on the streets, with Barbados having 22 gun-related homicides for the year.

   “Two AK-47s this week may well be the tip of the iceberg. We don’t know, but the chaps seem quite well equipped that they can run through any neighbourhood and fire off several bullets unconcerned that there may be any shortage of ammunition or guns.

   “Clearly, the evidence would seem to suggest that there’s no shortage of guns or ammunition in this country, and therefore the focus goes to Customs, those who are responsible for border control,” he said.

   Thorne claimed Government had appointed a foreign consultant in Customs.

   “We don’t know what he does. We don’t know precisely what he does, but what we do know is that last Tuesday, when the . . . system was closed for an entire day, that Government lost its revenue for that entire day, between 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. . . . .

   “Why do you have this high-paid consultant? Is that consultant receiving $2 000 per hour? And is that consultant bypassing the control of Customs and reporting directly to Bay Street?” he queried.

   In terms of the Barbados Police Service, the King’s Counsel hit out at the delays in the promotion of officers serving 20 years.

   “We’ve always said that police are underpaid. We have said that police have no fair guarantee of promotion, and it undermines the morale and integrity of the entire Police Service, but Government made that promise in March 2024 and 14 months later, the Government has not done it,” he said.

   Thorne also criticised the proposed salary increase of $1 900 a month to plainclothes police, saying it had driven a wedge between officers at a time when the service should be united.

   “You’ve had police officers who always work together, uniform and plainclothes, but here’s the Government cleverly deciding that they’re going to divide and rule, and they’re going to create this special section.

   “We want all police officers to be equally paid and we are asking the Government to withdraw itself from interference and control of the Barbados Police Service . . . . Please leave the internal workings of the Barbados Police Service to . . . the commissioner and the high command,” he added.(JRN)

   Source: Nation

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3. 

   David

   August 2, 2025 at 6:49 am

   
   

   St Philip to receive new police station and court, says AG

   A new police station and court are coming for St Philip, says Attorney General Dale Marshall.

   He was addressing the St Philip Ideas Forum on Thursday night at Princess Margaret Secondary School in Six Roads.

   “We are going to put a police station in Six Roads. We have just opened a substation,” he said, adding this was as a result of the increased level of criminal activity in the Six Roads area.

   “It has compelled us to put a substation, which was a temporary measure, and some success has been achieved.”

   Marshall said land had been earmarked for the police station and they were hoping to obtain designs in the near future.

   Audience member Shakira Neblett, a specialist in criminal psychology and social justice who was educated in Canada, called for increased use of technology, including biometrics and finger-printing, as well as random checking of passengers arriving at the air and sea ports.

   In response, the Attorney General thanked her for the suggestions but noted that many of the points she made had been put in place.

   He said that as far back as 2007 when Barbados was preparing to host the Cricket World Cup, a security system was implemented whereby the lists of passengers arriving by sea or air were available prior to their arrival.

   Watchlists

   The Attorney General revealed that the name of every passenger was “scrubbed” against a number of watchlists.

   “What you will not see or will not hear of are the many occasions, some probably as recent as this week, when individuals were respectfully and firmly told, ‘You cannot enter Barbados’.”

   Marshall said he was satisfied that it was a system which works.

   “We are not going to get everyone because everybody’s name will not be on a watchlist. But it has worked for us and we have been able, we think, to protect Barbados from some fairly heinous criminal activity by keeping a lot of these people out. Believe me, it works,” he said. (HH)

   Source: Nation

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4. 

   Hants

   August 2, 2025 at 12:53 pm

   
   

   Another.

   https://nationnews.com/2025/08/02/one-man-shot-and-killed-at-country-park-towers/

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5. 

   David

   August 3, 2025 at 3:00 am

   
   

   What do struggling people think when the look at the following?

   https://barbadosunderground.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/SJN-838×480.png
   
   The hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone The thigh bone’s connected to the knee bone The knee bone’s connected to the shin bone…

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6. 

   David

   August 3, 2025 at 3:04 am

   
   

   Who guards the guards.

   ‘I should not be here in 2025’
   — Rap Brown slams six-year delay in ammo case
   Retired senior police officer Ashford Athelbert Jones, also known as Rap Brown, on Monday criticised the six-year delay in bringing him to trial for unlawful possession of ammunition.
   “There is no way I should be here in 2025 having to answer for unlawful possession of ammunition six years after I was arrested. In my time, you would arrest a man and he would go straight to the stand!” the 77-year-old declared in the No. 2A Supreme Court, as he gave an unsworn statement from the dock.
   Jones, of Goodland, Christ Church, has pleaded not guilty to possession of 100 rounds of .40 calibre ammunition without a valid licence on October 13, 2019.
   He recounted that the previous day, he had been at the Barbados Rifle Association’s range at Paragon, Christ Church – where he had been a member since 1971. Jones stated that he would shoot all types of weapons and purchase ammunition of any calibre there.
   That day he bought three boxes of .40 calibre rounds and began shooting. He said the club president then approached him and asked him to teach three other people how to shoot. He declined at first, but then told the president he would do it when he had finished one box of ammunition. While shooting, he recognised that the ammunition with the darker cartridges were “flying high”.
   Jones said the president brought out .380 calibre ammunition and pistols, and Jones said he returned the two remaining boxes of .40 rounds, and told him he would collect them the following day.
   He told the court there was no ammunition book to make a record of who had ammunition on Saturday.
   On Sunday, he returned to Paragon around 8 a.m., and he was alone until 10 a.m. He said he was the licensed owner of a 7.62 target rifle, a .177 rifle, and a 9mm Glock 17. Jones recalled that the president came to the club and returned the two boxes of .40 ammunition he had given him the previous day. After sorting the rounds — 58 dark and 42 clear — into pieces of plastic, he said he went to the rifle range, with two other shooters. After shooting at various distances, he decided to drive to PriceSmart to buy water, as outside was very hot.
   While driving along Grazettes Main Road, he said a man ran in front of his car and pointed a gun at him.
   “I had my loaded 9mm licensed firearm in my lap. I could not understand what was happening at first. One man, no other police around and I told him stop pointing that gun because I have a loaded 9mm in my lap. Then I see he drop the gun to his side and he said ‘I am a policeman’,” Jones testified, saying the man identified himself as Constable Alleyne.
   He said the officer told him they had information and were looking for him.
   Jones told the court, presided over by Justice Elwood Watts, that he informed the policeman of the .40 ammunition he forgot to take out when he left the range. According to the accused, the policeman took out the packages, placed them on top of the car and burst them open. He testified that was not the way police are trained to handle evidence.
   He stated that when other police arrived, he was handcuffed and stayed on the scene for over an hour until the police photographer arrived.
   Recalling his time in custody from October 13 to 18, Jones tearfully stated that he was left alone in a cold room before his electronic interview. The next day, he said, was informed that the interview would have to be redone.
   Jones also had to compose himself while recounting that he had been taken to a doctor’s office in Speightstown and heard a woman say, “Wait, he is a police”.
   The defence team of King’s Counsel Michael Lashley and Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens has closed its case.
   Principal State Counsel Oliver Thomas and State Counsel Dr Zoe King are prosecuting.
   Closing arguments will be heard on Thursday.

   Source: Nation

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7. 

   David

   August 3, 2025 at 3:06 am

   
   

   https://youtu.be/V28wteZsphQ

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8. 

   David

   August 3, 2025 at 3:12 am

   
   

   Interesting.

   Flock Safety’s Feature Updates Cannot Make Automated License Plate Readers Safe
   BY SARAH HAMID AND RINDALA ALAJAJIJUNE 27, 2025
   A red truck carrying a lawnmower drives past two Flock Safety automated license plate readers.
   ESPAÑOL
   Two recent statements from the surveillance company—one addressing Illinois privacy violations and another defending the company’s national surveillance network—reveal a troubling pattern: when confronted by evidence of widespread abuse, Flock Safety has blamed users, downplayed harms, and doubled down on the very systems that enabled the violations in the first place.

   Flock’s aggressive public relations campaign to salvage its reputation comes as no surprise. Last month, we described how investigative reporting from 404 Media revealed that a sheriff’s office in Texas searched data from more than 83,000 automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras to track down a woman suspected of self-managing an abortion. (A scenario that may have been avoided, it’s worth noting, had Flock taken action when they were first warned about this threat three years ago).

   Flock calls the reporting on the Texas sheriff’s office “purposefully misleading,” claiming the woman was searched for as a missing person at her family’s request rather than for her abortion. But that ignores the core issue: this officer used a nationwide surveillance dragnet (again: over 83,000 cameras) to track someone down, and used her suspected healthcare decisions as a reason to do so. Framing this as concern for her safety plays directly into anti-abortion narratives that depict abortion as dangerous and traumatic in order to justify increased policing, criminalization, control—and, ultimately, surveillance.

   Flock Safety has blamed users, downplayed harms, and doubled down on the very systems that enabled the violations in the first place.
   As if that weren’t enough, the company has also come under fire for how its ALPR network data is being actively used to assist in mass deportation. Despite U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) having no formal agreement with Flock Safety, public records revealed “more than 4,000 nation and statewide lookups by local and state police done either at the behest of the federal government or as an ‘informal’ favor to federal law enforcement, or with a potential immigration focus.” The network audit data analyzed by 404 exposed an informal data-sharing environment that creates an end-run around oversight and accountability measures: federal agencies can access the surveillance network through local partnerships without the transparency and legal constraints that would apply to direct federal contracts.

   Flock Safety is adamant this is “not Flock’s decision,” and by implication, not their fault. Instead, the responsibility lies with each individual local law enforcement agency. In the same breath, they insist that data sharing is essential, loudly claiming credit when the technology is involved in cross-jurisdictional investigations—but failing to show the same attitude when that data-sharing ecosystem is used to terrorize abortion seekers or immigrants.

   Flock Safety: The Surveillance Social Network
   In growing from a 2017 startup to a $7.5 billion company “serving over 5,000 communities,” Flock allowed individual agencies wide berth to set and regulate their own policies. In effect, this approach offered cheap surveillance technology with minimal restrictions, leaving major decisions and actions in the hands of law enforcement while the company scaled rapidly.

   And they have no intention of slowing down. Just this week, Flock launched its Business Network, facilitating unregulated data sharing amongst its private sector security clients. “For years, our law enforcement customers have used the power of a shared network to identify threats, connect cases, and reduce crime. Now, we’re extending that same network effect to the private sector,” Flock Safety’s CEO announced.

   A crowd around the Flock Safety set-up at a police conference.
   Flock Safety wooing law enforcement officers at the 2023 International Chiefs of Police Conference.

   The company is building out a new mass surveillance network using the exact template that ended with the company having to retrain thousands of officers in Illinois on how not to break state law—the same template that made it easy for officers to do so in the first place. Flock’s continued integration of disparate surveillance networks across the public and private spheres—despite the harms that have already occurred—is owed in part to the one thing that it’s gotten really good at over the past couple of years: facilitating a surveillance social network.

   Employing marketing phrases like “collaboration” and “force multiplier,” Flock encourages as much sharing as possible, going as far as to claim that network effects can significantly improve case closure rates. They cultivate a sense of shared community and purpose among users so they opt into good faith sharing relationships with other law enforcement agencies across the country. But it’s precisely that social layer that creates uncontrollable risk.

   The possibility of human workarounds at every level undermines any technical safeguards Flock may claim. Search term blocking relies on officers accurately labeling search intent—a system easily defeated by entering vague reasons like “investigation” or incorrect justifications, made either intentionally or not. And, of course, words like “investigation” or “missing person” can mean virtually anything, offering no value to meaningful oversight of how and for what the system is being used. Moving forward, sheriff’s offices looking to avoid negative press can surveil abortion seekers or immigrants with ease, so long as they use vague and unsuspecting reasons.

   The same can be said for case number requirements, which depend on manual entry. This can easily be circumvented by reusing legitimate case numbers for unauthorized searches. Audit logs only track inputs, not contextual legitimacy. Flock’s proposed AI-driven audit alerts, something that may be able to flag suspicious activity after searches (and harm) have already occurred, relies on local agencies to self-monitor misuse—despite their demonstrated inability to do so.

   Flock operates as a single point of failure that can compromise—and has compromised—the privacy of millions of Americans simultaneously.
   And, of course, even the most restrictive department policy may not be enough. Austin, Texas, had implemented one of the most restrictive ALPR programs in the country, and the program still failed: the city’s own audit revealed systematic compliance failures that rendered its guardrails meaningless. The company’s continued appeal to “local policies” means nothing when Flock’s data-sharing network does not account for how law enforcement policies, regulations, and accountability vary by jurisdiction. You may have a good relationship with your local police, who solicit your input on what their policy looks like; you don’t have that same relationship with hundreds or thousands of other agencies with whom they share their data. So if an officer on the other side of the country violates your privacy, it’d be difficult to hold them accountable.

   ALPR surveillance systems are inherently vulnerable to both technical exploitation and human manipulation. These vulnerabilities are not theoretical—they represent real pathways for bad actors to access vast databases containing millions of Americans’ location data. When surveillance databases are breached, the consequences extend far beyond typical data theft—this information can be used to harass, stalk, or even extort. The intimate details of people’s daily routines, their associations, and their political activities may become available to anyone with malicious intent. Flock operates as a single point of failure that can compromise—and has compromised—the privacy of millions of Americans simultaneously.

   Don’t Stop de-Flocking
   Rather than addressing legitimate concerns about privacy, security, and constitutional rights, Flock has only promised updates that fall short of meaningful reforms. These software tweaks and feature rollouts cannot assuage the fear engendered by the massive surveillance system it has built and continues to expand.

   A close-up of a Flock Safety camera on a pole
   A typical specimen of Flock Safety’s automated license plate readers.

   Flock’s insistence that what’s happening with abortion criminalization and immigration enforcement has nothing to do with them—that these are just red-state problems or the fault of rogue officers—is concerning. Flock designed the network that is being used, and the public should hold them accountable for failing to build in protections from abuse that cannot be easily circumvented.

   Thankfully, that’s exactly what’s happening: cities like Austin, San Marcos, Denver, Norfolk, and San Diego are pushing back. And it’s not nearly as hard a choice as Flock would have you believe: Austinites are weighing the benefits of a surveillance system that generates a hit less than 0.02% of the time against the possibility that scanning 75 million license plates will result in an abortion seeker being tracked down by police, or an immigrant being flagged by ICE in a so-called “sanctuary city.” These are not hypothetical risks. It is already happening.

   Given how pervasive, sprawling, and ungovernable ALPR sharing networks have become, the only feature update we can truly rely on to protect people’s rights and safety is no network at all. And we applaud the communities taking decisive action to dismantle its surveillance infrastructure.

   https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/06/flock-safetys-feature-updates-cannot-make-automated-license-plate-readers-safe?utm_src=effector

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9. 

   Bush Tea

   August 3, 2025 at 7:07 am

   
   

   “What do struggling people think when the look at the following?”
   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   Those with eyes to see think…
   That it is clear why Public contracts are such secretive, UNAUDITED affairs – and why certain players ALWAYS come out on top…. from roads to vaccines.
   These monies are NOT coming from party membership fees.

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10. 

    Bush Tea

    August 3, 2025 at 7:33 am

    
    

    Any Mafia outfit would RELISH the opportunity to collect and control data on its members and victims.
    If you collect all the dirt on your OWN gang members, you then have ADDITIONAL leverage over them – without the ‘messy’ need to make them disappear permanently.
    People can be transferred, insulted, pushed aside, even PROMOTED – once you can wave some of their ‘dirt’ over their heads.

    The mass BB victims are EASILY kept in check – when you have access to all their business -UNLESS OF COURSE THERE IS NO DIRT TO BE UNCOVERED…

    Barbados represents an EXCELLENT pilot project for such mass surveillance experimentation, and any review of our national inclinations since that first Cricket World Cup would be instructive – for those with seeing eyes…

    The latest Central Bank push for ‘instant payment systems’ is quite laughable to Bushie.
    This will provide authorities with detailed records of transactions done by individuals and businesses, from which MOUNTAINS of ‘actionable data’ can be gathered….

    The benefit…?
    Instant payments – IN A COUNTRY WHERE EVEN ANSWERING A PHONE CALL TO DEAL WITH AN EMERGENCY TAKES WEEKS… but THAT is no problem.
    ….yea ! Right!

    Years ago, bushie warned on BU that our voting system allows authorities to compile a database of voters AND OF EXACTLY WHO VOTED FOR WHOM….
    Wunna dismissed Bushie, …but now we have reached a point where they know;
    – not only who you voted for, but…
    – every place that you have been
    – every one that you speak to
    – every covid shot that you got
    …and soon
    – every transaction that you make
    – and even every shiite that you eat.

    The ULTIMATE Mafia is here… but as long as we have Kadooment …and our much vaunted ‘women’ can parade around the streets naked and intoxicated,
    What is to worry about..?

    What a place!

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11. 

    Sad

    August 3, 2025 at 8:05 am

    
    

    David the coming harassment by the politicians and their lackeys will be a dark day. The deals will provide finders fees to fund the BLP upcoming elections. As a former worker of the electoral we often suspect most candidates lie about their expenses return but what could be do. Elections are now bought by candidates who get bankrolled by many companies.

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12. 

    Cuhdear Bajan

    August 3, 2025 at 1:10 pm

    
    

    @Trained Bajan “Government needs to allow persons to carry tasers or pepper spray for personal protection if they really care about citizens. Stand Your Ground or Castle Doctrine type legislation can give citizens a greater level of self security. At least for home defense, clarify the legal right to self-protect during invasions. ”

    But I don’t want pepper spray, a taser or a gun.
    Because if I have them every bad man can have them too, and since I am old, weak and female and the bad men are young, strong and male, won’t they just subdue me with their own pepper spray, taser, gun, physical strength? I carry only a Collins and other sharp edged agricultural tools because I am a legitimate farmer. I don’t want to hurt anything or anybody except weeds. I simply want to be left alone.

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13. 

    Cuhdear Bajan

    August 3, 2025 at 1:26 pm

    
    

    Bush Tea August 3, 2025 at 7:33 am “Any Mafia outfit would RELISH the opportunity to collect and control data on its members and victims.
    If you collect all the dirt on your OWN gang members, you then have ADDITIONAL leverage over them”

    Some years ago the across the street neighbor installed a camera which points directly at my main entrance. Said neighbour seemed to have an unseemly but un-reciprocated interest in me. I prayed “Lord relieve me of this malicious man” not many months later in comes Covid, out goes my neigbhbour, PERMANENTLY. But just in case he is still watching the camera from in hell where I am sure that he is, I pull down my trousers and skin my botsy at him. Tek dat you rascal. Thank you Father God.

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14. 

    David

    August 3, 2025 at 1:27 pm

    
    

    You do have a way of trivializing serious matters.

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15. 

    Cuhdear Bajan

    August 3, 2025 at 1:33 pm

    
    

    @Sad August 3, 2025 at 8:05 am “David the coming harassment by the politicians and their lackeys will be a dark day”

    Sadly, all political parties have lackeys. Some people just enjoy being lackeys, principally such people want to get what they can never, ever get by MERIT. So being a lackey is it.

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16. 

    Cuhdear Bajan

    August 3, 2025 at 1:36 pm

    
    

    @David August 3, 2025 at 1:27 pm “You do have a way of trivializing serious matters.”

    Why is is trivial if my neighbour ACTUALLY invades my privacy, but it is a serious matter if you believe that the government plans to invade yours?

    Are you more valuable than me?

    And if so, why so?

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17. 

    Cuhdear Bajan

    August 3, 2025 at 1:41 pm

    
    

    @Sad August 3, 2025 at 8:05 am “As a former worker of the electoral we often suspect most candidates lie about their expenses.”

    My old man, may he continue to rest in the arms of Sweet Jesus always used to say “Bajans too t’ief”
    Bajans decietful too.
    And dishonest.
    Nothing new here, since my old man noted this before any of the current Parliamentarians were even conceived. It is not “them.”
    It is “us.”

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18. 

    Cuhdear Bajan

    August 3, 2025 at 1:43 pm

    
    

    It is WE.

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