Former Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite is backing Opposition Senator Caswell Franklyn’s idea of converting soldiers into police officers in order to fill the current shortage in the constabulary.
At the same time, Brathwaite is echoing Franklyn’s recent suggestion that whichever Barbados Defence Force (BDF) soldiers were chosen, they would have to be retrained as police officers.
“The training is different . . . and we have to be very careful that we don’t do that carte blanche. The training of a soldier is completely different to that of a police officer,” the former Attorney General told Barbados TODAY.
He recalled that his former Democratic Labour Party (DLP) administration had discussed how it could have one platform of training, so it would be easy for someone to transition from one organization to the other.
“It might be easier for a police to transition to the Defence Force at a particular senior level. But at the junior level, you are talking different types of training; and I don’t think it would be in the best interest of Barbados for us to automatically go in that direction,” he warned.
“Certainly you would have to do some retraining in terms of the soldiers,” the former AG added.
He said it was for that reason the soldiers always accompanied the police whenever it came to policing duties and they were utilised.
In putting forward the idea as a crime-fighting tool nearly three weeks ago, the Opposition senator and trade union leader told Barbados TODAY it made no sense spending more than $60 million in taxpayers money every year on an army that was not necessary in its present form.
“The police force needs manpower. Crime is escalating and you ain’t got no more police. Right now we have a totally useless defence force that is not necessary. I am not saying send them all home. I am saying, redeploy them…just use the Defence Force as it used to be in the past . . . when it was the Barbados Regiment . . . for ceremonial occasions. Right now they are spending $60 something million dollars on the Defence Force a year,” Franklyn said.
He said the fact that twice a year the Governor General signs an order allowing the army to assist the police, meant there was need for additional law enforcers.
“Deploy them as police officers and let them do some useful work, rather than keeping them up there drilling and tending their uniform and shining their boots. They are not serving any useful purpose right now. There is no need for them,” the senator declared.
“The Defence Force needs to be downsized. Some of those people can be made police officers with the necessary training and that will help with the crime situation,” he stressed.
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Wow and you were there how many years now
Your ideas are late now
Since he has come out of hiding he always has something to say,as a matter of fact he is doing more yapping now than when he was the “Attorney General”.
Don’t pay these idiots no mind
The transition from a Bajan Soldier to police should be seamless…Bajan Soldiers aren’t trained with the mentality to kill…the biggest issue to me would be a transition of values…
Leave excellence alone,the royal barbados police force can handle they civilians duty.
Still waiting to hear this government plan.
The two worse AGs we’ve ever had. A carbon copy of each other. Brathwaite and Marshall.
Hope Barbados truly see the idiot we had for an attorney general and why we are in the state we are in now. A man who destroyed every part of the justice system.
Man he doing the same thing Dale Marshall and the PM were doing when they were in opposition…. So wunna could shut up though..
I wonder how many of these people who are always spouting about a soldier cannot be put to serve in the role of a policeman, because they are trained to kill,have ever served in the Military themselves. Do they realise that soldiers are governed by the strict code of the Geneva Convention,not to mention other regulations. The accidental discharge of a soldiers weapon,is treated as a major offence in the military, never mind shooting some one willy-nilly.
Some of the most asinine statements were made that day and no-one bothered to correct him
Mr. Adriel Brathwaite, where did you come from?
You had your chance…what did you do????
Go back from where you crawl out from stupas
Well it looks like the DEMS are crawling out from under the rocks.
Wont work….that’s a demotion but the blood usually give police better conditions than Dlp. They just got air n scandalous
They certainly would be easier to train. !
Wait8888888 who take that nail out that coffin? Who de hell let he out?I read he obituary in de sun in may.we don’t want to hear from de dead ,go RIS rest in shame
Stupseeeeeer
Let Brathwaite speak! He was real quiet until he heard that former COP Darwin Dottin was back to advise on crime and “make recommendations” on certain practices. So he frighten now.
Wunnah see all dem illegal guns dat proliferated on the streets since Dottin was dismissed? Tink um easy to get illegal guns into Barbados without being part of an organized crime syndicate?
During Braffit reign as the worse AG in history, he was never interested in stemming the importation of these firearms, rather he blamed the poor fishermen. He often express “concern” about the rampant gun-related violence and pretended he wanted the police to get the guns “off the streets” once they made their way “onto the streets”, and that’s all. By that time, everyone in the network would have received their payouts.
So Caswell Franklyn would find an ally in Brathwaite to transfer soldiers into the Police Force to go after knotty-haired fellas with guns in impoverished communities. Current COP Tyrone Griffith complained bitterly, since he assumed the role, of the chronic shortage of policing manpower to adequately have officers deployed strategically. Instead, the Police Service Commission that was headed by now DLP General Secretary, Guyson Mayers, got embroiled in undermining two COPs on the promotion of police officers. It was that same PSC which sent Dottin on administrative leave. Go figure!
The Forensic lab was closed for the past eight years due to neglect. Just read the story below of the young man who was found hanging in a cell while in police custody in 2017. “Almost two years after his death, fingernail clippings belonging to Corey Antonio Best, which were taken by police and handed over to experts at the Forensic Sciences Centre (FSC) have yet to be analyzed.” This was as a result of the failure of former AG Brathwaite to provide funding and equipment for crime DNA analytical services, thereby slowing investigations and the analysis of evidence specimens.
The sudden mouthing by Brathwaite at this time is just to cover up his failure to address the rapid rise in gun violence on his watch and his fear of the “cards” that Dottin might be holding close to his chest.
you need to keep your ideas to yourself i going tell you what inniss told owen in parliment the people vote you out nobody in want hear what you got to say by the way fbi looking for you
Polictians only care about their bank accounts nothing else I don’t care who vex it’s the truth people are still homeless and jobless
If I was dishonorably discharged from an organisation I would probably be continuously bad-mouthing it too.Poor Caswel.
Why didn’t you do it
He had No solutions to many problems when he was in power and suddenly has one lol
Don’t need any advice from you. Go and cuddle Donville and leave we alone.
Did Barbados only get the BDF on 24 May 2018? Was gun crime decreasing prior to 24 May 2018. If the answer to these questions is no then the former AG should really just stfu because all he is doing is highlighting how useless and ineffective he was at his old job.
The BLP draculas are using their fangs on Mr.Brathwaite.
ADIREL BRATHWAITHE got IDIOT coming all out his mouth, he had nothing to say all along even when he was the AG,what a waste of time he was,and now he got a voice cause his good friend FRANKLY suggested a good idea for once in his life as a UNION LEADER lol,,take as least 50 soldiers, i dont see how hard it would be to make the change over, six month of training for the soldiers would be a breeze, they are fitter than the police men any way, the olny thing in my mind that would have to be worked out is salaries if there is a difference in pay, cause if the soldiers get more money than the police per month then you would have to bring the police men on that salary level, vice versa,,
SOMEBODY PLEASE CALL MR.DOTTIN ASAP ( we need more criminals on this force come advise me on what to do )
Poor we..
What shame if these soldiers wanted to be police from start you don’t think that they would’ve can’t you not see lot of person are running from the police force
Yes idiots(MP’s) it is easier to train a soldier to be a police, wunna know full well that dem big guts police wunna got caaan’t do 3/4 of the training soldiers does have to endure. Wunna mean wunna got to get that “trigger happy”, “shoot first, ask later” mentality that wunna drill into them cause all the police does do is curse people.
*get that kind of mentality out*
@VIOLET B LENMAN…hahaha…good one….I would say he ‘ GET WAY’ ..cause nobody in gine let he out…..he he he.
Tell DEM Carl Harper…C C C is another one a DEM belly rumbling since DOTTIN name surface.
The BDF should be transitioned from a standing Army to a reserve force and its members integrated into the RBPF. The Reservist would be required to do 2 weeks annual training and 1 weekend a month. The Coast Guard would remain as is to secure our shoreline.