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Police Chief says lawmen adjusting strategies to deal with persistent shootings

by Stefon Jordan
5 min read
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The man in charge of the Barbados Police Service (BPS) has admitted that recent brazen shootings have forced lawmen to readjust their crime fighting strategies and assured the new approach will arrest the worrying situation.

On Thursday evening, almost 11 hours after the latest incident in which a man drove next to a minibus at the traffic lights in Eagle Hall, St Michael and shot into the public service vehicle, injuring one man, Acting Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce told a hastily-called press conference that despite the best efforts of law enforcers, gun violence was continuing.

At the same time, however, he gave the assurance that lawmen had the situation under control and that the troublemakers and their associates would be targeted.

“We have noticed that, notwithstanding our efforts, we remain confronted with the scourge of gun violence and the use of firearms, in particular, within recent times. We have seen young men embracing very rogue behaviours and we have seen the loss of young lives, damage to vehicles and residences, injuries to persons and in some instances, an increase in the fear of peaceful members of communities,” the top cop said.

Assuring the nation that his officers will leave no stone unturned in seeking to end the violence, Boyce added: “We want you to rest assured that we are targeting the criminal activity with vigour and relentlessly and at every level…working in communities with those affected by the scourge and unscrupulous behaviour.”

It was against this background that Boyce disclosed that the BPS’ top brass had decided to shift its crime-fighting focus.

Although saying he could not share the details of the strategies, he said:

“We have already set our strategies in place and have already begun to strengthen the areas that we believe need our attention and are shifting our focus on effective and results-oriented policing. We are of the view that our policing strategies are not static, they are subject to change and subject to expansion.

“We have started some work in our communities and definitely will continue to do so. Of course, some of our strategies that are medium-term and long-term will take some time to work. Nonetheless, we know that this particular engagement requires us to readjust our strategies and to bring to you what we are seeing and to share with you what we are doing,” he told reporters.

The Acting Commissioner acknowledged that police were seeing “unprecedented” access to guns.

Even as he admitted that the use of illicit guns and drugs had taken on a new “complexion” and had become part of a new subculture, Boyce issued a warning to offenders.

“The Barbados Police Service will not tolerate any form of this wicked problem and will use every partnership, every relationship, every collaboration to ensure that our people enjoy their freedom,” he asserted.

Boyce also disclosed that the mobile division of the police service had been adapted to boost new crime-fighting strategies,” he said.

“We have repurposed our Traffic Unit to intensify and mobilise their road policing activities. We realise that there is mobility in criminal activity, hence we are putting a lot of emphasis on our road policing strategies and we will continue to accelerate those strategies on a daily basis.

“We have relooked our community engagement over the past couple of days and looked to see where we can bring communities closer to us or we take ourselves closer to communities to enable communities to remain safe,” Boyce added.

He reported that the BPS has been reaping success with its random stop-and-search operations which had contributed to the confiscation of 107 guns up to last Monday.

The police chief lamented that despite the recent find of 38 firearms at the Bridgetown Port, too many guns were still ending up in the hands of “very young and reckless men”.

“And we are not manufacturers of firearms. What we have found, though, is that notwithstanding the collaboration with our critical partners at ports of entry we are now beginning to see on our streets, firearms that are not wanted guns. When I say wanted guns…firearms that are not doing one or two or three hits at one time.

“So, that would indicate to us that there is on-island access to firearms that, over time, are now reaching the hands of some very young and reckless men. So we believe there is a number of firearms out there that have not touched the surface as yet,” Boyce asserted.

He also addressed the question of why illegal firearms were ending up on the streets despite the use of scanners at the island’s ports of entry.

“The chain is as strong as its weakest link…and sometimes the weakest link is the human being, and unless the human being comes to a realisation that the technology, the scanners are only going to do what they want them to do and to get the results that we want, then we would always be challenged. There must be a human element that is influencing some of the movement,” Boyce contended.

“[Regardless of] how many scanners, how much technology, [if] a person is bent on doing a particular act to circumvent the system, he would do the act and he would get through. So, that is something that is quite evident,” he added.

Meanwhile, Boyce noted that there have been 38 murders so far this year, 29 from guns, and about 19 of which have been solved. He said some of the young men who were killed in gun violence were known by police.

The top cop was adamant that when it came to solving crime, there were no untouchable people in Barbados.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

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