Govt redoubles efforts to tackle crime scourge

Barbados’ Attorney General Dale Marshall has acknowledged the “serious uptick” in murders and the “tremendous burden” the government feels at the high numbers including the 26 murders recorded so far this year.

“The numbers are a concern. But we don’t look at the numbers and panic, we redouble our efforts. We have put things in place and in every instance when we have redoubled our efforts we have seen success,” he told the Lower Chamber as the House began debate on the Bail Bill, 2024.

“We understand what it takes for Barbados to be firing on all its cylinders. If people feel unsafe in their homes, communities, then economic activity is going to dry up and then the capacity of people to earn dries up and then we have a vicious circle, perhaps spiraling deeper and deeper,” he acknowledged.

But he explained that in the environment of heightened criminal activity, The Barbados Police Service is still taking guns off the streets.

“The level of firearm seizures is at an all-time high. We are going out there and intercepting vehicles and getting firearms and not just old guns, we are getting AK47s, Glocks, those sort of things are being seized by the police service. Even though we put scanners in place and continue to train our customs officers and police, we use other techniques to ensure we can seize enough firearms as possible,” Marshall said as he led off the debate.

The attorney general reminded the House that there were 21 murders for 2023 compared with the high of 48 in 2019. The 26 murders so far in 2024 included 17 involving firearms, six stabbings and two incidents of bludgeoning.

Noting that all the matters concerning criminal justice reform could not be corrected with the waving of a magic wand, the attorney general said it was the current administration which took on the task of championing change when the previous administration did nothing to arrest growing crime and instituting change. Giving bail for those accused of murder and other serious offences, was a practice which the Barbados Labour Party found when it came to office in 2018, he added.

The government then set about increasing the numbers ofjudges hearing criminal matters from two to five and then in 2022 to eight to put greater resources behind the administration of justice in local law courts. He said the results have spoken.

“In 18 months, between January 2023 and the end of June 2024, our criminal courts have dealt with 584 indictable matters. Of this 67 were murders cases. That is what a system can do when you give it the resources that it requires,” Marshall said.(SP)