Crime prevention action plan likely by year-end, says minister

Barbados is set to launch its first National Crime Prevention Action Plan by year’s end, aimed at addressing youth crime and its root causes, Minister in the Attorney General’s Office with responsibility for Crime Prevention, Corey Lane has announced.

He told a panel discussion at St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on Thursday night that over the past two years, his ministry has been analysing various programmes, policies, legal frameworks and research surrounding youth development, crime and mental health to develop a comprehensive strategy.

“One of the things that I have always been a little cautious about is this idea of the scattershot approach and the siloed approach. We have perfected that. We’ve talked about it for years and we’ve met about it and we’ve [had] meetings about it and it’s continued through the decades,” Lane told attendees of the event organised by the Barbados Society of Psychology.

The minister said the National Crime Prevention Action Plan will see several government departments, state agencies and ministries working together to address some of the critical issues affecting young people.

“What I did over the last three months was really togo and find out information myself looking to develop the Barbados National Crime Prevention Plan, and our plan now is not about just what the Office of the Attorney General is doing, but what the Ministry of Youth is doing, what the [ministries] of sports, community development, culture, people empowerment [are doing and] what’s happening at [the Probation Department], the prison and so on,” Lane explained.

“I believe that by the end of the year, once we have that collaborative spirit, we combine our forces, we combine our resources, I think then . . . we can work all these things together”.
Lane cautioned against expecting immediate results, however.

“It will be a work in progress. It will take time, it will not be a microwave event, it will not be an abracadabra [moment], it will not be a sprint, it will be a marathon.”

The panel discussion, which addressed growing concerns about aggression and violence among youth and young adults, included clinical and psychologist and UWI researcher Professor Donna-Maria Maynard, prison service psychologist Sean Pilgrim, and Barbados Youth AdvanceCorps counsellor Monique James.
(SZB)