Crime clash: Police vs community solutions

Crime-fighting officials have offered starkly contrasting approaches as Barbados faces a critical crossroads in its fight against escalating crime at a strategic meeting.

Acting Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce advocated for robust policing and intelligence measures, while Cheryl Willoughby, director of the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit (CJRPU), championed community-driven interventions to address the root causes of criminal behaviour.

Boyce called for better policing strategies, stronger intelligence gathering, and tracking of crime mobility, while Willoughby pushed for deeper investments in community programmes, early intervention, and rehabilitation efforts.

The meeting brought together representatives from law enforcement, the judiciary, social services, correctional institutions, the health sector, and non-governmental organisations to discuss crime trends and strategies for 2025.

Boyce questioned the relevance of some of the agencies represented and the absence of others he believed were crucial to the discussion. He focused on the importance of policing and standardised crime reporting.

“When I look around the room, I am seeing people who are not into this on a day-to-day basis, who are not necessarily acquainted with or familiar with the uniform reporting standard that would inform your stats, and hence, I think more analysis is needed,” he said.

He cautioned against the misinterpretation of criminality, stating that Barbados follows a uniform crime reporting system that must be properly understood before making policy decisions.

“In any programme where we are discussing crime, there is a need for Crime 101 in terms of understanding categorisation of offences,” Boyce said.

“The Barbados Police Service has developed a standardised reporting methodology across the island, whether in St Michael, St Lucy, or St Philip. There is a structured way of determining criminal conduct, and it is important that we all understand it.”

He further noted how crime is shifting across the country, highlighting an increase in criminal activity in the south.

“One of the growing and emerging issues from a law enforcement perspective is criminality in the south, particularly in St Philip. Crime is now mobile—it moves. We are seeing crime moving like vehicles from one area to another and that is something we must track closely,” he said.

Boyce also noted differences between crimes against persons and crimes against property, stating that these distinctions were critical in assessing national security.

“If you don’t understand these crime categories, then you will just see ‘thieving in Barbados’ as one big issue. But there are differences—there is endangering life, there is manslaughter, there is robbery, there is theft from a person. If we don’t understand those classifications, we cannot accurately analyse crime trends or determine whether Barbados is truly unsafe,” he said.

Willoughby defended the efficiency of the gathering, stressing that law enforcement alone cannot prevent crime and called for a broader multi-agency approach.

Pushing back on Boyce’s policing-heavy focus, the criminologist noted that crime is a behavioural issue that requires community-driven solutions.

“The police [alone] cannot and will never be able to prevent crime,” she said.

“Crime is a behavioural problem. The police can only respond to crime by arresting and charging offenders, but we must ask ourselves—why are these young men turning to crime in the first place?”

The top criminologist supported her claim by pointing to the high reoffending rate in Barbados as evidence that arresting criminals is not enough to stop them from committing crimes they were previously convicted for.

“When we look at our recidivism rate, we see that many individuals come out of prison and reoffend, sometimes committing even more serious crimes than before. This tells us that simply locking people up is not fixing the root causes,” she said.

Willoughby noted that addressing crime requires collaboration beyond just law enforcement—bringing in education, social services, and community organisations to tackle youth involvement in violence.

“We need to engage with our vulnerable communities—not just react after crimes have already been committed. We need community-based interventions, education reform, and stronger social programmes to help guide young people away from crime,” she said.

She also warned that crime affects more than just individual victims, noting its wider economic and social consequences.

The CJRPU director reiterated her call for strengthened community policing efforts which place officers within schools and at-risk communities to build trust and relationships.

Despite their disagreement, both officials acknowledged that urgent action is needed to prevent 2025 from being another record-breaking year for violent crime.

shannamoore@barbadostoday.bb