‘Clean up the baton,’ tackle rising crime’- Lane

Former Minister with responsibility for crime prevention, Corey Lane, has thrown his support behind his successor, Kirk Humphrey, urging him to press ahead in tackling the country’s crime problem.

Speaking in Parliament on Thursday, Lane acknowledged the difficulty of the task but encouraged Humphrey to take up the challenge, noting that he is “passing the baton” to him.

Lane’s comments come weeks after Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced that crime prevention would now fall under Humphrey’s portfolio as Minister of People, Empowerment, and Elder Affairs.

Lane resigned from Cabinet for personal reasons.

The switch comes at a time when the country is grappling with a rising crime tide.

According to a recent report from the Barbados Crime Observatory (BCO), Barbados recorded 49 murders in 2024, a staggering 158 per cent increase from the previous year, with firearms used in 34 of these killings.

The BCO research also showed that the country’s murder rate per capita reached 18.2 per 100 000 people, the highest in its history.

“The baton is a little dirty,” Lane said.

“So clean up that baton, wash your hands, no retreat, no surrender, fight them in the valley, fight them in the hills, and we will win this war against crime.”

The former minister also stressed the need for a united approach, saying crime, education, and health should not be political issues.

“The Prime Minister’s belief is that education and crime, and I believe health as well, are connected—we’ve got to work together,” he said.

He ended with a call for continued commitment to making the country safer: “Someone, somewhere, sometime, somehow, must do something to make this world a better place. May it be all of us.”

(SM)