‘Very real’ fear of reprisals stifling public on crime, DLP commission warns

Many Barbadians are so fearful of speaking out about crime that even anonymous surveys have failed to draw honest public feedback, the chair of the Democratic Labour Party’s Commission on Crime has revealed.

This reluctance—so severe that respondents pulled out of an online poll over fears their identities might be exposed—has forced the commission to resort to street interviews without recording names or any demographic data.

Attorney and criminologist Verla De Peiza, who chaired the commission, revealed that the group was forced to abandon its online survey within two weeks of launch after repeated complaints that email addresses were visible to respondents.

“People were afraid to take part,” she told Barbados TODAY.

“We tried to explain that the responses would remain anonymous, but we couldn’t convince them. The fear was real.”

De Peiza described the situation as troubling for a country that considers itself a democracy.

“You should be able to speak your mind freely even if it’s a minority opinion, that is the essence of democracy. That level of fear concerned me,” she said.

To continue the work, the commission turned to street interviews, deliberately avoiding names or demographic data to gather unfiltered feedback from the public.

The commission’s final report, Blueprint to Rescue a Nation, argues that restoring trust in the justice system is essential to reducing crime, and urges greater communication, transparency and accountability from public agencies.

University of the West Indies behavioural specialist Professor Dwayne Devonish echoed this recommendation, noting the reluctance to speak is a symptom of eroded public trust in state institutions—and that it reflects a deeper problem he has observed in other research, not just crime.

“When there’s that erosion of trust, people are not going to be inclined to talk about crime, let alone report criminal activity,” he said.

“That’s something I’ve been calling for for quite some time, that those in law enforcement continue to do their best to restore and strengthen relationships with the public in this crime fight that we have been fighting for some time now.”

He stressed that rebuilding trust must be a national priority.

“[They need to] ensure that the public feels not just comfortable, but confident that they can trust those services,” he added. (SM)