Form motorcycle crime-fighting squad, police urged

The Barbados Road Safety Association is pressing the Barbados Police Service to urgently establish specialist motorcycle squads after a spate of violent incidents involving illegal scrambler bikes, which are increasingly linked to serious crimes and high-speed getaways.

BRSA President and former police officer, Roland Lowe, told Barbados TODAY that while the association fully supports the police service’s renewed push to target rogue bikers, the police must move beyond broad statements and deploy a trained, properly equipped team.

Lowe argued that Barbados is long overdue for a squad of officers trained specifically to handle dirt bikes and high-risk manoeuvres in the kinds of tight, off-road spaces where illegal riders often weave through communities and traffic.

“I remember I had a conversation with a former police officer from another jurisdiction, and he was saying that they had a special unit,” Lowe recalled. “I know police have bike cops, but they need to have a special unit where persons are trained to ride, like, the dirt bikes, so they deal with that particular issue.”

Lowe’s comments were made in the wake of a shootout with several officers trying to apprehend off-road bikers.

Commissioner of Police Richard Boyce announced on Thursday the police have intensified their clampdown on illegal scramblers and on individuals wearing face coverings.

Officers came under fire from armed men on motorcycles as they responded to a report of a ride-by shooting on President Kennedy Drive. A gun battle ensued over the graves of Westbury Cemetery.

Commissioner Boyce noted that police are moving to act on a troubling pattern of perpetrators using the off-road bikes to move quickly, evade detection, and escape through communities.

Lowe, who previously voiced concerns about the situation, believes the public needs more than general assurances.

“For myself, and in relation to the Road Safety Association and the concern of all citizens – and as a former police officer – I want to know what redoubling means,” he said. “That is a general statement to me. I would like to know what redoubling the efforts means. That needs to be explained so that people know what the police are looking to do.”

He added that similar declarations have been made in the past with little visible impact, largely because the service does not have units capable of chasing and intercepting offenders on scrambler bikes.

“[This] seems like a blanket statement. It doesn’t really speak to any particular measure that has been taken relative to a problem we’ve been seeing for a long, long time.”

The former police officer also suggested the police will struggle to create such a motorcycle unit unless the wider issue of recruitment is addressed.

“I feel that the Commissioner of Police and the powers that be don’t actually address the issue that the police force has, which is a personnel problem,” he said. “They need to make the force more attractive to persons with particular qualifications… but the force is not attractive to anybody. So that’s the issue.”

He stressed that without improved recruitment, specialised responses will remain out of reach.

“They need to make the force attractive so they can attract the personnel to have special units to deal with the situation and the issues we’re seeing on the roads and in other areas,” he said. shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb