Barbados has undergone a profound shift from isolated criminal acts to organised, violent crime driven by the widespread availability of firearms and external influences, law enforcement and media figures have warned.
And a senior lawyer has warned that police officers must be mindful of their conduct in public, as mounting evidence suggests a growing trend of defiance towards law enforcement.
Acting Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce told a panel discussion on Wednesday night that modern criminal investigations now routinely involve groups of five or six offenders, compared to the one or two typically encountered in the 1980s, marking a significant evolution in the island’s criminal landscape.
“I would say it has evolved,” Boyce said during the online forum titled Crime and Criminal Justice: How It Has Evolved from the 1980s Until Present, moderated by noted criminologist Kim Ramsay. He said the shift has complicated both policing and prevention efforts.
This shift is not only a reflection of criminal evolution but also a consequence of society’s changing expectations and the need for law enforcement to meet the needs of an “evolving criminal landscape,”Boyce noted.
Boyce emphasised the influence of broader social behaviours and external cultural factors as driving the shift. He linked these to a rise in firearm use and public exposure to crime through social media.
Wade Gibbons, a retired police officer, also highlighted the alarming proliferation of firearms as a key factor, saying, “In the 1980s, [people] would have firearms, but in very limited numbers. Nowadays, it seems that people have firearms as easy as they have bubble gum, and I think that is a major headache for police officers.”
Commissioner Boyce emphasised that the shift in crime has necessitated new policing methods “matched… with some responses that are meaningful, purposeful, and are designed to not only apprehend or carry out a mandate… but also that with strategic focus.”
Mitchell-Gittens called for comprehensive reforms, including anger management courses in schools and transitional support for former prisoners.
“I believe anger management should be taught in schools. I believe there should be a halfway or three-quarter way house from the prison to society,” she said.
She highlighted the cycle of reoffending, noting that prisoners who are released without skills or support often return to criminal networks.
“When persons leave prison and they have no skill, no job, and no family support, what do they do? They contact the person they were in prison with,” the senior lawyer explained.
Saying that police behaviour directly impacts community engagement, Mitchell- Gittens also addressed how the public relates to members of the Barbados Police Service.
“When you see certain behaviours, it doesn’t necessarily inspire you to respond in a respectful manner,” she said.
“Everybody’s watching, everybody’s seeing the videos, and if you see the police behaving just like everybody else, then that may be part of the problem as well. We’re in an area now where there is videotaping and things are spread all around. If the police don’t set a positive example in their conduct, it becomes difficult to foster respect within the community.”
Talk show host and veteran journalist David Ellis linked the erosion of respect for authority to wider cultural shifts.
“There is a greater tolerance and acceptance of what we would call bad behaviour within this society,” he said, adding that small acts of defiance have gradually undermined traditional respect for law enforcement.
Commissioner Boyce highlighted particular concerns about youth attitudes.
“The disrespect is starting from a relatively young age—teenagers, juveniles—and it suggests to us that there’s something missing, one, in the home, and secondly, in the community,” he said.
Addressing solutions, the police chief emphasised that effective community policing requires broader partnerships.
“If we think of community policing as a police-alone activity… then we are not understanding community policing,” he said, advocating for collaboration with NGOs, religious organisations and other community groups.
“We need to look carefully at households; we need to look at communities; we need to look at the whole school environment, the education environment,” Boyce said. (RG)
