Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.
by Patrick Gittens
I must say that I am somewhat disappointed in the Commissioner of Police and some of his public statements of late. I understand he is highly qualified, an outstanding officer and of impeccable character. But I am seeing some inexperience being displayed that does not augur well.
Why would you make an announcement revealing to a concerned public that the police have identified three groups creating the mayhem in Barbados?
One would have thought that the police, having identified the groups, would be robustly pursuing and arresting the individual members and recovering their weaponry.
Not basically warning them that you know who they are and giving them the opportunity to put their houses in order as best as they can, in terms of disposing of any evidence that might help in their prosecution if and when they are eventually held. By now if you have identified the groups, parade them before the law courts and then speak about them.
I know he must say something, but how can the boss man be stating that the police service has the situation under control? Hooligans shooting and killing people in broad daylight, whether the victims are thugs like themselves or not, and you are saying that you have it under control.
I have read where the young man who was killed recently in Eagle Hall had just left the QEH after being hospitalised. How did the persons who killed him know this?
Could they have been the same ones who shot him a month ago? And since he survived the first shooting which was carried out in broad daylight and he could have provided information on his assailants, why haven’t I read in the newspapers that these shooters were caught?
That this shooting occurred within a stone’s throw of the Black Rock Police Station does not provide any indication that the police have anything under control.
I have read and heard on the news about the recent recovery of several high-powered weapons and ammunition.
But I have not read or heard about anyone being charged for them. Thus, the importation channels seem to remain a threat as suppliers and importers remain at large. Is this having things under control?
But it gets worse. It seems that several of these persons being gunned down were themselves on bail for murder, sometimes multiple murders?
Why is this happening? Why are the courts giving people accused of multiple murders bail? Is the Chief Justice looking into this and asking questions of the judge or judges giving this bail? What would lead any judge to give a man bail who has three murder charges pending?
I read where cases are being thrown out of court because they are old and the courts do not have access to the case files to start the cases. Sometimes the cases could be more than seven years old and there are no files.
From reading the newspapers and listening to the complaints of the judges
and excuses of the police prosecutors, it seems this problem is endemic and occurs almost every month.
So even if police apprehend robbers, rapists and murderers, the possibility is that after a while they will be back on the streets to carry on their deeds because the courts were forced to bail them because the cases could not be started. Is this having things under control, sir?
I have no experience in law enforcement so I cannot tell the police hierarchy what to do and what the solutions to their problems are but I can ask questions and hope that for the sake of the country answers are provided.
Is the problem one of recruitment? Is it one of promoting people into positions that they are not equipped to handle?
Is it a question of political interference into the management and operational functions of the police service?
Is it one of police officers now concentrating on academics to gain advancement in, or to get out of the service, rather than concentrating on being the best police officers that they can be and providing the best service to the public that they can?
Has previous internal dispensations so damaged morale in the institution, that recovery is still to be achieved?
Has the police service been unable to recover from the premature retirement of some of its best police officers, especially those my father used to refer to as “street cops” or “old school”? Are some criminal elements finding patronage in political circles and thus feel emboldened to continue masterminding crime in Barbados?
Whatever is the problem, and whatever are the solutions, what is going on in Barbados as I write these few lines carries no resemblance to a police force having anything under control.
And lastly, I really wish that when there are press conferences to be held on matters of crime that the Commissioner of Police conducts them with his POLICE hierarchy and without the unnecessary presence of an Attorney General.
If the AG wants to speak, let him hold his media briefing with other politicians. It is not a good look having the police and politician together.
The entire production looks political, it sounds political and it smells political when the COP says things that attempt to make the government appear on top of the situation, even when the government is clueless. Perhaps, the COP should understand he has more authority than even the Attorney General.
