If killings continue at the current alarming clip Barbados could more than double its previous murder record.
That estimation has come from retired deputy commissioner of police Bertie Hinds, who said based on statistics for the first three months of the year the island was on course to record between 80 to 90 murders by the end of 2019.
In the first quarter of the year Barbados has already recorded 20 murders. The 35 murders which occurred in 2006 are the most ever in Barbados in a calendar year.
Speaking at a panel discussion on Youth, Crime and Violence in Barbados – Solutions and Strategies, at the 3W's Oval last night, Hinds said the unprecedented number of murders so far for the year was reason for concern.
which worked out to roughly two murders per month.
Referring to the first three months of this year, Hinds said "Never in the history of Barbados has this happened, so something has gone amiss . . . . If we continue on this trajectory we are on course for something like 80 to 90 murders in Barbados. God forbid that these things happen because already there is fear and panic among the population in Barbados," he added.
Hinds suggested that there was a well-established link between drugs and the rise in violence. He said what was now happening in Barbados was a carbon copy of what took place in the US in the 70s and 80s.
"This is a clear manifestation of what was happening in the US in the 70s and 80s, so we are mimicking behaviours of continental US and Central America to some extent and Europe also," Hinds reported.
Director of the Criminal Justice Research and Planning Unit Cheryl Willoughby also revealed that coming out of several studies which examined data captured between 2012 and 2016, the 16 to 25 age group was proving to be the most worrisome.
Willoughby said they had seen an increased number of 16 and 17-year-old males being charged with murder and gun-related offences.
"That is the gender in Barbados right now that is creating most of the problems as it relates to crime, especially serious, violent crimes and the 16-25 age group is posing the most problems and are occupying the resources within the criminal justice, as well as the penal system," she said.
Furthermore, she said there had also been an increase in the number of violent acts being committed by teenagers.
"We examined the extent of violence among the 11 to 15 age cohort and we found that over a four-year period Barbados had a 35 per cent increase in offences committed by persons in that age group.
"Assaults and woundings represented the most popular category of offences committed by these persons and they accounted for 30 per cent of all the offences committed during that time period. So what we are now seeing are juveniles increasingly committing violent offences," Willoughby said.
However, she said there was clear evidence to suggest that most of the young people committing these offences had either been expelled or left school at an early age. According to her, the time had come for educational reform to take place in Barbados.
"I do not want to cast blame on our educational system but I think the time is right for reform within our education system in order for us to be able to address some of the issues we are seeing early and not wait until these persons are within the constraints of the RBPF," she noted.
Thanks Bertie Hinds: Now it's there for all to see. The highest annual murder rate in Barbados was in 2006 when the said B L P was in power.
So pray tell me what's the relationship between this party and high murder rates? The statistics are there for us all to see, so they can now stop blaming the D L P for the increase in murder rate. The D L P was in opposition in 2006.
Sound byte (1) : " what was now happening in Barbados was a carbon copy of what took place in the US in the 70s and 80s".
Ossie Moore : Obviously crime in Barbados is a "black race" issue. There are quite a lot of nice, respectable and intelligent black folks in the USA doing some very nice, respectable and awesome things.
If white and other non-black Barbadians races are not carbon copying "what took place in the US in the 70s and 80s"., then why does black Barbados have to carbon copy "what took place in the US in the 70s and 80s" ?
Ossie Moore : It's a surprise that New Zealand was not added to that list of Countries also , seeing that Barbados has now added Central America to it's list of countries when using the "easy way out " COMPARISON FACTOR.
It seems that Barbados can and will never take responsibility for it's own "crime actions " . It also seems that the only easy way out is to always SLIP INTO DENIAL and use the COMPARISON FACTOR..
The rest of the world Jamaica , Trinidad , Guyana , The USA , New Zealand and now Central America is not as gullible as you think Commissioner.
This administration, as they go on is making the last DLP Administration look so good. What a thing!!!.
Too far east is west Tennyson. I love it. These MPs are the best to come along since the invention of toilet paper and the Nation newspaper.
The education system should instaed of expelling these youths who cause trouble put them in mandatory boot camp. Makes no sense kicking them to the curb then they run wild.
Long on figures, (and pointing fingers). Short on real solutions.