The Barbados Police Service (BPS) has acknowledged that despite the best efforts of law enforcers, gun violence continues and has warned criminals that they will be targeted.
“We have noticed that, notwithstanding our efforts, we remain confronted with the scourge of gun violence and the use of firearms, in particular, within recent times. We have seen young men embracing very rogue behaviors and we have seen the loss of young lives, damage to vehicles and residences, injuries to persons and in some instances, an increase in the fear of peaceful members of communities,” Acting Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce told reporters.
His statement came following the latest incident on Thursday evening in which a man drove next to a minibus at the traffic lights in Eagle Hall, St Michael, and shot into the public service vehicle, injuring one man.
Boyce said there have been 38 murders so far this year, 29 from guns, with 19 of the murders being solved.
He said some of the young men who were killed in gun violence were known by the police, reassuring the country that when it comes to solving crime, there are no untouchable people in Barbados.
Boyce said the police will leave no stone unturned in seeking to end the violence, adding “we want you to rest assured that we are targeting the criminal activity with vigor and relentlessly and at every level…working in communities with those affected by the scourge and unscrupulous behavior”.
He said the police have adopted a new strategy to deal with the escalating violence.
“We have already set our strategies in place and have already begun to strengthen the areas that we believe need our attention and are shifting our focus on effective and results-oriented policing. We are of the view that our policing strategies are not static, they are subject to change and subject to expansion.
“We have started some work in our communities and definitely will continue to do so. Of course, some of our strategies that are medium-term and long-term will take some time to work. Nonetheless, we know that this particular engagement requires us to readjust our strategies and to bring to you what we are seeing and to share with you what we are doing,” he told reporters.
The acting commissioner acknowledged that police are seeing “unprecedented” access to guns, admitting also that the use of illicit guns and drugs has taken on a new “complexion” and has become part of a new subculture.
Boyce issued a warning to offenders.
The acting top cop sought to address the question of why illegal firearms were ending up on the streets despite the use of scanners at the island’s ports of entry.
“The chain is as strong as its weakest link…and sometimes the weakest link is the human being, and unless the human being comes to a realization that the technology, the scanners are only going to do what they want them to do and to get the results that we want, then we would always be challenged. There must be a human element that is influencing some of the movements.
CMC/
 has acknowledged that despite the efforts of law enforcers, violence continues and has warned criminals){kind=link}