Police Chief says lawmen adjusting strategies to deal with persistent shootings
The head of the Barbados Police Service (BPS) has admitted that recent brazen shootings have forced officers to rethink their crime-fighting strategies, but he is confident that the new approach will put an end to the worrying situation.
According to Barbados Today, Acting Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce told a hastily called press conference on Thursday evening that gun violence was continuing despite the best efforts of law enforcement.
He did, however, assure that the situation was under control and that the troublemakers and their associates would be pursued.
“We want you to rest assured that we are targeting criminal activity with vigour and relentlessness and at every level…working in communities with those affected by the scourge and unscrupulous behavior,” Boyce said, assuring the nation that his officers will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to end the violence.
In this context, Boyce revealed that the BPS’s top brass had decided to shift its crime-fighting focus.
Despite saying he couldn’t discuss the strategies in detail, he said:
“We have already established our strategies and begun to strengthen the areas that we believe require our attention, and we are shifting our focus to effective and results-oriented policing.” Our policing strategies, we believe, are not static; they are subject to change and expansion.
“We have begun some work in our communities and will undoubtedly continue to do so.” Of course, some of our medium- and long-term strategies will take time to bear fruit. Nonetheless, we recognize that this particular engagement necessitates a rethinking of our strategies and bringing to you what we are seeing and doing,” he told reporters.
Despite admitting that the use of illegal guns and drugs had acquired a new “complexion” and had become part of a new subculture, Boyce issued a warning to offenders.
“The Barbados Police Service will not tolerate any form of this wicked problem and will use every partnership, relationship, and collaboration to ensure that our people enjoy their freedom,” he said.
So far this year, there have been 38 murders, 29 of which have been solved, according to Boyce. He stated that some of the young men killed in gun violence were known to police.
The top cop was adamant that there were no untouchable people in Barbados when it came to solving crime.
