Barbadians are again being encouraged to do their part to aid the police in their investigations regarding criminal activities.
The call has come from Chairman of Crime Stoppers Barbados, Oral Reid, who said this is one way the public can assist in helping to address crime in this country.
“If you see something; you say something. While the police do what they have to do in terms of responding to calls, it is also important that we see ourselves as citizens of Barbados, as having a role, a civic responsibility towards supporting the police by sharing information about things that are seen, especially where we recognise that those things can lead to harm to persons,” Reid stated in an interview with The Barbados Advocate.
His comments came as he commended those persons who have been utilising the anonymous hotline service provided by Crime Stoppers Barbados, and he is encouraging even more people to follow suit. Reid said Crime Stoppers sees the need to place more emphasis on engaging with members of the wider community to explain the importance of sharing information, as it is key to keeping Barbados a safe and secure place for locals and visitors alike.
“I think when most people think of Barbados they think of is a very safe location, but what they are not aware of is that the safety which we enjoy in Barbados is as a consequence of a very engaged police agency, which has been responding to calls for help, and we shouldn’t take it for granted…
“I think there is a certain amount of reticence among the members of the community, where people seem not to want to get involved in matters. So I think that on the agenda for Crime Stoppers going into 2018 has to be that we will continue to work to educate the community as to those reasons why they ought to intervene when they see things happening, and that intervention can be direct or indirect,” he stated.
He added, “In the direct intervention a person may sound an alarm or a person may seek to pull two persons apart who may be in an aggressive situation. In the indirect sense, you can take note of what you’ve seen and you can discreetly make a call to the Crime Stoppers number so that report can be made and that some action can follow.”
The Crime Stoppers Chairman while acknowledging that Barbados is a small society, gave the assurance that individuals need not fear retribution from any perpetrators if they utilise their hotline, as the process is confidential. The assurances came as he revealed that while people have been providing tips to the hotline, not all have been collecting funds when they have made a valuable contribution resulting in a crime being solved.
“What we have recognised is that it appears as if the average Barbadian is willing to share information, but seems not to be interested in collecting sums of money that they would be entitled to. There is a school of thought that this shows a commitment towards a society that is greater than the collection of funds, but the other side to that is that it is possibly because of the element of fear. I just wish to reassure persons who share information with Crime Stoppers that information is confidential,” he stated.
He explained that where the information leads to the arrest of a perpetrator, the caller is assigned a number and as far as the programme is concerned “that person is a number” that can go to their bank to collect their reward on presentation of that number. (JRT)