Strategic plan needed

A CALL is being made for Attorney General Dale Marshall to bring together stakeholders to devise a strategy to bring the crime situation on the island under control.

It comes from political hopeful for St. Philip North and 2nd Vice President of the Democratic Labour Party, Simon Alleyne, as he
expressed concern yesterday as a result of the recent upsurge in gun violence.

Two separate shooting incidents on Sunday night left one man dead and two others injured, who were taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Alleyne noted that Barbadians are very concerned about this rise in crime.

“The crime situation is spiralling out of control in Barbados and now while the government is focusing on controlling COVID 19, it seems that there is an underground movement of hitmen and hired guns leading to a number of execution style killings occurring even during curfew time.”

“So I would like to urge the Attorney General to meet with the necessary stakeholders to devise a plan that is more responsive than reactive to deal with this whole issue of guns and violence, we need to make our communities safer. It is one to thing to deal with COVID 19 but at the end of the day persons are having a hard time feeling safe in their communities.”

Alleyne added, “So while I commend the RBPF and their Crime Prevention strategies, it is important that community surveillance is being done and that we have police presence in a lot of our communities because Barbadians understand that with rising unemployment, some people in society may become desperate.”

He made the point that while persons may be staying indoors and obeying the curfew, that does not guarantee that crime will not come to their doorsteps.

“...And that our homes will not be broken into, our cars may not be vandalised by people looking to score easy cash. So I just appeal to the AG and those in authority, please have a strategic plan during COVID to address crime and deal with the violence that is occurring in our society,” he said.