Barbados Police Vow Crackdown on Rising Violence After Three Murders in 12 Days

With three murders in the first 12 days of the year, Acting Commissioner of Police Erwin Boyce has pledged a crackdown to curb the rising tide of violence, warning criminals that lawmen “are going to get you”.

The island’s acting top cop gave the assurance as he insisted that Barbadians must not be made to feel they cannot go about their daily business without being anxious or living in fear of crime.

Boyce told a press briefing at police headquarters that while the crime management strategies during the Yuletide and tourism seasons went well last year, the first two weeks of the year have created concern and discomfort for officers.

He said: “It has not been comforting from the perspective that 13 days into the year, we have three homicides, we have instances of robberies, we have had youth crime, and we have had some concern about the whole area of roads policing. I say roads policing because it is perhaps one of the areas we have to emphasise at this meeting.

“Three homicides — and from our preliminary investigations, they were interpersonal violence and intentional. Intentional or, as some persons would indicate, targeted homicides. The most recent one was less than about 36 hours ago at Kirtons in St Philip. The investigation of the matter is in the embryonic stage; hence, we have assembled a team . . . to do the investigations and to make sure that every area of concern is unearthed.”

Boyce added: “What I am saying to those persons who think they are strong enough and bold enough and brazen enough and brash enough to do these things, we are going to get you. We are going to get you; The Barbados Police Service is going to get you; and we are going to get you sooner [rather] than later.”

The acting commissioner contended that there is no place for such callous antisocial behaviour where gun-toting individuals are going around shooting people, especially indiscriminately.

He declared: “So, whether there are influencers who are driving people to commit certain behaviours, we are pursuing the investigation to take care of all persons who are in some way connected with the commission of the offence.”

Boyce promised that the police service would leave no stone unturned in ensuring that the streets of Barbados are not taken over by criminals.

He said: “We are going to pursue those matters with the kind of robustness that is required to make sure that Barbados remains a safe place; that there are no ‘no-go areas’ in Barbados; that people don’t have to be going to a petrol station and looking around; that people don’t have to sit in an area and be anxious whenever a vehicle passes, or whenever they see an unknown. That is the thrust of the investigation, to identify and to get the perpetrators of those matters.”