Commissioner of Police, Darwin Dottin held a Press conference this morning at Police Headquarters to update members of the media on the state of crime in Barbados.
The Commissioner reported that there was now a total of 22 murders so far for the year, with three taking place over the past three days. But again, he advised Barbadians not to panic.
He said 50 per cent of these murders were as a result of domestic disputes, while others were either drug related or as a result of robberies gone wrong.
In addition, the top cop reiterated that there was an urgent need to regulate the cash for gold enterprise in the wake of the number of thefts against persons. He also expressed concern about what he called a “fete mentality” which was taking place in Barbados, as he pointed out that there was a need to control the number of fetes on the island.
“It is a sad fact but at a lot of these fetes there is bad behaviour and distribution of illegal substances”, he stated.
Responding to criticisms by members of the public who felt that the RBPF?was not giving a true picture on crime, the Commissioner defended their statistics and stated: “I?wonder what benefit it would be for the force to hide the statistics.”
He said the Attorney General had met with the police and other stakeholders to discuss the crime situation and there were “some very useful suggestions and recommendations made”.
“We are going to resolve these issues. We are going to be making recommendations to the appropriate persons. I am not for one moment trivialising the role of the Royal Barbados Police Force. We are fully aware of our responsibility and take it very seriously. We are going to continue to be robust in our efforts and I want the criminals to take note” he assured the public.
