Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin left last Wednesday’s Nation Talkback town hall meeting at Lester Vaughan School a little perplexed by what he said were some of the comments made and conclusions drawn from the police’s use of statistics on reported crimes.
He had also been disturbed by a Page 1 report in last Thursday’s DAILY NATION which spoke about a steady increase in murders since 1997.
In this week’s Big Interview, the commissioner spoke with SUNDAY SUN Editor Bryan Walker to seek to clear the air on these and other matters, as well as to answer questions about the public’s confidence – or lack thereof – in crime statistics, and their perceptions about the frequency of criminal activity in Barbados.
Are you disputing our story or what the National Task Force on Crime revealed?
Dottin: Well, the story went back to 1997 and spoke about a steady increase in murders. I don’t think that the statistics reflect that.
Generally, when people discuss crime in Barbados, they put Barbados in a little segment away and not include it as a part of the region, or even what is happening internationally.
The [United Nations report] a few years ago identified the Caribbean as one of the most violent places in the world in relation to homicides . . . and at that time they said the murder rate exceeded 30 per 100 000. If you look at our record, it has been consistently below ten per 100 000, with generally an average in the 20s [per year]. From time to time there have been spikes . . . . There have only been three occasions since 1995 that it exceeded 30.
You have to bring a level of analysis to these issues. Sometimes the NATION is to be blamed for this as they take raw figures, people make comments and then there is no analysis of what people are saying.
So don’t Barbadians have cause for concern when it comes to the murder rate?
Dottin: If one murder is committed, that is cause for concern, but the whole thing has to be put in a context in a region where crime has been increasing. In one country you have 1 600 murders a year, so when the speaker says there were 662 murders committed over a 30-year period, in some countries those figures would be reached in two years.
So there has to be a sense of balance when you come to interpret the figures in our country.
The issue is not only the level of fear it generates, but our relative peace and security have some economic benefits.
But when members of the public look at murders, and they combine them with the level of burglaries and theft that you have reported are on the up, the whole question of fear comes into play, despite your statistics.
Dottin: Therein lies the problem. If there is a lack of analysis, you’re going to fuel that fear. Now burglaries are not crimes against the person, burglaries are crimes against property . . . .
You recently reported that thefts against the person are up. It means that people’s personal safety is being threatened even more.
Dottin: That is why you have to deal with the analysis and also the classification. Burglaries are different from theft from the person. I am on record as saying that has caused us some problems this year, mainly because of the cash for gold phenomenon. We have [told] our ministry that there needs to be legislative intervention to more tightly regulate it.
How widespread is this problem?
Dottin: From what we are seeing on the streets it is quite extensive and that has been a worry to us. We have arrested some persons, but it still continues.
With the current economic situation, if things get worse, do you see an upsurge in these kinds of activity?
Dottin: It’s a very controversial issue. There are some schools of criminology that say during a recession you are going to get an increase in crime . . . .
But tell me what are your views as commissioner?
Dottin: It still requires further analysis. I think the trends are tending to indicate that, but I would want to subject it to further analysis.
Commissioner, people are saying that you can’t sit down and wait on analysis when you see all this criminal activity around you and the lawlessness on the streets . . . to recognize things are getting worse?
Dottin: I don’t recognize the Barbados that you are talking about – that things are getting worse and the country is beset by all this . . . .
So what type of Barbados do you see?
Dottin: It is a Barbados with low crime rates; it’s a Barbados that from time to time you do get spurts of crime, as was demonstrated in recent times. But if you look at the experience on the streets – and my officers are involved in interacting with people every day – I don’t recognize the Barbados that you are talking about.
So the police have crime under control in Barbados?
Dottin: I don’t think that you need to say police have crime under control, because that is the mistake that a lot of countries make, and it is a mistake that we don’t want to make. It is not only the police, but the police working with the rest of Barbados to deal with these issues.
So the police, working with the rest of Barbados, have crime under control?
Dottin: Without a doubt.
One earlier report said there was an increase in guns on the island. Do you agree with that, and if so, what are we doing to arrest this problem?
Dottin: There is certainly an increase in guns through the Caribbean. For several years we have had an anti-gun strategy where we recovered guns from certain operations and certain communities in Barbados.
Can you say what quantities have you recovered?
Dottin: I don’t have the figures before me, but so far this year I think we have recovered around 20 guns. But there are some initiatives we are about to take with an international agency [where] before the end of this year there will be some technology that will be brought to bear on this matter.
What we are going to do is to have a database on all the guns in Barbados – the legal ones – and even those that are used at scenes of crime and recovered, that you can track their movement.
How many illegal guns do you estimate are in Barbados, and how are they getting in?
Dottin: I don’t know. They come through ports, through unofficial ports. There is a nexus between illegal drugs and firearms.
Do you think it’s time to have another gun amnesty like we did some years ago, to get some of these guns off the streets?
Dottin: Amnesties in Barbados have not been very successful. The last amnesty we had, very few firearms were recovered.
Often you mention that the force has challenges in terms of manpower. Do you think that at this stage we need any outside help to deal with crime, guns, etcetera?
Dottin: This is a question the Press frequently asks. Is there any matter that we haven’t been able to resolve in recent times? Any of the high-profile, serious or violent crimes? I would say there is no need, but if ever there came to be a situation where we needed specialist assistance in a matter, we would ask for it.
We hear a lot of the regular criminal matters, but what about white-collar crime?
Dottin: There has been an increase in financial crime. With the recession, that has tended to fuel it . . . . The areas include cheques, money laundering, some computer fraud, credit card fraud. The issue of cyber crime is another area. During the course of this year we have significantly increased the resources in our financial crime unit to address some of these.
What about the effect of deportees on crime in Barbados?
Dottin: Analysis from our Crime Intelligence Unit showed that since the 1980s, just over
1 000 deportees have come back. And in the offender population, [their criminal activity] has been just over two per cent. It very closely mirrors the crime in the general population. We really don’t have the experience of violent crimes with deportees.
In Barbados in particular, once you hear there is a deportee back, [the belief is that] he has to be a top-class criminal, but the evidence doesn’t show it. And there is no evidence they are luring young, impressionable minds into major criminal activity.
So what really is the issue with deportees?
Dottin: The problem is both social and criminal, because what we are seeing is that the crimes they are committing are property crimes. If you have that population back here, and there is not that family support, there are not structures to give them support, when the crunch comes, chances are they will gravitate to crime.