“ENORMOUS”. As crime rates jump in the Caribbean, Barbados included, that word is increasingly being used to describe the impact of criminal behaviour on the region’s economies, especially on enterprises and the social life of the average citizen.
“The economic impact of crime is enormous and that’s true whether we are focusing attention on Jamaica, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago or Barbados,” said Professor Ivelaw Griffith, perhaps the Caribbean’s top expert on security who is to receive the prestigious William J. Perry Award For Excellence In Seucurity And Defence Education. The accolade will be given by the National Defense University in Washington next month.
Griffith, the departing president of Fort Valley State University in Georgia and the author of several books and scholarly papers on crime and security across the Caribbean, says the incidence of crime in several countries is deeply troubling and warns it couldn’t have come at a worse time.
That’s because almost every country is suffering from a declining, stagnant or anaemic economy, which is preventing governments from allocating the necessary resources to crack down on the proliferation of guns in the hands of criminals, the attraction of drug trafficking and overall propensity to commit crime.
But Griffith isn’t alone in zeroing in on crime and the economy. Just last month, Luis Moreno, the United States (US) Ambassador to Jamaica, warned that criminal activity there would impact negatively on local and foreign investment.
“Crime, especially violent crime, is a detriment to both local and foreign investments, and for this reason, the US/Jamaaca partnership in law enforcement is vitally important to sustain growth and prosperity in Montego Bay and across Jamaica,” Moreno told a gathering at the opening of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry Expo 2015 held in Rose Hall, St James.
“We should not forget that this kind of [criminal] activity produces violence and we are seeing, unfortunately, some of that” in Jamaica, added the American diplomat.
Already, the Caribbean and Latin America have some of the world’s highest homicide rates, reaching more than 25 deaths per 100 000 people, triple the global average and “common crime”, according to Ana Corbacho and Carlos Scartascini, two Inter-American Development Bank economists.
Crime victimises more than ten per cent of the population and 30 per cent of the firms in the region. That explains why people in Barbados and the rest of the region see crime and violence as perhaps the number two national priority after the reversasl of the nation’s poor economic performance.
There is a crucial link between rising crime and a declining economy. As an economy falters and joblessness mounts people often turn to crime to survive. In addition, the government must allocate more resources to deal with crime and violence. Just ask Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite and Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, and both would insist that enormous sums of money must be spent on the security forces to keep the lid on crime. More police officers must be hired and Coast Guard patrols must be expanded to search for drugs.
Next are the deleterious effects on crime on foreign investment and on the sense of safety in the home and on the job.
“Crime is a reality that business people are interested in,” Griffith told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY. “It is a dissuading factor when it comes to investments. It has a cost attached to it and it also has an effect on branding and image. There is an economic cost. The negatives for domestic firms and potential foreign investors are real. It’s not easy.”
After all, “crime adds costs when doing business in Barbados and elsewhere in the Caribbean”, Griffith explained. “If you consider the capability limitations of the police forces and criminal justice architecture overall, the slow speed with which people get arrested, prosecuted and the court determinations, increasingly what’s happening is that companies and individuals have to hire private security.”
He added: “When you consider that with the costs of running a business you now have to invest in additional security, whether electronic or in human resources, the cost is going to drive up the price of the product or service.”
Hence the warning: if Barbados follows in the footsteps of some of its neighbours and becomes known as a crime-ridden society where people’s safety is threatened, where husbands are shot dead, wives are abducted or strangled and children go missing, foreign investors wouldn’t be drawn to its shores. Investors would be reluctant to come.
There is more. Rampant crime and violence routinely hurts property values. They also impair the health of women and children. That’s particularly true of domestic violence which is already at epidemic levels in CARICOM. Griffith suggests Caribbean countries provide incentives to firms and families so they can make their homes and businesses far more secure. “Give citizens incentives that would have a financial benefit attached to them,” he suggested.
A firm using sophisticated security systems or households installing wrought iron barriers to keep out burglars or acquiring insurance policies to compensate for thefts can become tax deductible items on annual tax returns.
“Governments by themselves can’t manage the crime situation,” said Griffith. “the Barbados Government doesn’t have all the money to tackle it on its own. Individuals have a role in it too. But the incentives can be provided by the Government.”