Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey is urging Barbadians to treat homeless individuals with greater dignity and less hostility.
Speaking at the Barbados Police Service’s sensitisation session on homelessness held at Savannah Hotel, Humphrey said, “We’re seeing that hostility in its worst manifestation when we saw the attacks on the homeless in town. We’ve seen the hostility in terms of the communication. How people speak to homeless persons and so on, and regrettably, sometimes you see hostility also in how it is reported.”
He added that the aim of the training was to “help people who are dealing with persons who are homeless to be able to treat them with a little bit more dignity,” instead of relying on “hostile architecture”.
Inspector Wendell Thomas of the Barbados Police Service also praised the initiative, saying, “It’s always good to know that there are entities such as the homeless society where we can reach out when there are issues confronting us on the streets.”
The Barbados Alliance to End Homelessness (BAEH) is the body which oversees the affairs of the homeless in Barbados and were also present.
President of the BAEH, Kemar Saffrey, said training like this was vital to improving coordination. “Every day, the police bring someone at our shelter. And so we believe that in training sessions like this, they help sensitise you of what we do at the shelter, how we do it, and the type of place that we assist,” he said.
He added, “We will require the assistance of the police service to go into those areas,” noting hotspots like Oistins and Dover. “We have a relationship with the police, but we know that in any relationship, there is a need for training, sensitisation because all police officers may not understand what we do.” (AM)
