Former president of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), attorney Verla De Peiza, is calling on Government to address the wave of crime sweeping the nation.
She said the country was at a critical boiling point with 31 homicides for the year, alongside other violent street crimes and attacks on the elderly.
“We know that it is a whole-of-country issue but we want to know how the Government is leading,” De Peiza said.
“Crime is, for the most part, a response to something, so whilst we have to have immediate responses, we also need to have visionary proposals so that we’re dealing with the immediacy of the problem and also doing our best to roll back the issues that create the environment for crime in the first place,” she added.
She was speaking at a press conference in the Opposition Leader’s Office, Thomas Daniel Building, Hincks Street, The City, yesterday, where she presented a report of the DLP’s Commission on Crime.
Titled Blueprint To Rescue A Nation,the 200-page document aims to analyse the crime situation in Barbados to determine the root causes, and establish policy and legislative initiatives to address the social decline.
De Peiza, who chaired the commission, said the report was available in print and would be accessible to the public in digital form by the third week of August.
She said while the report presented a comprehensive look at crime from an education, governmental, economic and social perspective, it also tackled the psychological impacts of the violence.
“It is literally a disease in society now. CARPHA (Caribbean Public Health Agency) has indicated now that crime is a health issue and they are relating it to the pressure on health institutions, but this report also deals with it in terms of mental health pressure.
“Not just the pressure in terms of managing the care of those who are injured from crime, but then we still have the perception of crime, which has people staying home.
“That is unhealthy for a society as well. So all of that has to be addressed,” she added.
Commissioned in June 2024 by Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne, the report was compiled through town hall meetings and face-toface conversations with members of the public discussing deficiencies in Government and its approach to crime.
(JRN)
When will these Leaders understand that they are Only TENENTS.
We the People are de Land Lords.