Jeffrey Howell joined the Royal Barbados Police Force the day after he turned age 19.
Now age 60, he is laying down the baton, retiring, leaving behind a legacy of the kind of effective policing which would have quieted the anxiety of the visitor who suffered from an incident of crime while holidaying here. a policing style that would have helped reverse the fortunes of many a young man or woman who may have been heading down a wayward path.
“Policing is a service-oriented job. It is not always about charging and arresting. It is about trying to prevent persons, especially young people, from getting involved in a life of crime,” Inspector
Howell remarked to the SUNDAY SUN as he reflected on a 41-year career with the Royal Barbados Police Force last week.
Speaking days after the Barbados Tourism Authority hosted a retirement luncheon in his honour, the man who spent most of his life as a police officer in community-oriented policing suggested public relations was a key element of the job, advising “police must be more sensitive when they are dealing with people, taking all variables into consideration.”
That is the experience that informed his approach in whatever area he was placed to work.
He started his career at a time when luminaries such as the late Inspector Olga Mason and Superintendent Kenneth Murphy and others – “a very good bunch of police officers” – were in their prime, offering guidance to young police officers like himself. He recalls a force in which discipline ruled, where men and women worked 12 and 13-hour shifts with hardly a complaint.
He was fortunate to have been exposed to different areas of the Force’s operations and in the process learned valuable lessons in dealing with people.
Howell was one of the first seven resident beat officers in the Police Force; he was a pioneer officer working on the Police Bus, and used it effectively to spread the message of law and order in communities where he distributed leaflets on ways to avoid being victims of crime. He used to head the Crime Prevention Unit, and is concerned that current messages of safety and security put out by the police are often not heeded by the public, especially those related to cellphone and jewellery theft.
“Eighty per cent of crimes in Barbados are committed because of opportunity. I know that the police have been trying to sensitize the public to cellphone theft yet you see people walking with the phones oblivious to what is going on around them. The force has to really look at the method of prevention and focus a lot more on that and try to dissuade the practice,” Howell observed.
Even though he has long since moved away from mentoring the young men and women of the Police Boys’ and Girls’ Club, the fortunes and misfortunes of young people remain a concern. In 1980, as a young police officer, Howell took on the role of working with young people from some depressed areas of the day, harnessing their energy and talent through sporting programmes.
The Police Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs had been set up back in the 1950s primarily to foster a relationship between the young people and the police department and there were at one time as many as 10 to 17 clubs throughout the island.
Since police officers were mainly in charge of the clubs back then, he went to the Bay Street club in 1980 to find that boys were far out-numbered by girls. He worked with Robin Garnes, the warden in charge to bring more young men into the club, soliciting assistance from other adults who used to “hang around”.
People still talk about the successful football and other sporting teams which Howell was instrumental in building. But more important to him, he acknowledges he was also helping to build character.
“I found that those years were very rewarding because I was assisting young people who came from depressed areas.”
Today only the Bay Street Police Boys’ and Girls’ Club is still active, much to Howell’s disappointment.
He argues: “I think it is a great mistake not to have allowed that club to continue the way
it was. The Boys’ and Girls’ Club can be used to fashion young people within those areas, who have a lot of time on their hands. I found in my time there were young people in those areas who just needed some adult person to provide guidance for them and it was a way also of getting them to know more about the police, because in those areas people tended to have a negative view of the police.”
Many of his proteges from the Police Boys’ Club went on to make the Barbados National football team and he is gratified that “I managed in my small way to get them to change those views and to earn their respect.” The hope he gave these young men produced winners and influenced other youngsters from the communities to join the club, and he concedes “there were some successes and there were those who fell by the wayside.”
But he says “I am the first to admit that some of the youngsters were victims of their circumstances in the household and in the community.”
Based on his own success in police/youth programmes Howell strongly advocates a revisiting of the ideas of developing Police sporting clubs in neighbourhoods across Barbados. “Select the right persons to work in that area. They must not only have the charisma but they must also be able to deal with young people. They must have patience and an understanding of the problems that confront young people. A lot of people speak negatively about the young people but a lot of them need guidance.”
The day he was summoned to the Commissioner’s office and asked to assume the new position of Tourism Liaison Officer, this Police inspector had no idea about what he was being asked to do. He wrote the blueprint along the way. Given carte blanche to design the job he interpreted its requirements based on his work dealing with incidents of criminal activity impacting the tourism sector, and fashioned a role for which he was continues to be lauded by leading players in the tourism sector.
Howell told the SUNDAY SUN:“I did research on the Internet and I used my own experience and initiative and created a job description.” He also liaised with tourism decision-makers at national level, with foreign missions and the private sector in his mission to find the best ways to assist and give comfort to visitors who from time to time fell victims of crime in Barbados.
How have things changed in crime here? Howell responded: “There is more sophistication and connectivity, with better transport to get around and as criminals make use of technology to hone their craft. There is also the increase in drug activity.”
He is appalled at the acceptance of criminal activity among young men, and at the young women who admire the bold young criminal offender.
“That is why it is important to have adults work with young people to steer them away from a life of crime.It hurts me when I see persons that I had any dealings with especially at the Boys’ Club level who are involved in crime or if I see them going across Central Yard (the yard of central Police Station) in custody of police.”
Howell believes a lot of the problems can be solved early if there is early intervention.
He relates the story of a mother who once turned to him for help with a troublesome son.
“I went one Saturday morning and put him in my vehicle and drove down to Central Police Station and spoke with the Sargeant and sought his permission to visit the cells. I went down to the cells and showed him some people who were locked up in the cells and I sat down and talked to him and tried to impress on him that if he wanted to be like those persons, that was the sort of thing he would have to go through. He ended up at the university.”
The accolades showered on Howell last week by the Chairman of the Barbados Tourism Authority David Rice and Executive Vice President of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association Sue Springer were telling testimony to the commendable job of policing Jeffrey Howell has done.
