Time To Take A Stand? Violent Crime Rearing Its Head

When violent crime rears its ugly head people naturally get scared. When it happens in a place that is unused to it then people get very scared, as they should. The past weekend a number of horribly violent crimes took place in Barbados. The Nation had one of them as its front page lead, "Gunmen kill Dad", reporting how a father of eight children was shot and killed by intruders as he locked up his workplace, Pam's Variety, early yesterday morning in Thyme Bottom, Christ Church. It is the second such incident in the neighbourhood in the past two weeks, and part of a series of incidents over the past five years in the area. Already, residents in that area report that the previous incidents had been met by a kind of legal indifference--a 'slap on the wrist' for the villains. Their confidence in law enforcement is understandably low.

Other incidents were also reported.

A St. George couple were awakened on Friday by three masked intruders claiming to be police officers. The men demanded money, and wounded the woman of the couple as she ran away.

An elderly woman (85) was attacked on Friday by a man she knew as she sat at home watching TV. The man was arrested for aggravated burglary and is due in court today.

On Saturday night a man was shot after being accosted by two men.

In instances like these it quickly becomes clear that people have a lot of issues with the police handling of incidents and the 'punishment' that gets meted out for the crimes. It is no secret that the police are understaffed, and it is also an issue whether they are good at investigating and clearing up crimes. The justice system is also woefully slow.

Another issue in such cases is how they are reported. I was struck that none of the stories reported above made the Advocate today. I trust that I did not miss their reporting over the weekend. I wonder if they have taken the view that better to report nothing than to highlight such serious crimes.

No one in Barbados wants to have its crime problems equated with Jamaica's. But one thing is clear: when citizens feel that the established methods for dealing with crimes do not work they will take matters into their own hands Jamaica is no stranger to vigilante justice. In rural areas a new form of this seems to be in evidence (see Jamaica Observer report on 'M Central Watch'), convened by a group of business operators who are fed up with the State's lethargic response to crime in the rural Parish of Manchester, and "will deal with the case, investigate it" and go after criminals who "steal money, threaten anybody, rape or take away any members of the business". That is drawing a new line in the sand in citizens' unwillingness to be terrorised by criminals.

I recall an incident last year in rural Jamaica when the villagers 'chopped up' the would be criminals. As far as I know the matter ended there. One of the ironies of Caribbean sensibilities, though, is that it is more common to read about vigilante behaviour with regard to certain groups who do not fit socially rather than against criminals; again look at Jamaica and its attitude towards homosexuals (see Gleaner report).

It is not clear if Barbadians have drawn any lines in the sand when it comes to crime. We will see in coming weeks if there is talk or if there is action.