AG: Do not take law into own hands

SOME Barbadians seem to be taking the law into their own hands, rather than waiting on the criminal justice system to determine who is wrong or right.

This concern was raised by Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite as he gave statistics on the country’s murder rate in Parliament yesterday, during debate on the Police Amendment Act.
He indicated that the national average of murders in Barbados stands at 27 per year. In 2017, there were about 30 murders. Twenty-four people were murdered in 2016, 31 in 2015, and 21 in 2014, while there were 23 in 2013.

“[The statistics] in 2016, and 2017, creates a bit of a concern to us because, based on the information that I have received, it seems as if many individuals are no longer co-operating [with Police]. They are willing to take the law into their own hands.

“So that’s why we are seeing the level of drive-by shootings that we are seeing. Those are all retaliatory, and not by accident. The fellas didn’t leave home and say let me have some target practice,” he said.

In light of this observation, the Attorney General noted that while the members of the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF) are doing all that is possible to fight crime on the island, there is a need to look at the reason the crime rate fluctuates.

“As I said, based on intelligence that we are receiving, there seems to be the fact that these individuals are now more inclined to take matters into their own hands,” he said, as he made his contribution to the debate. (AH)