Metal detectors not the answer!

ATTORNEY General Adriel Brathwaite believes that placing metal detectors in schools is not the ideal solution to stop students from taking weapons to school.

Brathwaite said while there have been calls for authorities to search students and install metal detectors, there is no school in Barbados where it is impossible to access the premises, other than through the main gate. He said most institutions have numerous access points.

“Name one school that you can’t climb in through the fence, or the children don’t go through the fence. Or there isn’t a fence that the children can go into that they can walk across. So that cannot be a solution,” he said.

“I mean, have we all become [President of the United States] Donald Trump? Let’s arm every teacher in Barbados? Let’s search every child that goes in. Let’s have metal detectors,” the Attorney General added.

Brathwaite made the comments, as he spoke about the need to address the issue of violence in society, at the opening of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) St Michael East Constituency Office, last Friday.

There, the Attorney General admitted that like most countries, Barbados has been experiencing challenges with troubled young people. He said the region is facing challenges with the level of violence among the youth, but noted that initiatives must be introduced to get the problem under control.

“How can we get a 22-year-old young lady to understand that she doesn’t have to kick her young child? How do we get her boyfriend to understand that you don’t just expose it when you get vex, that in fact that you have a responsibility to react there and then and try to ensure that the child is protected? That is our challenge, and that is what we will be doing across our country,” he said. (AH)