President and Chief Executive Officer of the Caribbean Law Enforcement Foundation (CLEF), David Watson, speaking at yesterday’s press conference. Looking on are Kuturie Rouse, Executive Board Consultant with CLEF, and Chief Psychologist for the City of Atlanta, Dr. Adrienne Bradford.
USEFUL TOOL
Pepper spray is a useful tool that law enforcement officers in the region can employ to defuse violent situations.
That is according to David Watson, Chief Executive Officer and President of the Caribbean Law Enforcement Foundation (CLEF), an organisation formed two years ago to provide funding and equipment for training and technological infrastructure among law enforcement agencies within the Caribbean region. Watson made the point as he spoke to media personnel yesterday morning about a pepper spray project, which is currently under way in Barbados with the assistance of CLEF.
Watson explained that the Atlanta-based CLEF started a pilot project here in Barbados, where they provided the Royal Barbados Police Force with 50 cans of pepper spray earlier this year, to see how it works in this jurisdiction. The CLEF President said that a report on the pilot project should be in the hands of his organisation by the end of the year, from which they will make a decision about the way forward.
“That project can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, so we are working with baby steps on that. So we want to see further viability of pepper spray here, and then once we get the viability of it here, that kind of gives us a template for the other islands. So this is just the starting point with the pepper spray,” he indicated.
Watson added, “Equipment like pepper spray and tasers boil down to budgets, most people don’t have that. A can of pepper spray, the holder may run about US$20, that’s a lot of money per person; a taser can run US$500 and up, per taser… Right now other than a baton, or a side firearm, there is no other in between there. The pepper spray can solve a lot of issues in terms of settling a situation. Usually in most situations the hands will hurt you, if a person gets pepper sprayed they put their hands on their face.”
The CEO and President noted that while pepper spray does solve a lot of issues, it does not have an economic, viable price tag that most governments can afford. To that end, he maintained that it is not that most governments do not want it, but, he said, they cannot afford it. Nonetheless, he remains adamant that it has a role to play in the Caribbean as it can solve issues with respect to violent or combative people. (JRT)