By: Staff Writer
April 21, 2023
A former Deputy Commissioner of Police for Barbados blasted the most recent Caribbean Crime Symposium as “rubbish,” arguing that they have not addressed any of the issues as it relates to the root causes of crime.
Bertie Hinds, told Caribbean Magazine Plus that the CARICOM’s recent two day Regional Symposium on “Violence as a Public Health Issue – The Crime Challenge” held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Trinidad that there was “a lot of chest thumping,” but very little substance coming from the various leaders from throughout the region.
The published author also said: “They have not addressed the issues. According to the communicae they are talking about exchange of magistrates or whatnot and the Caribbean arrest warrant and what not. That is not what the conference should have been about.
“You have to find out what are the causes and get to the root cause of crime in in the region.”
Further warning that asking the US to come onboard on the region’s crime fight is pointless because it is the US that are manufacturing most of the guns that enter into the region and into the hands of criminals, in addition: “America’s second amendment is about the right to bear arms. America has its own problems. They have a mass shooting every day,” Mr Hinds bristled.
Currently, several Caribbean countries have joined Mexico in a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against US gun manufacturers that is now in the US appellate court on civil appeal after it was dismissed by a US Federal judge last year September.
Guns are a part of the dynamic with regard to the crime epidemic in the Caribbean. Controlling the trafficking of illicit drugs goes hand in hand with the gun culture that has been allowed to develop. Also, there is a need for a sociological and psychological outlook on the issue as well. “Whoever is advising these people, and it would have to be the security personnel or the commissioners and whatnot, they themselves, if they were advising the Prime Minister’s, they themselves don’t have a clue,” Mr Hinds said
He also said: “There are real issues in the Caribbean and they will continue to fester. They were all thumping their chest. They are jokers, man. They don’t have a clue.”
Cooperation in getting to the root causes of criminal activity should have been a primary starting point for the symposium. Matter such as at risk young men and socialisation of school aged people should have been featured more prominently at the Symposium.
While there were a few speakers that argued from a sociological and psychological perspective of the crime epidemic, too much of the symposium was focused on judicial reform and securing the borders- while important, they are not root causes of crime and criminal activity.