When the newly appointed police commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda took part in a recent “Take Back the Night” walk—the first time a senior officer had done so—there was noticeable surprise from locals. For years, the small twin-island Caribbean country’s police force had been mired in allegations of corruption, incompetence and damaging political scandals. As a result, residents had long viewed the force with skepticism and distrust.
Source: EMBASSY
We find this news report which originates out of Canada to be interesting on several fronts. Our first inclination is to comment on the deterioration of law and order in a neighbouring Caribbean island to the point where it has to transplant retired foreign law officers to reign in the level of crime which is rhampant on the twin island of Antigua and Barbuda. Here is a snippet of what the retired Canadian Commissioner of Police had to say as he looks forward to the challenge in the tropical twin island:
In an interview last week from Antigua, Commissioner Nelson said that after 37 years of policing experience in Ottawa, coming into a force that has operated for years without proper policies, training and equipment, has been extremely challenging.
We are sure that some BU family members may not agree with our next position, but shouldn’t we feel slighted as Caribbean people that four retired Canadian law officers should be the ones expected to save the crime situation in Antigua and Barbuda? Many years after gaining sovereignty (independence) from the mother country, should this not have signaled our ability as nations to manage our domestic affairs? Would it not make more sense to have these people work in the background to support the local policemen? This could be construed as a slap in the face of the local police hierarchy. We are aware that Jamaica and Trinidad have also dabbled with importing foreign police labour.
Commissioner Nelson has wasted no time publicizing the inadequacies of the Antigua and Barbuda police force. Here is a another snippet:
Building up the basic day-to-day policing operations is pretty difficult because the force lacks even the most basic infrastructure, said former Nova Scotia RCMP chief superintendent Tom Bennett, now the deputy commissioner of operations in Antigua.
It is hard to believe that this is a country which spent US54 million dollars to prepare for Cricket World Cup 2007. Let us not forget Caribbean Single Market and Economy and the need to have an efficient immigration infrastructure to protect national security. It just makes us shake our heads and ask, where are our priorities.
19 responses so far ↓
Anton // April 10, 2008 at 2:54 AM
You should be observant of Canadian police, who’ve come to police. there.
Nova Scotia police officers..have a long dark history..read THE BAG MAN by Donald F. Ripley a Finance Minister of the John Buchanan-Brian Mulroney regime era. It’s self-explanatory, corrupt cops, courts, legal-justice system. Read about THE DONALD MARSHAL JUNIOR INQUIREY and numerous Canadian Other’s, wrongfully convicted. The Marshall Inquirey -police from Nova Scotia….Nova Scotia IS corrupt and part of the equation is corrupt cops.
David // April 10, 2008 at 7:04 AM
We talk about CSME and regional integration but we have a bet that members of the BU family really don’t give two hoots about what is happening in Antigua and Barbuda. Little do we realize that we are part of a puzzle in a CSME.
degap // April 10, 2008 at 7:52 AM
“Crimes and Misdemeanors”
If it became clear to the current government that the top brass of the force was inept, they absolutely did the right thing in seeking help from the outside. It’s hard to find good help. There is no shame in that. And what does this have to do with CSME?
Adrian Hinds // April 10, 2008 at 9:07 AM
David // April 10, 2008 at 7:04 am
We talk about CSME and regional integration but we have a bet that members of the BU family really don’t give twoo hoots about what is happening in Antigua and Barbuda. Little do we realize that we become part of a puzzle in a CSME.
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It is true that i don’t give to two hoots what occurs in Bird/Sandford country. I have studied the caribbean countries long and hard and this is exactly why i am against CSME. Barbados has gotten this far on it’s own (without the other islands) and will not progress when it is integrates with these other fifedoms. Wunnuh best take heed to George Lamming call for Barbadians to get use to the withering away of what we know as Barbados today.
Adrian Hinds // April 10, 2008 at 9:23 AM
degap // April 10, 2008 at 7:52 am
“Crimes and Misdemeanors”
If it became clear to the current government that the top brass of the force was inept, they absolutely did the right thing in seeking help from the outside. It’s hard to find good help. There is no shame in that. And what does this have to do with CSME?
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You have asked the question did you attempt to answer it? Here is a teaser question.
What market/economic space is worth investing in if policing and other security apparatus are dysfunctional?
Surely you have heard that one of Barbados favourable aspects to international investors is it’s stability, good governance, and civility. Do you think that a properly functioning police and other security forces, arrangements, laws, and apparatus is conducive to this or adverse?
Why would you open, partner and or link your economic space with one that is overseen by people that cannot even maintain an adequate enough police force to the point that they have to bring in personnel from other countries to do the job? Why not partner with the country that can provide such personnel? It amazes me that Barbadians would think that our country can maintain it’s growth and progress by partnering with fiefdoms that cannot effectively manage institutions and craft as old as police departments and policing but can somehow manage an economic space sufficiently enough as to not compromise our own space as we integrate with them. Did i say think? are we really thinking?
degap // April 10, 2008 at 10:08 AM
Adrian Hinds,
Bajan companies like Goddard Ent. are already invested in Antigua, but you make a valid point. If not other Caribbean islands, then who? And don’t get too haughty, I seem to remember the police commissioner lamenting the poor academic skills of recent recruits to the RBPF. British bobbies may be in the cards for Bim as well.
Global Voices Online » Barbados, Antigua & Barbuda: Crime Control // April 10, 2008 at 10:10 AM
[...] Cricket World Cup 2007. It just makes us shake our heads and ask, where are our priorities”: Barbados Underground blogs about the crime situation in Antigua and Barbuda. Posted by Janine Mendes-Franco Share [...]
Adrian Hinds // April 10, 2008 at 11:22 AM
degap // April 10, 2008 at 10:08 am
Adrian Hinds,
Bajan companies like Goddard Ent. are already invested in Antigua, but you make a valid point. If not other Caribbean islands, then who? And don’t get too haughty, I seem to remember the police commissioner lamenting the poor academic skills of recent recruits to the RBPF. British bobbies may be in the cards for Bim as well.
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I will get haughty (whatever that is) if want to. repeat the above to the tune of Dave Stewart’s and Barbara Gaskin’s “IT’S MY PARTY” :D :D
These companies where able to do so without CSME, and CSME in it’s current format is at it’s core a strategy to give these useless (from a foreign currency generating perspective) companies an advantage to survive in a global economy. CSME is a Top down approach to integration and that is the glaring proof that Caribbean people were not the front and center reason or the core to this haphazard and failing approach to market economy unification.
…..I do not agree that English Bobby’s on our streets in the fashioned that foreign police agents are now in Bird/Stanford country is imminent for Barbados, but i do see how such thoughts can enter the debate. We have dumb down our education ah la American style, continue to butt our heads with all co-ed schools, fail our kids at the tender age of 11, weaken our immigration laws, Pay our existing Police like we would pay a general worker, demonstrate to our existing police in no uncertain terms and from the highest office in the land that they are not important. Of course to me given all that is and have transpired, and fully appreciating that things to not exist in a vacuum that our actions, comments, and statements are interconnected in ways that we do not appreciate, ….I too can join with you in saying yes there is a possibility.
JC // April 10, 2008 at 12:04 PM
I can tell that stormy days are ahead for us Barbadians. We need to stop bury our heads in the sand. We have committed ourselves to doom and failure. CSME= FAILURE. I am so sorry to say that but is is evident. Persons are allowed to come and do as they like and we the citizens have no say in our country.
Adrian Hinds // April 10, 2008 at 12:45 PM
JC // April 10, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I can tell that stormy days are ahead for us Barbadians. We need to stop bury our heads in the sand. We have committed ourselves to doom and failure. CSME= FAILURE. I am so sorry to say that but is is evident. Persons are allowed to come and do as they like and we the citizens have no say in our country.
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JC do not be sorry to stating the facts that are informed by your very real observations. Don’t only be pragmatic when the academics present their findings and sanitize control statistics. Be pragmatic when your daily observations presents reality as Mia Mottley would say “in a very real sense”. :D There is too much filtering of these real events through our emotional and belief systems and little via our appreciation of facts, and even then when facts are applied it is as if facts came into existence without the ideas that conceived and parented them too maturity.
let me explain: If we only look at the FACTS that makes, expanding our market/economic space beyond our shores to include other islands a good approach, and totally divorce the current approach to achieving CSME, from the idea that conceived this particular path, we can be fooled into thinking that our individual interest are as the marketing of CSME has tried and failed to convince us of,.. is at the core and at cause for necessitating this unification at this time and in this Top down manner. Be guided by your observations first and demand that the statistics, finding, and academics disprove what you are seeing. Don’t give in or give up and concede only if warranted.
only me // April 10, 2008 at 4:29 PM
Who gives a ying anyhow and futher more we arnt really independent either since the Queen is still our legal head of state
Adrian Hinds // April 10, 2008 at 5:04 PM
ha ha ha ha Who gives a ying? I am assuming “only you” . :D
So what practical application does the constitutional head of the Barbados government have? Can you detail for me in a real sense what meaningful role this arrangment has played in our development since 1966?
David // April 10, 2008 at 7:35 PM
Whether we want to admit it or not the Caribbean is a small geographical space which means Barbados is not immune from increase criminal activity down the road.
human resource // April 14, 2008 at 9:25 PM
David its not inevitable that our crime gets out of control like Antigua or god forbid Trinidad and Jamaica. Barbadians have always resisted the excesses of our neighbours. They dislike and are suspicious of us as a result. I say we persist with constructive engagement with CSME but stadfastly maintain our Bajan core values in a deliberate and systematic way.
Ed Blanchette // July 29, 2008 at 12:40 AM
The increase in violent crime seen over the past year can no longer be hidden from the world. Antigua is a war zone. Tourists will son realize this and stay away. When Antigua’s economy crashes and burns, the situation is likely to become worse. Paradise mismanaged – it’s an old story.
John // July 29, 2008 at 9:47 AM
Well, From one American point of view, prices will drop at the resorts! And with the savings, we can pay for police escort. Seriously, I am heading for Jamaica in Oct and after this trip I may not return. Do I feel safer in San Antonio, TX, where I live? Yes, because I can carry my firearm.
a caricom girl // August 6, 2008 at 9:50 AM
WELL I NOT FROM BARBADOS, I LOVE THE PLACE & THE PEOPLE, BUT GUESS WAT…YOU GUYS ARE NOT FACING REALITY…THE COST OF LIVING IN BARBADOS IS AT A LEVEL WHICH DISSUADES UNEDUCATED AND LOWLY EDUCATED WORKERS FROM COMING INTO THE ISLAND. ONLY HIGHLY EDUCATED PEOPLE WOULD BE ATTRACTED TO BARBADOS FOR WORK, BECAUSE THEY’RE THE ONLY STRATA OF THE MIGRANT WORK FORCE THAT WOULD BE ABLE TO LIVE COMFORTABLY BASED ON THEIR INCOME. SO WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU GUYS REALLY THINK PEOPLE ARE JUST GETTING US AND PACKING THEIR SUITCASES WITHOUT LOOKING BACK? WHEN HAS BARBADOS EVER BEEN A STRONGPOINT FOR MIGRATION ANYWAY? EVERYBODY LOOKING TO GO ST. THOMAS, B.V.I, ST MAARTEN, ST CROIX, ANTIGUA …MAYBE ST. LUCIA TO A LESSER EXTENT…SINCE WHEN WAS BARBADOS EVER ON THE LIST OF MOST ATTRACTIVE COUNTRIES FOR PROSPECTIVE MIGRANTS? STOP THINKING THIS J*CKA*SN*S..PLZZZZ
LINK UP // August 6, 2008 at 9:53 AM
I Found this link which makes sense…basically saying that Antigua crime is not just an Antigua problem but ALSO A BAJAN problem and ENTIRE C-BEAN problem… http://www.dominica-weekly.com/caribbean-news/are-we-ready-for-a-new-face-in-tourism/
Jime Hunte // August 13, 2008 at 6:06 PM
Adrian Hinds
you have made a perfect example of how caribbean refuse to unite. crime is not an Antigua or Barbados or St.Lucia thing, it is a ALL A WE thing. I am An Antiguan And i AM truly saddened that someone who hails from a nation with a University is obviously an educated dunce.