AG praises police work on crime but worried about societal trends

Attorney General Dale Marshall has praised the police for their work in battling a spike in violent crime as he expresses concern about family dysfunction and declining discipline and values that he believes are critical underlying factors.

Mr. Marshall was addressing a symposium where a report on crime in Barbados was presented.

He emphasized that government has been focused on combatting crime in several ways including providing more resources to the Police Service and making improvements to the court system.

He noted that the Barbados Police Service has been able to quickly make arrests for some of the recent gun crimes.

Mr. Marshall cited as an example of the societal challenges an instance where he stopped to speak to a school boy about his deportment and the school boy cursed at him.

The Attorney General believes attention needs to be given to the societal trends as part of the response to crime.