A public relations exercise.
That is how St Joseph MP Dale Marshall today described reports from Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite that crime in the island was down.
Contributing to debate on the Evidence (Amendment) Bill 2014, Marshall said he was concerned that what ought to have been a serious and insightful presentation on matters related to law and order was reduced to a public relations stunt.
Opposition MP Dale Marshall
“What is worrying the people of Barbados today, despite all the statistical analysis that has been proffered by the Attorney General’s statisticians, is that there are flagrant and brutal assaults on Barbadians in a way that we cannot ever recollect seeing,” he said.
“We have individuals shooting young fathers in the early hours of the morning, on our beaches, with their infant children in their arms. We know it is not daily, but the frequency with which people are going up to other people and pulling a gun and taking their life is alarming. It is worrisome,” added Marshall, an attorney-at-law and former Attorney General.
He insisted that while the brutality was “almost unprecedented”, Brathwaite wanted Barbadians to believe that “because of some survey that he commissioned, that the Barbadian public are happy with the quality of service provided by the Royal Barbados Police Force and that a large number of Barbadians feel that they can walk the streets at night”.
Marshall also queried who carried out the survey which he said had not yet been laid in Parliament.