Above: downtown Bridgetown (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Barbados and the Organization of American States have signed an agreement on a project aimed at improving information on crime and violence.

The plan will provide computer equipment and software to Barbados, as well as logistical and methodological support for the government in setting up a so-called Public Security Observatory.

Barbados Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite said the agreement was aimed at building institutional capacity to deal with security threats, strengthening security legislation, assisting in law enforcement coordination and reducing the flow of illegal firearms, among other policies.

“We in the OAS believe that the establishment of this Observatory is critical in the fight against crime and violence,” said Francis McBarnette, the OAS Country Representative for Barbados. “All government agencies collect data and information but it is often not brought to a central location and methods and methodologies differ.”

The Observatory, which will be housed in the National Task Force on Crime Prevention, has been made possible through financial support from Canada’s “Anti-Crime Capacity Building Programme.”

“The Observatories will allow the authorities to have a better sense of what is happening on a national scale and thus enhance their capacity to track trends and to understand the dynamics of what is occurring,” McBarnette said.

Canadian High Commissioner to Barbados Ruth Archibald took part in the ceremony in Bridgetown, affirming Canada’s support for the initiative.