As rising violent crime in Barbados sparks growing alarm over its cascading harm to national livelihoods and community stability, a leading Caribbean academic and behavioral specialist has issued a urgent call for enhanced, focused law enforcement intervention in high-crime hotspot areas. Professor Dwayne Devonish, a management and behavioral science lecturer at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, put forward his policy recommendations in the wake of two back-to-back fatal shootings that claimed the lives of a 22-year-old father of two from Gall Hill, Christ Church, and a 50-year-old resident of St John. These two killings have pushed the island nation’s total murder count for the current year to 18, amplifying long-simmering public anxiety over violent crime.
Professor Devonish emphasized that the steady rise in violent offenses is placing unanticipated and severe economic strain on Barbados, a country still recovering from recent economic shocks and relying heavily on tourism and small business activity. He explained that the human cost of these killings translates directly to widespread financial hardship for impacted families, many of whom have lost their primary breadwinners to violence. “When a person is killed or seriously injured in a criminal attack, the entire family is left to absorb the long-term financial and economic consequences of that loss,” he noted. “For households where the victim was the main source of income, that burden can be crippling.”
Beyond household-level economic harm, the academic warned that rising violent crime in public spaces is already inflicting measurable damage on Barbados’ commercial sector, particularly local businesses that rely on social and leisure activity. The most recent shootings all took place in widely accessible public areas: one in a residential neighborhood on St Stephen’s Hill, St Michael, one in the aftermath of the popular annual Oistins Fish Festival in Christ Church, and a third near the well-known Brownes Beach bar and restaurant Lazy Lizard. Because of these brazen, open attacks, Professor Devonish said growing public fear is keeping many Barbadians inside their homes rather than patronizing local businesses, social venues, and tourist hubs.
“This pervasive societal fear that stems from public attacks is hitting local commerce directly,” he explained. “If people are scared that they could be caught in the wrong place at the wrong time just by going out to meet a friend or grab a meal, they will choose to stay home. That means less foot traffic for shops, restaurants, entertainment venues and other businesses that depend on public gatherings to survive.” He projected that commercial areas that normally see high levels of public foot traffic will see a sharp drop in patronage in the coming months, if the current trend of violent crime in public spaces continues.
The specialist also pointed to a secondary economic cost: a sharp uptick in private security spending across both residential and commercial properties. As residents and business owners lose confidence in public safety, they are diverting limited income and revenue toward private protective measures including surveillance cameras, alarm systems, reinforced gates and security fencing, and private guard services. This reallocation of capital takes away money that could otherwise be spent on local consumer goods, business expansion, or household essentials, further dragging on broader economic growth.
Beyond economic impacts, Professor Devonish highlighted a deep, ongoing breakdown in trust between the Barbados Police Service and local communities, a barrier that he says prevents effective crime prevention and solving. He noted that widespread public distrust keeps many people from reporting crimes or sharing information with law enforcement, allowing violent actors to operate with impunity in hotspot areas.
To address these interconnected challenges, the professor outlined a multi-pronged strategy centered on more aggressive, targeted policing in high-crime zones. “Law enforcement agencies need to be far more proactive in the areas that have been hit hardest by violent crime, the persistent hotspots where violence has become a regular occurrence,” he said. “We need to double down on community protection to make residents feel safe again.” In addition to increased visible patrols, he stressed that police must prioritize repairing fractured relationships with local communities, to encourage greater cooperation.
A key part of this effort, he argued, is strengthening the country’s anonymous crime reporting systems, to eliminate the fear of retaliation that keeps many witnesses from coming forward. He also called on local media outlets to take responsibility for rebuilding public trust by improving their protocols for protecting the identities of crime witnesses and victims, noting that past failures to protect vulnerable sources have eroded public confidence in the safety of reporting.
“Media outlets have a critical role to play here,” Professor Devonish said. “Some organizations have failed in the past to properly protect people’s identities, even when those people are children. It is essential that media put the right protocols in place to support the anonymous reporting systems that are critical to solving and preventing crime.”