In an exclusive report from Barbados TODAY, the nation’s police force is formally urging the Mia Mottley administration to adjust its mandatory retirement threshold to 55 years of age, arguing that sweeping shifts in local criminal dynamics make the government’s planned gradual increase of the national pensionable age to 68 by 2034 entirely unfeasible for frontline law enforcement personnel. Speaking publicly on Tuesday, Wendley Carter, president of the Police Association and acting Assistant Superintendent, outlined that the current standard pensionable age of 67, paired with the government’s upcoming staged increases to prop up the financially strained National Insurance Scheme (NIS), fails to account for the unique, life-threatening hazards modern Barbadian police officers face on a daily basis. Carter, who first joined the force in 1985, drew a stark contrast between the relatively low-risk patrol environments of his early career and the current landscape, where widespread gun proliferation and increasingly emboldened young offenders have eliminated the once-common practice of unarmed routine patrols. “Picture a 68-year-old officer physically confronting a 20-year-old suspect – the outcome is never going to favor the aging officer,” Carter emphasized, noting that the physical demands of modern policing leave no room for personnel in their late 60s to safely operate on frontline duty. The call for adjusted retirement terms comes on the heels of a formal ministerial statement delivered by Barbados’ Labour Minister Colin Jordan in the House of Assembly earlier that same day, which laid out a suite of structural reforms to stabilize the NIS social security system. The planned changes include raising the national pensionable age from 67 to 67.5 in 2028, then to 68 in 2034; increasing the minimum number of required contribution weeks to qualify for a full pension from 500 to 750; and phasing up the early pension eligibility age from 60 to 63 by 2031. Carter highlighted a stark inequity in current public service pension rules, noting that Barbados’ military personnel already operate under a separate, dedicated pension scheme that allows for full retirement at age 55 after 25 years of service, while police officers remain locked into the standard national NIS framework with no special carve-outs for their high-risk roles. While government officials have previously raised concerns that a 55 retirement age would trigger widespread staffing shortages in the constabulary, Carter pushed back on that narrative, arguing that competitive, tailored pension benefits would act as a powerful recruitment and retention tool at a time when the force is losing large numbers of young, trained officers to higher-paying roles in the civilian public and private sectors. He cited the Central Bank of Barbados, the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus, and government security services units as top destinations for departing officers, who often leave the force within a few years of completing training to secure better compensation packages. Carter noted that the cultural shift in the workforce means that modern recruits no longer prioritize job loyalty out of a love for law enforcement alone, and that tangible financial incentives are now non-negotiable to build a stable, fully staffed police service. He confirmed that the association has already submitted its formal proposals for a separate police pension scheme to the Mottley administration via the Police Commissioner, and that negotiations are still ongoing. Carter added that the recently completed cross-public service job evaluation exercise, which included interviews with every rank of police officer from constables to senior leadership and special constables, is expected to produce regrading recommendations that formally recognize the elevated risk and unique responsibilities of police work, a development he described as a positive step toward securing better terms for personnel. The Police Association is also currently reviewing a potential expansion of its official representation scope to cover all ranks of the force, including the Police Commissioner, a change that would allow senior officers to retain their membership and leadership roles in the welfare body even after receiving promotions.