标签： Barbados

A landmark two-day training workshop focused on elevating communication strategies and service standards for senior officers of The Barbados Police Service kicked off on Tuesday at the District ‘A’ Complex in Station Hill, St Michael. This initiative marks the first collaborative effort between the Regional Police Training Centre and the National Transformation Initiative (NTI), a government agency established in 2020 to upskill Barbados’ workforce as part of the national Economic Recovery and Transformation Programme.

Speaking at the opening of the workshop, Police Commissioner Sonia Boyce emphasized that transparent, timely communication with the public is no longer a peripheral add-on to policing—it is a fundamental pillar of modern leadership and effective law enforcement. “In modern policing, communication is not an optional extra; it is a core part of leadership,” Boyce told attendees. She explained that every public interaction, whether through an official press briefing, a social media post, or a face-to-face conversation at an incident scene, directly shapes public trust in the police service. A single misstep or poorly timed statement can erode public confidence, while clear, compassionate communication can reinforce the service’s credibility.

Boyce highlighted the unique challenges of policing in the digital age, where smartphone footage and unconfirmed reports spread across social media within minutes of an incident unfolding. “If we do not tell our story clearly and responsibly, someone else will tell it for us, and often not correctly,” she noted. Beyond external communication, the commissioner stressed that strong internal communication is equally critical, directly impacting officer morale, operational performance, and cross-team trust. “Good leaders do not just issue instructions; they explain the purpose, they listen to concerns, and they make sure the message is understood,” she said. Encouraging participants to engage fully with the workshop’s activities, Boyce added that meaningful professional growth often occurs when individuals step outside their familiar comfort zones.

NTI Director Dr Allyson Leacock outlined the framework of her agency’s contribution to the training, dubbed the *Art and Heart of Service* programme. Leacock explained that the programme’s name stems from the core belief that truly exceptional public service goes beyond routine, transactional interactions—it must be rooted in empathy and intention. “Our programme is called the Art and Heart of Service because we believe that customer service can be transactional, but really great service, which we have all experienced at some point, is usually from the heart,” she said.

Given the Barbados Police Service’s role as a public-facing institution that reflects the country’s full demographic diversity, Leacock noted that upskilling the force is a central priority for NTI’s workforce development mandate. The training is structured around four interactive modules: culture and organizational transformation, disability etiquette, professional deportment and personal branding, communication skills, and ethics and integrity. Describing ethics and integrity as the unseen foundation of public service, Leacock said the module focuses on “the anchor that predicts how each of us behaves every single day when nobody is looking.” The programme prioritizes mindset shifts before technical skill-building, she explained, noting that real-world performance under pressure depends far more on core values than classroom knowledge alone.

Leacock also used the occasion to push for greater adoption of digital tools within the police service, urging leadership to prioritize digital literacy and eventually full digital fluency across the constabulary. “I know we are all very wedded to hard black and blue books in the public service. I know that we love our paper, but the world is going digital, and we cannot be left behind,” she said.

Regional Police Training Centre Commandant Roderic Walcott added that the workshop was developed specifically to meet rising public expectations for transparent, accessible policing. “We are all part of the transformational policing approach, which is more practicable and suitable for today’s society,” Walcott said. “We are now policing a public who expect more interaction and communication from us.” Whether updating the public on an active crime scene, sharing information about a traffic collision, or addressing broader community security concerns, the ability to communicate clearly has become a non-negotiable skill for modern officers, he added.

The workshop is tailored for senior command team members, lead investigating officers, and selected inspectors and station sergeants, bringing together senior leaders from across the force to align on new communication and service standards. Per the planned schedule, NTI will lead the Art of Service module first, after which communication experts will facilitate joint hands-on training sessions focused on practical application.

A devastating early-morning fire that left a 9-year-old boy hospitalized in critical condition has thrust longstanding questions about public housing safety and infrastructure decay back into the spotlight in Barbados, prompting government officials to outline a sweeping, multi-year initiative to modernize the nation’s aging public housing stock. The blaze broke out around 3 a.m. Sunday on the ground floor of a public housing apartment block in Maynard’s, St. Peter, completely gutting the unit. Witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion before the fire spread through the home, which housed three residents at the time. The young boy was hospitalized after suffering severe smoke inhalation, and as of the latest update remains in critical care. Photographer Ricardo Roberts captured images of the charred aftermath of the incident, which has sparked renewed public debate over the maintenance, electrical inspection, and overall safety of public housing developments that were constructed decades ago.

Speaking exclusively to Barbados TODAY, Housing Minister Chris Gibbs moved quickly to address public concerns, confirming that the specific apartment block impacted by the fire had already completed a full electrical system upgrade and received official safety certification from the Government Electrical Engineering Department prior to the incident. The core of the government’s ongoing upgrade work centers on converting outdated 110-volt electrical systems to 220-volt capacity, a critical adjustment to accommodate the wide range of modern electronics and appliances that residents use daily, which have strained the original infrastructure built decades ago.

Gibbs explained that the vast majority of Barbados’ public housing estates were constructed between the 1950s and 1970s, leaving their original electrical infrastructure ill-equipped to handle the energy demands of contemporary household use. This mismatch has created widespread risks of circuit overload across the national public housing portfolio, making the incremental voltage conversion program a top priority for the National Housing Corporation (NHC). The minister emphasized that the upgrade initiative has been in progress for several years, with teams systematically working through every public housing estate to complete inspections, upgrades, and official certifications. However, he cautioned that the sheer scale of the project means it will remain an ongoing, long-term effort funded by annual government budget allocations.

Comparing the project to large-scale infrastructure overhauls carried out by major utility providers, Gibbs noted that financial constraints require the work to progress incrementally, one block at a time. The portfolio includes massive estates spanning locations including Pine, Haynesville, and Deacons, making a rapid full upgrade unfeasible even with sustained government investment. “It is a mammoth task, but you’ve got to kind of go through one by one and do it right,” Gibbs said of the ongoing work.

Beyond targeted electrical upgrades, the Ministry of Housing has rolled out a broader, multi-pronged strategy to modernize the public housing sector that includes full estate-wide structural overhauls, a property ownership transfer program for long-term tenants, and the construction of new climate-resilient housing to replace severely outdated, storm-vulnerable structures and reduce overcrowding in high-density developments.

Under the ownership transfer initiative, long-term tenants who have rented their public housing units for 20 years or more are granted full ownership of their properties. This shift transfers responsibility for internal repairs and maintenance directly to residents, freeing up limited government resources to focus on shared infrastructure and unclaimed properties. Gibbs reported that the program has already transferred ownership to roughly 1,000 households, with nearly 500 transfers completed just this year alone.

For properties that remain under direct government management, Gibbs has introduced a new “maintenance reset” strategy designed to address decades of accumulated repair needs in a single, comprehensive site visit. Teams carry out general repairs, lighting upgrades, parking lot improvements, and cosmetic beautification work all in one coordinated effort. The program has already been completed at London Bourne Towers, and work is currently underway to address outstanding issues at the Grotto housing estate.

For the oldest, most overcrowded developments where full rewiring or structural refurbishment is impractical – particularly for structures that are vulnerable to severe tropical storms – the government’s strategy focuses on reducing population density by constructing new climate-resilient housing developments in other locations. Lower Burney has already been identified as a key site for this new construction, which will allow residents of congested, high-risk estates to relocate to safer, more spacious accommodation. “If you have a structure you’re not comfortable with if a Category Two storm comes through, you’re not going to try to do minor work – we’re going to build something better for them,” Gibbs said, adding that the end goal is to deliver new, affordable housing that is built to withstand the growing impacts of climate change.

As of this report, police and fire service officials continue their investigation into the exact cause of the Maynard’s fire. Gibbs confirmed that the Ministry of Housing is collaborating with local Member of Parliament Colin Jordan to secure temporary housing for the three residents displaced by the blaze, as they wait for a more permanent solution and the young boy recovers in hospital. “When there’s a fire, the site is given over to the police service, and they, along with the fire service, will do the investigations so they can figure out what exactly went wrong,” Gibbs said. “I feel the responsibility to find temporary accommodations for them until we can find them something more stable. I want them to get healthy, and we can take care of the rest.”

Local residents in Holetown are demanding that the current beachfront location of the town’s civic centre remain permanently zoned as public space, a push that comes as top government ministers have repeatedly clarified that no formal development application for a private hotel has yet been submitted for review. Professor Robin Mahon, speaking on behalf of the Sunset Crest Property Owners’ Association, told a public Ideas Forum held at Frederick Smith Secondary School on Monday that the community views this prime coastal real estate as far too valuable to be handed over to private commercial development.

The controversy traces back to early last year, when Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced a government plan: once the new Holetown Civic Centre is completed, the existing facility will be relocated inland to make way for a multi-story private hotel on the beachfront plot. Parliament approved the acquisition of land for the new civic centre in February 2025, and construction work at the Trents development site has been underway for three months. According to Mahon, the association’s alternative proposal is to retain the existing beachfront site for public use and upgrade it into a expanded multi-purpose coastal public space that serves the entire community.

Mahon explained, “We understand that once the new civic centre opens across the way, the old site is slated to become a multi-story hotel, but we have a far better vision for this space. If we retain its current status as a public coastal space, this site will deliver far greater benefits to Holetown and to Barbados as a whole.”

He went on to note that the 100-acre Sunset Crest community, which counts 314 lots, already has a robust existing tourism sector, including hotels, condominiums, rental villas, and apartments, totaling approximately 500 tourism units. The vast majority of these are locally owned, and collectively they support a large share of the area’s employment. Mahon emphasized that the community’s entire tourism offering depends on broad public access to expansive beach space, not just a narrow public corridor along the shoreline.

The current civic centre site is already heavily used by both residents and tourists for a wide range of activities, including beach recreation, water sports, and community events. Local small businesses, from street vendors and beach chair rental operators to water sports instructors, rely on public access to this space to earn their livelihoods. Mahon also highlighted the presence of Surfside Restaurant, local commercial fishers who operate nearby, and the site’s long-standing role as a venue for the annual Holetown Festival and other major community gatherings.

“Even if the developer sets aside a small portion of the site for public use, it would be nearly impossible to preserve all of the current functions that this space serves,” Mahon argued. “If we lose this current public access and functionality, Holetown will change beyond recognition from the town we know today.”

Mahon added that the association’s proposal would keep the site fully publicly accessible while upgrading it into a dynamic multi-use space that supports local livelihoods and fosters connection between residents and visitors.

In response to community concerns, Kerrie Symmonds, the Member of Parliament for the area, stressed that no final decision on the site’s future has been made. “The reality is that no proposal has been brought before Cabinet for a decision,” Symmonds stated. The MP said he could not confirm whether any formal application for a hotel development has been submitted, but added that all potential uses for the site should remain on the table for consideration. “If this were a straightforward decision, it would have been made long ago,” he said, noting that “we genuinely need to make the most of every inch of coastal space we have, because open coastal land is extremely limited here.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment Santia Bradshaw also confirmed that her ministry has completed checks and received no development application for a hotel at the site. Bradshaw explained that any proposal for a hotel with more than 50 rooms would trigger a mandatory environmental impact assessment, require consultation with relevant community stakeholders and government agencies, and require full public disclosure of the developer’s plans before any approval can be considered.

Bradshaw urged residents to avoid assuming that a hotel development has already been approved. “I understand and appreciate the passion behind this issue, but we need to approach this carefully. I don’t want anyone to jump ahead and assume this is a done deal,” she said. “Any development that moves forward will require full, comprehensive consultation with all relevant parties before a decision is made.”

The Barbados Fire Service continues to grapple with a persistent staffing gap, remaining 25 to 30 trained officers short of its fully authorized operational strength even after 20 new full-time recruits graduated from training last week, according to Deputy Chief Fire Officer Henderson Patrick.

Speaking to journalists on Health and Open Day, a core event of the island’s annual Fire Service Week held at the Barbados Fire Service Headquarters at the Cadogan, Mayers, Marshall Emergency Services Complex in the Pine, Patrick emphasized that understaffing has been a long-running challenge for the organization. For years, the service has depended on temporary auxiliary staff to fill gaps in frontline response, a stopgap measure that has been necessary until more full-time recruits could be trained and deployed.

Last week’s 42nd passing out parade marked a key milestone for the service, as all 20 graduates entered the force as fully accredited full-time fire officers, rather than temporary auxiliary staff. While this new cohort has grown the service’s total ranks, Patrick confirmed it has not been enough to close the pre-existing staffing deficit. “They have added to the complement, but they have not given us as yet the establishment that we have for the service,” he explained, noting that the service is still actively recruiting to fill the remaining 25 to 30 vacant positions.

In an open call to eligible Barbadians, Patrick encouraged people who meet the service’s entry requirements and have a passion for public service to consider a career with the fire department. “We are looking for committed individuals and individuals who are ready to serve the public to become a part of this wonderful organisation,” he said.

The Health and Open Day event that hosted Patrick’s announcement was designed to serve dual purposes: expanding public access to no-cost health screenings and assessments, and educating community members on how to make proactive, informed choices about their personal wellness. “We are hoping that members of the public will come and have their free checks, assessments, and get to become more intimate with information that is pertinent to their personal health,” Patrick said, adding that the public health-focused event was particularly well-timed amid the ongoing high prevalence of non-communicable diseases across the Caribbean.

Health and Open Day is just one of the activities scheduled for this year’s Fire Service Week. The calendar also includes the first ever Wayne Vaughan Memorial Fun Day, set to take place this Saturday at the Lears cricket ground in St Michael. The new event honors the life and service of late Divisional Officer Wayne Vaughan, who passed away on June 14.

A recent rollover incident involving a chlorine-carrying truck at Barbados’ Norman Niles Roundabout has sparked urgent calls from senior fire service leadership for hazardous material shipping companies to upgrade safety protocols and reassess their operational practices.

The incident, which occurred on a Thursday this year, saw the truck overturn and damage two out of four chemical storage totes holding a total of 800 gallons of liquid chlorine. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the 2026 Fire Service Week Health and Open Day, hosted at the Barbados Fire Service Headquarters in the Cadogan, Mayers, Marshall (CMM) Emergency Services Complex, Deputy Chief Fire Officer Henderson Patrick outlined the service’s core concerns about the incident.

Patrick explained that preliminary assessments by the fire service raised clear red flags about the vehicle used to haul the toxic chemical. Each of the four totes on board held more than 200 gallons of chlorine, putting significant total weight on the truck. In Patrick’s assessment, the vehicle deployed for the job was not built to handle either the total load or the dangerous nature of the material it was carrying.

“This is not an issue we have commonly faced in Barbados,” Patrick noted. “We have not previously seen vehicles of this size and classification transporting this type of hazardous material. It is possible companies have used similar setups before without incident, but that does not make the practice safe.” He emphasized that chlorine, a highly toxic and corrosive substance, requires a far sturdier, purpose-built transport vehicle than the one involved in the recent rollover.

Beyond vehicle suitability, Patrick also urged hazardous material transporters to rethink the timing of their routes, especially for trips that pass through high-traffic urban and suburban areas. He suggested companies shift most hazardous material shipments to off-peak windows – either early in the morning or late in the evening – when traffic volumes are far lower, reducing the risk of collisions and rollovers that could lead to chemical leaks.

At its core, Patrick said, the push for updated precautions is about protecting public safety. “This all comes down to risk assessment and respect for the public that shares these roads,” he stressed. “Companies carrying hazardous materials have a responsibility to fully understand the harm their cargo could cause if an accident occurs, and make the right choices – both in what vehicle they use, and when they choose to travel on public roads.”