DLP senator calls for financial crime laws to dismantle Barbados gangs

Opposition senator Ryan Walters urged the Senate to use financial crime laws to cut off gang funding. Barbados averages one murder per week, he said.

Opposition senator presses for asset seizures as gang bill reaches Senate

Opposition senator Ryan Walters called on Friday for a more aggressive application of existing financial crime legislation to break apart criminal gangs in Barbados, barbadostoday.bb reports. Speaking as the Senate took up the Criminal Gangs (Prevention and Control) Bill, Walters argued that tracing and cutting off illicit money flows was more effective than concentrating enforcement on street-level gang members.

Walters, of the Democratic Labour Party, described crime in Barbados as having reached an alarming level. "On average, one murder a week in this country," he told the chamber, adding that violent crime had been a persistent public concern for seven to eight years but had worsened sharply over the past two and a half years. "For the last 18 to 24 months, we have had at least on average, one murder a week in this country. Last week, while this bill was being debated in the other place…there was a murder on that same day. Two nights ago there was a murder in this country. So this topic, this has been a hot topic."

Walters made clear he was not opposed to the bill itself, but cautioned against treating legislation as sufficient on its own. "Legislation alone will not address the issues that we face today," he said. "Passing legislation will not address it alone. Enforcement will address it as well."

'Cut off the head of the lizard'

The senator argued that the DLP's preferred approach was to pursue the financiers of criminal networks rather than the young men carrying out orders on the ground. "Who's funding the illicit trade, who's paying to get the guns into Barbados, who's paying to bring in the drugs, who's paying to give somebody a gun to go and shoot another person," he said. "We're talking about cutting off the head of the lizard."

Walters questioned whether the Proceeds and Instrumentalities of Crime Act — passed in 2019 — could be more directly woven into the proposed gang legislation. He suggested that specific provisions of that act be either inserted into the bill or explicitly referenced so that swift financial action could be taken at the point of arrest, charge, or conviction. "Can the bill be strengthened if there are specific elements of that act that are either inserted or drawn on specifically so that when a person is taken into custody, charged or convicted of being a gang member, there are other actions that can happen swiftly to deal with getting to the source of the funds?" he asked.

Senator questions results of existing law

Walters also challenged the government to account for the track record of the Proceeds and Instrumentalities of Crime Act since its enactment. "I am sure it is known that there is the Proceeds and Instrumentalities Act, but even under that act, passed in 2019, is it working?" he said. He pressed for specifics: how many criminal organisations had been financially dismantled, how many luxury vehicles had been seized, and how many gang leaders had been stripped of the assets funding their operations.

"What are the results of that act? How many criminal organisations have been investigated and financially dismantled since 2019? How many of those luxury vehicles that the minister referred to have been seized? How many gang leaders have been stripped of their assets that fund the criminal activity? So a part of this is also about the results of some of these legislations that have been passed. Are they working for the purpose that they were intended to?"

He concluded with a firm statement of the DLP's position: "We cannot focus then on only picking up the guys on the block. We have to cut off the head so that the criminal activity dies."

Source: Google News BB — Crime