BRIDGETOWN (CMC):

Prime Minister Mia Mottley has announced the establishment of a National Advisory Council on Citizen Security as her administration moves towards dealing with an upsurge in gun and gun-related violence.

“The government of Barbados has agreed that we will establish immediately a national advisory council on Citizen Security. And this council on citizen security is intended to be able to have the widest possible ownership of the things that we must consider and do in order to be able to ensure that Barbados does not fall down the rabbit hole that regrettably other countries have fallen down into as a result of the access in particular to assault weapons and automatic weapons.”

Mottley told a news conference that the council will be headed by Professor Velma Newton with the president of the Senate, Reginald Farley, being the deputy chairman. The council will also include security experts, business leaders, religious leaders, union officials and youth representatives.

Mottley said the council will not only respond to government directives, but will also actively engage with community groups to gather insights and recommendations. She expressed hope that this initiative would stimulate widespread interest and participation among Barbadians.

Mottley also announced fines and new regulations targeting vehicle window tints, number plates, mask-wearing, and the use of 3D printers beginning October 14.

“Persons who are not having tints that are compliant … will be fined. I’m not interested in prosecuting them …. I want money. If you are involved in behaviour that leads to those tints still being there, such that the police or anybody passing by can’t see you … start paying some fines.”

She said the new policies are part of the government’s broader strategy to enhance public safety, with an additional focus on regulating vehicle number plates. Mottley announced a crackdown on the manufacture of number plates by “anyone”.

“The notion that any and everybody can make a number plate, those days are gone,” she said, warning “the fines will be high fines”.

Mottley told reporters the government’s approach is designed to target those who facilitate criminal activities, particularly for financial gain.

“The prison is for real criminals. The ones who want to claim that they’re helping criminals … If you’re doing it for money, give back all the money that you’re making from it and more,” she said.

Mottely said the authorities are also moving to crackdown on the public use of masks, saying, “we have gotten into this awful habit of having people walk around.

“It may seem cool, but it stops the police and other legitimate people in this society from seeing and knowing who is standing next to them.”

The prime minister is relying on a provision of the Highways Act that she said was passed in 1925 – when Barbados was a British colony – which originally prohibited mask-wearing in public.

The regulation was relaxed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Mottley made it clear that masks are once again illegal unless authorised.