Faced with the ever-present threat of digital crime and cybersecurity issues, Government will increase the number of police officers to deal with perpetrators.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley gave this commitment today while addressing the Swearing-in Ceremony for Members of Cabinet, Members of the House of Assembly, and Government Senators at State House today.
Ms. Mottley noted that she had never seen the Barbados Police Service with the required number of officers, and maintained that digital crime and cybersecurity issues needed to be addressed.
She reasoned that acts of digital crime were committed in circumstances where “not a man has to move to shut down a whole country”.
“And it is against that backdrop, therefore, that the capacity building within the area of cybersecurity becomes as critical as ensuring that our numbers within the Barbados Police Service are brought up fully to the established numbers that we have.
“I have been in public life now since 1991, … at no stage since coming into public life have I seen the Barbados Police Service with a full complement of members. It must be achieved during the course of this term, if we are to keep Barbados safe,” Ms. Mottley underlined.
The Prime Minister also spoke of the Barbados Defence Force’s role in assisting in the fight against cybersecurity as well as “finding purpose for the island’s youth”.
“The Barbados Defence Force will be on the front line of helping us with the issues of cybersecurity and also the issues of finding purpose for many of our young people. Formally, the Barbados Youth Advance Corps will be linked to the Barbados Defence Force here and after…. I hope, therefore, that this repurposed mission for both the Barbados Police Service and the Barbados Defence Force will help us fight these challenges that undermine our country,” Ms. Mottley stated.