It was a pleasure to develop a Barbados version for citizens to report crime. The new Barbados site is on the URL
http://www.citizensreportuk.org/barbadosindex.html
Citizens Report is a not for profit organisation and we think citizens should have the ability to report and map out issues in their local area without having to rely on the state. In some areas this citizens led ability is very important because state sources may not be entirely open about the type or amount of crime happening.
If you are interested in using our coding to develop your own local or national citizens crime reporting site please feel free to contact us.
All you will need is a google account and your own web server space to host two pages. One page for reporting crime localised to your area, the other page to show the crimes in your area.
I don’t know about Barbados citizen crime reporting, the place that really needs it is Trinidad.
After 11 murders on a mid September weekend in Trinidad, the small island with only 1.3 million inhabitants imposed a 9pm curfew on all its citizens. The curfew has now been raised to 11pm, but it is a pretty damning indictment to Trinidad, it’s government and its own citizens that despite such a small population it cannot keep its citizens safe without having to resort to the tactics of desperate despots and police states.
There is no excuse for the murder rate and definitely no excuse to not be able to capture the murderers on the island. This level of crime and murder could only exist by relatives and communities shielding the perpetrators from capture. By doing so they condemn themselves and the rest of the island to a spiraling cycle of serious and lethal crime.
New tactics are needed and the Canadian police chief recently appointed by Trinidad to tackle serious crime issues is failing dismally.
Citizens of Trinidad need to lead the way in reducing crime and the first step may be to find alternative ways to report crime and provide information about crime to the authorities.