The Barbados Police Service (BPS), previously called the Royal Barbados Police Force (RBPF), is the law enforcement agency in Barbados, as established under the Police Act, Cap. 167. Richard Boyce is currently Commissioner of the Police. The BPS is divided into five operational divisions: the Northern Division, Southern Division, Bridgetown Division, Criminal Investigations Division and Operations Support Division. These are supported by the Administrative Services Division The organisational structure of the BPS is modelled after

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's Metropolitan Police Service. In recent years, a growing number of Barbadian police officers have been recruited to take up jobs in the

Bermuda Police Service The Bermuda Police Service is the law enforcement agency of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is responsible for policing the entire archipelago, including incorporated municipalities, and the surrounding waters. It is part of, and ...

History

The main Police Force of Barbados was established in 1835. Soon after its founding the Police Force informally had

mounted police Mounted police are police who patrol on horseback or camelback. Their day-to-day function is typically picturesque or ceremonial, but they are also employed in crowd control because of their mobile mass and height advantage and increasingly in t ...

men, however in 1880 an actual mounted division was recognised and known as the Mounted Corps. (later renamed the Mounted Branch in 1933.) In 1882, the Harbour Police Force was unified with the main land division after it had been established separately in 1867. Roughly 100 years later in the 1980s the Harbour Police unit was dissolved entirely. The prefix Royal was added to the title of the Police Force in February 1966 during a visit to Barbados by

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

. Until November 2021, Royal had remained as part of the name and identity of the force. In 1981, the Royal Barbados Police Force became a full member of the

International Criminal Police Organization The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

(Interpol). In 2021, the name Barbados Police Service was selected to be the new name for the Royal Barbados Police Force and replaced the old name when Barbados became a republic on November 30, 2021. The name was selected to reflect the removal of

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

as head of state and as stated by the Minister of Legal Affairs Dale Marshall, "...the police force as it is now and as we want it to be in the future, has to be more than the notion of brute strength, a force pushing against people and pushing against objects because policing has long ago stopped being centered on brawn and force".

Organisation

The headquarters for the BPS is in the former Barclays Bank Complex on Lower Roebuck Street, Bridgetown, Saint Michael.Police offices moving to Roebuck St.
/ref> The headquarters houses the Commissioner of Police; the Deputy Commissioner of Police; the offices of all assistant commissioners of police; all staff officers of the above commissioners; the secretary to the Commissioner of Police; the Research and Development Department; the Police Registry; and the Office of Compliance.

Ranks

These insignia will be replaced, as Barbados became a

republic in the Commonwealth of Nations The republics in the Commonwealth of Nations are the sovereign states in the organisation with a republican form of government. , 36 out of the 56 member states were republics. Charles III, who is the reigning monarch in the Commonwealth realms ...

on 30 November 2021.

Locations

District Police Stations: *Saint Michael **District "A" station ** Black Rock ** Bridgetown Port **Court Prosecutors **

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

(Saint Michael/Christ Church) *Christ Church ** Oistins **

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

*Saint George/Christ Church **District "B" station *Saint Philip/Saint John **District "C" station *Saint Thomas **District "D" station *Saint Peter **District "E" station *Saint Joseph **District "F" station *Saint James ** Holetown *Saint Andrew ** Belleplaine *Saint Lucy ** Crab Hill Motto: To protect, serve and reassure.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

The Royal Barbados Police Force
(RBPF)
History of Police forces in BarbadosRegional Police Training Centre
(RPTC)
Crime Stoppers Barbados
{{Navboxes , list = {{Barbados topics {{police {{Caribbean topic, Law enforcement in {{Americas topic, Law enforcement in {{UK crown dependency and overseas territory police forces Law enforcement in Barbados Government of Barbados Law enforcement in the Caribbean 1835 establishments in Barbados Government agencies established in 1835 Law of Barbados