Yesterday's column followed that of November 3 on "The Scandal of Unethical Employers" in reference to exploitation of Guyanese labourers by some unscrupulous Barbadians and problems involving undocumented Guyanese workers.

The Police Commissioner and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs are normally quite cooperative. I am, therefore, still hoping to learn from them how the Guyana authorities plan on improving cooperation with the Barbadian authorities to better deal with a problem that requires priority attention:

Following is the reprint from yesterday's Weekend Nation, entitled: "Guyanese in the Barbadian Crime Scene":

THE battle against serious crime is today a challenge for all member states of our Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and it is being fiercely fought, at various levels, across borders.

Major tourist destinations, of which Barbados is one, are understandably quite anxious to keep the lid on criminals -- local and foreign -- whose nefarious activities, including narco-trafficking, armed robberies and gun-running, pose threats to national security..

Beating back rampant criminality is, of course, a stressful, costly challenge for police forces across CARICOM, involving nationals of various community states. Problems are at times aggravated by rogue elements secreted within law enforcement agencies.

In such a situation, crimes committed by non-nationals, more often undocumented ones, result in an unflattering profile of non-nationals in general, though this is never the intention of any of CARICOM's law enforcement agencies.

The continuing quest by CARICOM nationals to find job opportunities away from home in a slowly emerging liberalised migration environment has produced some undesirable features, such as clashes with immigration authorities at airports -- involving in particular Guyanese, Jamaicans and, to a lesser extent, Vincentians.

Worse, some who overstay their granted permission often disappear, after benefiting from discretionary extensions by immigration authorities. These join the band of cheap source of labour, exploited by unscrupulous employers in the construction and agriculture sectors.

In the Barbados experience, Guyanese are reported to head the category of claimed illegal non-nationals, and a number of them keep surfacing in the local courts on various criminal offences that serve to fuel emotional outbursts on "talk-radio" programmes, conveying in the process an unfair tarnished image of Guyanese visitors in general and reinforcing old social prejudices.

A few recent court cases of Guyanese involved in serious crimes have further stirred emotional non-national sentiments. No one should be anxious to defend non-nationals who contribute to the incidences of crime, in this or any other CARICOM state. Or, make comparisons with Barbadians who find themselves before the courts for various criminal offences.

Those nationals from Guyana, Jamaica, or from any of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, have an obligation to respect the laws of this country if they wish to be here as visitors or migrant workers. They need to steer clear of criminal activities and be willing to help the law enforcement agencies curb the exploitative Police Commissioner Darwin Dottin last Monday took the commendable initiative to invite a group of Guyanese to his normal weekly brainstorming session with his senior colleagues. Present for that special session was Chief Immigration Officer Gilbert Greaves.

Topic of Monday's meeting? The involvement of non-nationals, Guyanese in particular, in crime as well as being "victims of crime".

Approximately 99 Guyanese were among the 234 non-nationals who appeared before the courts between January and September this year. Jamaicans and Vincentians were second and third in the inglorious rating. Twenty eight Guyanese were also victims of crime for the same period.