Former senior officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) - Messrs Paul Thompson and Errington “Bumpy” Watkins blamed the government or the judiciary for the country’s overwhelming crime problems

Former policemen blame govt, judiciary for crime problem

By Chester Robards
Guardian Staff Reporter
chester@nasguard.com

Two former police officers who retired as top brass policemen have separately blamed the government or the judiciary for the country’s overwhelming crime problems.

Paul Thompson, who retired from the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) as an assistant commissioner of police, insisted that the long delays in The Bahamas’ court system are to blame for the delays in justice and therefore crime on the streets.

He said that during his time on the force the court system handled criminals much differently than it does today.

“If you were a hardened criminal and the magistrate knew you have convictions previously for the crime you are charged with, you weren’t getting bail,” Thompson said.

“The problem with the court is the long delays with cases taking three to four years to reach court.

“You are going to have a problem with witnesses remembering things, you are going to have problems finding the witnesses — they may have relocated — then you have given the accused people the opportunity to approach those witnesses over that period of time and there could be threats, intimidation and that kind of thing.”

Former police deputy superintendent and politician, Errington “Bumpy” Watkins, insisted that the government is to be blamed for the level of crime in the country. He lamented, however, that the police force is continuously blamed for crime.

“The crime, mind you, is due to the politicians,” he said.

“The poor policemen carry the blame. Police don’t get the appreciation they deserve from the public and this is a fact.

“While you guys are sleeping and enjoying yourselves at night we are out there with the criminals being shot at and being stoned and what not.”

Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest recently suggested that some judges have contributed to the crime problem because they are too lenient in the granting of bail

The government is the constant target of political criticisms for the increasing crime problem.

Thompson insisted that during his time as a part of the RBPF, officers were faced with crimes involving knives, razors, shotguns and eventually sawed-off shotguns.

However, he said the criminal element has upped the level of violence with the consistent use of guns.

“Today it’s very violent,” he said.

“We didn’t have the technology they do today, but the men of (my) era had the courage, the integrity and the follow up. They never stopped looking and we benefitted a lot for the courts at that time.”

Sep 30, 2011

thenassauguardian

Caribbean Blog International

Mr. Arthur Dion Hanna Jr has overstated his case against National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest for his remarks "criticising and vilifying the judiciary"

tribune242 editorial



ON THIS page today - in the Letters to the Editor column - Mr A Dion Hanna, the lawyer son of former governor-general AD Hanna, criticised National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest for his remarks "criticising and vilifying the judiciary". He accused Mr Turnquest of blaming the judiciary for "the state of murders in the country" today.

It is obvious from the facts that Mr Hanna has overstated his case.

National Security Minister Turnquest did not blame the judiciary for the "state of murders in the country".

However, he did say in a talk to Rotarians on September 22 that the courts' growing practice of granting bail to repeat offenders of violent crimes was "greatly contributing" to the country's escalating crime problem.

In other words, the courts were not the cause, but were certainly one of the many contributors to what is now a major security and social problem. As Mr Hanna, a lawyer, should appreciate, his statement of what he alleged Mr Turnquest said and what in fact Mr Turnquest did say are oceans apart. A contributor to a situation is certainly not the cause of the situation.

Mr Hanna also claims that Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett called a press conference to defend the Bahamas' legal system against Mr Turnquest's "flagrant attack on the judiciary". Mr Hanna interpreted the calling of a press conference by Sir Michael as "of itself a most unusual event".

In fact, this "most unusual event" never took place. No press conference was either called or held. Instead, an enterprising journalist contacted Sir Michael to ask his opinion on Mr Turnquest's remarks and got a commendable interview.

Mr Hanna then criticised Attorney General John Delaney for failing to "defend the rule of law and the honour and integrity of our courts". In the matter of bail for repeat offenders -- which is what is the issue here -- the Attorney General is too sensible a man to make a fool of himself in public by defending the indefensible on this particular question.

And, in case Mr Hanna is trying to turn this into a political football we must point out that during the Christie administration, the concern of legislators over the matter of bail was the same as it is now.

If the Christie government's former attorney general - Allison Maynard Gibson - is to be believed - and there is no reason not to believe her - there was concern even in the ranks of the magistrates.

On May 19, 2006, speaking on the amendment to the Criminal Law Miscellaneous (Amendment Act), Mrs Maynard had this to say: "In conversations with Magistrates, those before whom most bail applications are made, they said they are often shocked to see how many people whose request for bail was denied by them (Magistrates) are back before them requesting bail for another offence committed while out on bail. These people had gone to the Supreme Court and been granted bail."
She then gave examples of repeat offenders continuing a life of violent crime while they awaited trial for a previous offence or offences. Her observations and comments were in lock-step with Mr Turnquest.

She also gave a breakdown of offences committed with a firearm. In 2004, she said, 7 per cent of the 234 persons arrested for fire arm offences were on bail. Also the majority of violent crimes committed that year were with a firearm.

She gave statistics of where ballistic analysis confirmed that a single firearm was linked to multiple incidents, i.e., armed robberies, shootings, murders and grievous harm. In fact, she went into greater detail than did Mr Turnquest at the recent Rotary meeting.

It was for this reason that at that time her government was amending the criminal law, specifically the Bail Act-- as the Ingraham government will be doing when parliament reconvenes next week. The 2006 Bill, which Mrs Gibson proposed, provided for appeal to the Court of Appeal by either the prosecutor or the person convicted where bail was either granted or refused by the Supreme Court.

She felt that the right of the prosecution to appeal on the issue of bail was particularly important "as statistics have shown that persons, while on bail take not only the opportunity to abscond but more importantly to commit further crimes. The police have indicated that persons out on bail sometimes interfere with witnesses either by themselves or through their acquaintances."

For anyone not to understand what an impact these repeat offenders are having on our society - and not to appreciate that they could not commit these crimes without the court's bail -- they would have to be deaf, blind, and live on another planet.

We often wonder if some of our judiciary -- and this includes certain defence lawyers -- are indeed living on another planet, as they seem to have failed to appreciate the lawlessness that surrounds them.

The judiciary needed a wake-up call. Mr Turnquest gave it, and in this he has the full support of The Tribune.

As for Mr Hanna -- and like thinkers -- we invite them to ponder the words of the learned Law Lord, the late Lord Bingham, a former Lord Chief Justice of England:

"...I do not consider it would be right," he said, "even if it were possible, for judges to ignore the opinion of the public. They do not live the lives of hermits; they are also conscious that the gift of infallibility is not conferred on them, alone among mortals.

"So when differences of opinion arise between judges and an identifiable body of public opinion, the judges are bound to reflect whether it may be that the public are right and they are wrong."

September 29, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Caribbean Blog International

2007 WikiLeaks cable Bahamas: Hubert Ingraham the opposition leader pledged that, if elected, he would make improvements in the Bahamian judiciary to speed up trials and get more criminals off the streets...

Ingraham: Many judges incompetent

BY CANDIA DAMES
NG News Editor
thenassauguardian
candia@nasguard.com




During a final courtesy call with then U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas John Rood days before the 2007 general election, Free National Movement (FNM) leader Hubert Ingraham remarked that many of the judges in The Bahamas were “simply not competent, having been appointed for political reasons,” a U.S. diplomat claimed in one of the cables in the batch of diplomatic documents obtained exclusively by The Nassau Guardian through WikiLeaks.

“Ingraham acknowledged that the Bahamian courts were dysfunctional, and needed changes in leadership,” the embassy official wrote.

According to the cable, Ingraham said he did not have a problem with extraditing major drug dealers, but believed that small time drug dealers should be prosecuted locally.

Ingraham reportedly told the ambassador that cases move too slowly and many criminals are out on bail committing new offenses. “He also noted that Bahamian prosecutors are often wary of taking high profile cases to jury due to possible tampering, and that in non-jury trials the maximum sentence for a drug offense is five years.”

The cable revealed that Ingraham and the ambassador sparred over the case of five baggage handlers arrested in December 2006 in Florida on suspicion of drug trafficking.

“Ingraham made it clear he believes the Nassau Flight Services baggage handlers were set up,” the cable said.

“The ambassador stated that the training (the baggage handlers were going on) was routine, as others went and came back, adding that if individuals who commit crimes against U.S. law come to the U.S., they will be arrested.”

The cable said Ingraham stated that his sources at the airport indicated otherwise.

He further indicated that if he was prime minister, the arrests occurring in this manner would have caused a serious bilateral issue, according to the cable.

Ingraham was quoted as saying, “If they committed the crimes here, they should be tried here”.
The cable said he did not dispute the right of the United States to arrest them once they had entered U.S. territory.

In the end, the ambassador and Ingraham agreed to disagree on the manner of the arrests.

According to the cable, Deputy Chief of Mission Dr. Brent Hardt noted that other baggage handlers who did not travel to Florida in December had been picked up by the police but had not been charged.

He asked Ingraham how he would respond as prime minister if individuals engaged in such acts were unable to be prosecuted.

It is then that Ingraham allegedly made the comment about the dysfunctional court system.

“The opposition leader pledged that, if elected, he would make improvements in the Bahamian judiciary to speed up trials and get more criminals off the streets, the cable said.

The state of the judiciary was just one of several issues Ingraham discussed with the Americans, according to that cable.

Discussing aviation, Ingraham reportedly promised to work closely with the Federal Aviation Administration on aviation issues if elected, and stated, according to the cable, that he “knew where his bread was buttered.”

The cable said the ambassador raised the issue of airport security and safety problems with Ingraham, stating that he remained concerned by both security vulnerabilities and overall airport management.

He told Ingraham that he would support the imposition of a 90-day review period for the airport if no progress is made on addressing long-standing security concerns, though he acknowledged that the government did now appear to be giving the issue serious attention, the 2007 cable said.

Ingraham reportedly asked the ambassador to elaborate on the problems.

The cable said: “Not needing any further prodding, the ambassador outlined several problems, including: The aesthetic appearance of the facilities, the slow pace in processing passengers, radar problems, and endemic security concerns.

“Ingraham stated that Minister of Transport and Aviation (Glenys) Hanna-Martin was ‘out of her depth’ and that there is no direction being given to civil aviation.”

The cable said charges that his government had purchased a radar system that did not work (the ASR-9) concerned Ingraham.

He reportedly noted that his government had purchased the system upon a U.S. recommendation, and added that if he wins the election, he would make changes at the airport, to include getting the new radar system repaired and on line.

The cable said Ingraham also stated that he supports FAA running the Flight Information Region, observing that he had learned through hard experience that it would be too risky to defy the U.S. on such a sensitive safety issue.

The Christie administration had pledged to gain full control of The Bahamas’ airspace and had promised that such an effort would result in tens of millions of dollars in additional revenue for the government. However, this was never achieved.

INGRAHAM ON POLITICS

The cable said that turning to the political scene, Ingraham observed that he would support Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) leader Perry Christie (then prime minister) for many jobs, but prime minister was not one of them.

As he did when he sat down with a U.S. diplomat in 2003, Ingraham in 2007 described Christie as “fatally disorganized and incapable of running a government.”

The cable noted that the day before the meeting with the ambassador, the press widely quoted an exchange between Christie and Ingraham in which Ingraham referred to Christie as “impotent."

“Ingraham wryly noted that he was referring only to matters of governance,” the cable said.

“He said that in his view, the PLP believes it has ‘the right to govern’ and that the FNM victories in 1992 and 1997 were accidents.

“He expressed the view that some of the investment projects such as Bimini Bay were too large, and that the environmental bureaucracy was unworkable.”

Despite prodding, neither Ingraham nor Desmond Bannister, then chairman of the FNM, would reveal the FNM's budget for the upcoming election, the cable said.

It noted that parties are free to take money from any source, and Ingraham said that most of the money comes from businesses.

Persons outside the country can also contribute to parties, and he said that normally only outsiders with interests in The Bahamas do so, according to the cable.

“Ingraham also said that he had enough money for the campaign, but not all that he could use. Typically, money tends to flow in at the last minute when it is too late to deploy effectively, he pointed out,” the cable said.

Observing that the PLP was running many more radio advertisements than the FNM this early in the campaign, he reportedly suggested that this reflected their anxiety about the election.

Much of the money used for campaign paraphernalia is actually spent in the United States to buy T-shirts and hats, he noted, according to the cable.

RACES TO WATCH

The cable said the FNM leader said he expected a short campaign of 24 days, with elections called soon after Easter.

Ingraham provided the ambassador with a "scorecard" of key races to watch to determine the outcome of the 2007 election, the cable added.

“In Fox Hill, he predicted that if the PLP wins that seat, they are going to probably win the election, but he also felt that Foreign Minister Fred Mitchell would be defeated by his candidate,” the cable said.

“He also noted his surprise that Tourism Minister (Obie) Wilchcombe may be in trouble in his own constituency.

“On the other hand, if Housing Minister Neville Wisdom is reelected, that would be a sign the PLP was on its way to victory.”

The diplomat wrote in that 2007 cable that the FNM expects to win the Exuma seat being contested by former Bahamian Ambassador to the U.S. Joshua Sears.

According to the cable, Ingraham noted that the polls in 2002 were more accurate than often acknowledged, adding that the lesson from that campaign was that undecided voters usually broke against the government.

“Polls are now being taken on the larger islands, but Ingraham refused to divulge the results,” the cable said.

“Ingraham said the PLP strategy was to increase the negative perceptions of him and make him a central election issue.”

The American diplomat wrote that Ingraham is a very polarizing figure and PLP ads are clearly targeting him personally.

“(Ingraham) alluded that many people are personally benefiting from the PLP government and do not want the gravy train to end with an FNM victory,” the cable said.

“Ingraham dismissed the PLP's use of the race card, linking his party to the former colonial UBP party, stating that he had credibility on the issue and noted that Christie's own grandfather was white.”

In the comment section of the cable, the American noted that Ingraham is “always engaging and never at a loss for words.”

“Ingraham seemed very comfortable on the issues and did not shy away from disagreeing with the ambassador, as in the case of the airport arrests,” the cable said.

“While he pledged cooperation on aviation issues and promised to make the judicial system work better, he also made clear he would not hesitate to disagree with the U.S. if he felt Bahamian interests were not being well served.”

The diplomat added: “Ingraham conveyed the self-assurance of a leader who has been in charge before and believes he soon will be again.

“From the United States’ perspective, an Ingraham-led government would likely abandon the PLP's sympathetic posture toward Cuba and might be less interested in engaging China.

“Ingraham would also give us an interlocutor willing and able to make decisions and follow through on them.

“His ten years as prime minister have given him a good understanding of the United States and how to work with us, and he certainly looks forward to maintaining our traditionally close relations.”

Jun 02, 2011

thenassauguardian

Optimistic that the Attorney General's office will eventually restore the confidence of Bahamians in their judicial system

New hope for the Attorney General's office
tribune242 editorial




OVER THE years there has been agitation -- especially from Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell -- for an all Bahamian judiciary.

Today the judiciary up to the level of the Supreme Court -- with the exception of a foreign magistrate in Abaco and another in Freeport -- is all Bahamian. However, it has never been in a worse state of confusion than it is now. The public has certainly lost confidence in the once honourable judicial system as cases mount, crime grows, and more criminals are returned to the streets because an early trial cannot be guaranteed them.

These are some of the many problems with which John Delaney, QC, the newly appointed Attorney General, is faced and which he eventually will have to solve. He has to track cases that should have been dealt with years ago, but were just allowed to slip under the blotter and get "lost." He has to deal with persons on bail who would probably be behind bars if their cases had been dealt with in a timely manner. However, because of an apparent lack of expert management in the office of the attorney general these persons with criminal records and pending trials are still roaming the streets and creating fear in the community.

In his contribution to the Budget debate in the Senate on June 23, Mr Delaney, after emphasizing that his department "has able and dedicated counsel at various levels for the prosecution of criminal cases, some of whom shoulder a disproportionate load relative to others at their level," pointed to his department's gravest problem. "However," he told senators, "an apparent inadequacy of senior managerial-level direction, control, operational focus and discipline over a number of years have left this department compromised in providing the appropriate level and quality of response needed to meet the demands it has faced and continues to face within the criminal justice system."

To get cases moving the Judicial Legal Service Commission appointed Mrs Vinette Graham Allen, a Jamaican, as Director of Public Prosecutions. Mrs Graham Allen, who has an outstanding record of managing and moving cases efficiently, took up her post this month. She has had senior management experience in Jamaica's Department of Public Prosecutions as its Deputy Director. She was Director of Bermuda's Department of Public Prosecutions, and Director and Principal of Jamaica's Justice Training Institute, where she was responsible for designing, developing, organising, coordinating and conducting training programmes in Justice administration.

She ran into difficulty in Bermuda where Bermudians were agitating for a local rather than a foreigner to head the DPP's department. As we understand it Bermuda has a similar problem to the Bahamas, and probably the efficiency of Mrs Graham Allen rattled too many slow-moving bones into unaccustomed action to get cases moving. Whatever the problem, when Mrs Graham Allen left Bermuda there were only 15 cases left of the 600 she found gathering dust on her arrival. This is just the kind of effort the Bahamas is looking for, and apparently, our Bahamian lawyers in the Attorney General's office also want this type of leadership and are cooperating with her so that cases can start moving through the system more efficiently. This is all the public wants -- there are too many unhealthy rumours about certain cases that have been pushed aside and seemingly forgotten.

It would seem that Mr Delaney's focus will be on current cases first to remove the concern of magistrates and judges over the question of bail. If the Attorney General's office can deal with accused persons without long adjournments, magistrates will no longer have to consider the length of time an accused has to remain in prison awaiting trial. There will then be no reason for magistrates to grant bail in serious cases.

Mr Delaney told the Senate that he was informed that 47 cases were processed for the year 2009 and 24 cases so far for 2010. "Giving the number of pending cases, on the one hand," he observed, "and the constitutional imperative of a fair trial within a reasonable period of time, on the other, the question of bail for persons charged with an offence becomes an issue." He said there were about 130 persons now out on bail for murder related offences.

"The processing of cases and the bail situation must be improved," he told the Senate, "and this government is determined to do all within its power to cause improvement."

It is going to take a long time because there is much to be done, but we are confident that Mr Delaney, with his new DPP, supported by deputy directors, Franklyn Williams and Garvin Gaskin, and their hard working legal staff -- a department of about 22 lawyers -- will eventually restore the confidence of Bahamians in their judicial system.

August 26, 2010

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International