...we need to restore the quick connection between crime and punishment in The Bahamas... And we need to ensure that the people who lead the critical divisions of the police force and the AG’s Office related to investigating and prosecuting serious crimes are up to the task

The prime minister’s national crime address

thenassauguardian editorial

So much has been said in recent years about crime in The Bahamas. There have been four murder records in five years.  Over that same five-year period more that 13,000 cases of housebreaking have been reported.  Most of those homes were broken into in New Providence.

Bahamians are fearful.  Bahamians are not sure that their law enforcement agencies and politicians are up to the task to fix the problem.

Opposition leader Perry Christie and his party seem to understand that crime is likely the most significant issue on the minds of most Bahamians.  Christie, who is not known for leading the way, got out ahead of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham in August.  He made a national address on crime and offered solutions on behalf of his party.

Some of the ideas Christie presented had promise; others did not.  However, in speaking to the country formally on the issue as the opposition leader and a former prime minister, Christie indicated that crime was an issue that must now be addressed and debated at the leadership level.

Ingraham said Sunday he would make a national address on crime Monday coming.  His address will come almost six months after he promised during the national address on public infrastructure to speak about the growing crime problem in The Bahamas.

Ingraham made the crime address pledge at Lynden Pindling International Airport as he arrived back in The Bahamas from an official visit to Washington, D.C.  He made the pledge after reporters asked him crime related questions.  It is unclear if Ingraham had previously decided to make the national address or if he made the pledge in an effort to end the questioning.

Nonetheless, the address is needed and it will be interesting to hear what the prime minister has to say.

Ingraham has a fine line to negotiate.  He will likely mention the millions of dollars his government has provided to the various agencies of the criminal justice system.  He will likely also bring up the refurbishment of the courts.

Ingraham and his government have also gone further.  Since coming to office in 2007 the chief justice has been changed, there have been three commissioners of police, two directors of public prosecution and at least five commanders at the Central Detective Unit.

His government has tried and it continues to try.  But, as the numbers show, the crime problem is worsening.

What the PM needs to address is the competency of the leadership of his law enforcement agencies and whether or not certain agencies are adequately staffed with competent people.

Police investigate serious crime and lawyers from the Office of the Attorney General prosecute the cases.  If the cases are poor and the prosecutors are less than capable, and there are too few of them, then few people will go to jail for the crimes they commit.

And, if the AG’s Office cannot bring forward cases fast enough, or if it does not want to because the cases were poorly prepared by police, then judges will grant bail to accused persons who would then be free to offend again.

There is too much talk now about everybody doing a good job.  In this time of civility we say the commissioner of police and his officers are doing a good job; we say the National Security Ministry is doing a good job; we say prosecutors are doing their best.  If police and prosecutors are doing their best, and the crime situation in The Bahamas is worsening, then those officers and prosecutors are not up to the task to help reverse the trend.

As we mentioned in a previous editorial, leadership is needed on the crime issue.

The prime minister must pledge bold action and show passion when he addresses his people.  The money spent so far has not yet led to any meaningful results.  We need to know what is next.

Simply put, we need to restore the quick connection between crime and punishment.  And we need to ensure that the people who lead the critical divisions of the police force and the AG’s Office related to investigating and prosecuting serious crimes are up to the task.

If they are not, something else should be found for them to do.

Sep 28, 2011

thenassauguardian editorial

Caribbean Blog International

Bahamians cannot have a crime free society while harbouring the criminal in the bosom of the family

Bahamian society must make a decision on crime

tribune242 editorial



THE hard working police force are today in the unenviable position of being "damned if you do, and damned if you don't."

The public wants the criminal removed from the streets. However, when he is removed, the next word the police have is that he's out on bail, up to more mischief, and the chase starts all over again. The public wants guns removed from society, yet society wants selective justice applied to those who are caught with an unlicensed firearm. On the other hand, the police want tougher sentences. For example, in England possession of an unlicensed firearm could mean five years in prison.

Police know that firearms are brought in on boats, even pleasure craft. "However, when we go to search these boats, we are accused of harassing boaters," said one officer, "so we back off, but we know that there are guns aboard those boats."

In other words society can't have its cake and eat it too. If they want the country cleared of illegal guns, the police will have to be free to search, and the courts should be obliged to prosecute.

For example, the police were criticised for the precautions they took to protect the House, the Prime Minister, MPs and members of the public during the recent Bay Street demonstrations against the sale of BTC to Cable & Wireless. They were condemned for bringing the dogs out "against the people." However, if something had gone wrong they would have been criticised -- and investigated -- for not having taken every possible precaution to anticipate an emergency.

A spokesperson for the various groups said that the objective was to stage a peaceful demonstration, however, some protesters were in a "militant" mood. And it was that mood -- with threats of creating a "small Egypt" -- that made the police prepare for the worst.

Despite the unions' attempts to insist that it was a union demonstration, the unions' presence was obliterated by political activists. However, Fox Hill MP Fred Mitchell made no bones about what the demonstration was all about. The fight to have BTC remain in Bahamian hands is a political one, he said, and all who oppose the sale of the company to Cable and Wireless should band together.

Senator Dion Foulkes, speaking in the Senate, said that several "PLP MPs, ratified candidate and senior party officers were active in that demonstration which became extremely unruly and if it were not for the fine men and women of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Bahamians could have been hurt, indeed, one person was hurt: Mr Capron, who later publicly thanked the police for coming to his aid."

Mr Foulkes identified "Melanie Griffin, Bernard Nottage, Ryan Pinder, Alfred Gray, Obie Wilchcombe and Barbara Pierre, Secretary General of the PLP and former PLP Chairman Minky Isaacs" as among those at the rally.

"Shane Gibson," he said, "who the night before the demonstration was seen all over the southwest of New Providence on the back of a truck with a blow horn telling people to come to Bay Street.

"I suspect that they have distanced themselves from this demonstration because it was a total and absolute flop," said the senator.

Mr Mitchell also criticised government for "attacking" union leaders at that demonstration, who, he said, are "simply acting in the best interests of their members."

Mr Mitchell conveniently forgets the three-week teachers strike of 1981 -- under the Pindling government -- when teachers were also trying to improve the conditions in the schools and raise the standard of the teaching profession. Not only were the police and the dogs brought out against the teachers, but there were snipers on the various roof tops with a fire engine standing by, possibly to use the water hoses in case of an emergency. Several teachers were arrested. Opposition Leader Norman Solomon told members in the House on January 7, 1981 that the reason they were discussing the teachers' strike in the House that day was because it was facing a "certain amount of insurrection" below in the public square. He blamed it on "14 years of continuous mismanagement of the economy."

"Those were the days," said a teacher who had participated in the strike, "when professionals of similar qualifications in the civil service were making 30 per cent more than their counterparts in the teaching profession."

The former teacher said that when the teachers decided to strike in 1981 they did so for what they believed in, fully realising the consequences of their actions. Their pay was docked for the full three weeks of the strike. They did not complain, because when they decided to strike they knew that it meant loss of pay.

Today the BTC unions withdrew their labour, fully knowing the consequences, but not expecting government to take any action against them. The teacher failed to understand their reasoning or why they should condemn government for enforcing the rules. They withdrew their labour. If they were sincere in their protest, they should have expected not to have been paid.

It is the same with the police. Bahamians want society to be crime free, but they do not want to suffer the consequences of having a family member, who is causing some of the problems, suffer the consequences. It is now up to Bahamians to decide what they really want.

They cannot have a crime free society while harbouring the criminal in the bosom of the family. The Tribune has great respect for those families who take one of their own to the police station to "turn him in." Those are the families who are the Bahamas' solid citizens - it is a pity that there are not more like them. It is only then that the Bahamas will have any hope of reducing its crime rate.

April 12, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

When Police Shoot and Kill

The Bahama Journal Editorial


We live in a time that seems to suggest that there is a war going on out there; with the police pitted against some of their fellow-Bahamians.

With this in mind, today we suggest that, the time has come [and perhaps, some of that same time might have already come and gone] for those in charge of the Royal Bahamas Police Force to be up and doing with coming clean with all they know concerning matters that now routinely lead to the death of this or that civilian.

And for sure, as one incident yields to another in what seems to be a spiral of criminal and police instigated violence – some Bahamians are beginning to tire of what they say happens to be high-handedness on the part of some police officers.

While we are certain that policing is peculiarly stressful in these very hard times; we are also quite sensitive to complaints coming in to the effect that, police officers sometimes do overstep their legal boundaries.

Indeed, such has been admitted by any number of law-makers and bureaucrats who speak knowledgeably about the so-called ‘bad apples’ in uniform.

Here reform is badly needed; and for sure, there is also some indication that, the time might be ripe for the high command in the police force to review its policies concerning who should or should not be armed while on routine patrol in our heartland communities.

And so today, [and like a host of other Bahamians]; we are all ears as the police make it their business to come forward with a fully plausible set of explanations as to how and why it came to be that a young Bain Town man who was said to be gambling on the side of a street now finds himself quite dead.

We need some answers.

Indeed, while we are not quite sure as to precisely what did go down in Bain Town this Saturday past, when a young man died [purportedly at the hands of a policeman]; we are nonetheless prepared to suggest that fear played a major part in skewing the perception of both the policeman and the man he allegedly killed.

As one man tried to run away from the police; he was felled by a bullet coming his way from the muzzle of a policeman’s service revolver.

In time, the rest of this story will be told.

But for now, take note that, something has gone so badly awry in this land that, police and the citizenry are seemingly locked in a mire of mutual incomprehension.

Evidence in support of this conclusion comes from any number of sources; some of these inclusive of reports attributed to the police and to some of our citizens, particularly from any number of people who live in our heartland communities.

On the one hand, we have situations and circumstances where police are convinced that this or that neighborhood is said to be infested with drug dealing, street-level prostitution and a host of other so-called ‘deviant’ activities.

And for sure, there are all those other reports that are proud to report that, while there are problems arising in some of our heartland communities; none of them reaches that level of panic as suggested by some observers who might have other ideas.

Here suffice it to say that, we are absolutely convinced that much that we hear about what is happening in these communities is comprised of a tissue of lies, some stereotyping and a host of gross generalizations.

Evidently, this juxtaposition neatly explains how –in case after bloody case – the police shoot someone or the other who – on examination – turns out to be somebody’s good child.

But for sure, in a situation where fear prevails, misperceptions will and do arise. And so today, we have a situation on our hands where fear, dread and criminality run rampant; with some of our adolescent youth little more than, rapists in the making; murderers in training and thieves in their infancy.

This they do when they are called to provide bail for this child or that child who is –as the saying goes – held in the protective custody of the state.

Something is dreadfully wrong with this picture.

Clearly, then, nothing real or good can come from this latest outrage so long as the police and the people are seemingly at loggerheads.

Here we go further as we note that, things can only go from bad to worse in this land of ours so long as some of our youth [particularly some of those young men who live in the so-called ghetto] see the police as part of an oppressive Babylon.

By the same token, our police officers must come to the realization that, things are not as bad in these heartland communities as some of the stereotypes surrounding them might, would or could suggest.

November 24, 2010

The Bahama Journal Editorial

Bahamas Blog International