The culture of the Attorney General’s office needs to change

Standing with the commissioner
thenassauguardian editorial



The Bahamas has a crime problem. No reasonable person would question this statement.

There have been three homicide records in four years. This month the killings have continued at the same record pace as in 2010. The Bahamas has one of the highest murder rates in the region.

Whenever there is a crime problem, Bahamians look to the commissioner of police. He is expected to bring things under control and stop the bad guys. This view is overly simplistic.

On the response side, there are four divisions of the state that are critical regarding the crime fight. Police, the Office of the Attorney General, the court and prison must all function well if a society is to have a functional response to crime. No one of these divisions can fix a crime problem alone.

Others must step forward as public faces in this fight along with the commissioner. Here we will address one of the other three agencies: the AG’s office.

Prosecutors are as important as police in ensuring that criminals are dealt with. Police arrest those responsible for committing violent crimes. Police then marshal evidence and prosecutors lead cases in the Supreme Court.

If the prosecutors are incompetent, then there is little consequence to committing violent crime. As we have said before, the AG’s office is too detached.

The police commissioner speaks regularly. He is also criticized regularly. Police release crime statistics regularly. The police commissioner is mandated to release a policing plan annually. The director of public prosecutions and the AG’s office, however, are not held to the same standard.

Where is the DPP’s prosecution plan for 2011? Has the office prepared one? Shouldn’t Vinette Graham-Allen have to present such a plan to the public and defend it in front of the media just as Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade has to?

Why do the AG’s office and its Department of Public Prosecutions not regularly release data about its work? They must keep records. Does the office think it is above scrutiny? Or is it that the performance of the office is so poor that it does not want the public to know the depths of the failure?

Recently, the AG’s office released its annual report for 2010. This is a good thing. Annual reporting is a part of the accountability process. The AG’s office now has a website. This is also a good development. However, the annual report had no data included in it regarding the work of the Department of Public Prosecutions.

If the level of violent crime is to be reduced in The Bahamas, citizens and the political ruling class must demand more from our prosecutors. The office must be subjected to greater public scrutiny. It should be mandated by law that the AG’s office and police release quarterly statistics. It should be mandated by law that an annual plan is released by the chief prosecutor just as such a standard is mandated of the police commissioner. And the politicians should mandate that the chief prosecutors hold regular news conference to inform the public of the work of the department.

If the prime minister can subject himself to questions from the media, then surely the DPP can do the same.

This commentary is not a criticism of Graham-Allen. The culture of the AG’s office needs to change. Greenslade subjects himself to scrutiny and take the blows that result. In the process the democracy is strengthened. The DPP must be made to do the same.

1/24/2011

thenassauguardian editorial

Bahamas Blog International

Cheryl Grant Bethel should be Fired in the Public's Interest

By Dennis Dames:



I am profoundly disappointed in Ms. Cheryl Grant Bethel’s ugly public behavior in regards to her quest to challenge the government’s decision to hire the new Director of Public Prosecutions - Jamaican born, Ms. Vinette Graham Allen. She feels that the Job is constitutionally her own. It reminds me of the Freeport attorney who thought that the prime minister should have included him on the Q.C. list in the last batch of successful candidates; so he sought legal advice in his nonsensical endeavor to compel the PM to recommend him to be a Queen’s Counsel.

I saw a recent headline where the official opposition PLP has encouraged their women to support the folly of Ms. Grant Bethel. I hope that PLP women with foreign husbands working in The Bahamas – doing work that Bahamians are qualified to do would see the wisdom in staying away from this lost cause. This goes too - for PLP men with non-Bahamian wives with Jobs here that Bahamians are capable of doing.

There are too many people in the public and private sectors who feel that the next step up the ladder belongs to them exclusively, or the man’s job is theirs until death separates them. My advice to them is to start your own enterprise where you could occupy any position that you desire until you die.

It is my view that Ms. Grant Bethel should be fired immediately from the public service, because she has terribly compromised her integrity – and is showing a thug mentality unbecoming of a senior officer. It’s time for the powers that be to put their foot down and show Ms. Bethel who’s in charge; send her home!

Congratulations are in order for Ms. Vinette Graham Allen, and welcome to The Bahamas. We trust that you would help us get things in order in regards to law and order in our beloved country. Don’t mind the noise in the market Madame; it’s the price of the fish that concerns us. All the best to you and yours and God bless.

Bahamas Blog International