Considering crime and punishment
tribune242 editorial
SPEAKING in the House of Assembly last week Cat Island MP Philip "Brave" Davis criticised Government's proposed crime Bills as falling "short" of what is needed to eliminate violent crime.
He wondered if any thought had been given to the rate of recidivism and what would be the average length of time to rehabilitate an offender when defining life imprisonment.
"There is jurisprudence," he said, "to suggest natural life without an opportunity to review with a view of release is cruel and unusual punishment."
One never hears of the "cruel and unusual punishment" suffered by a victim's family -- a victim who has not had a second chance at life. And a family that has lost their main breadwinner.
With capital punishment virtually removed from the scene, there has to be a penalty, not only to punish, but to deter. True, there are degrees of murder -- the planned, vicious murders spawned from a psychotic brain, and the impulsive anger, where death was not intended, but was the result. There might be some hope of rehabilitating the latter, but none for the former.
The society's complaint today is that the laws are too soft, so soft that the criminal is making a fool of our judicial system. It is felt that with automatic hanging removed, the criminal is willing to play Russian roulette with his life, knowing that he can commit his crime and in all probability avoid the hangman's noose. It might give him second thoughts if he had to contemplate a lifetime in prison - when he and the undertaker leave together.
However, if he knows that he can again trick his way out by good behaviour, where is the deterrent to his crime?
A police officer told us that what many of them do is "get religion" while in prison to impress their jailers. Some, released for good behaviour before completing their sentence, turn their collars backwards and quietly continue their misdeeds, while others shed their religion and openly revert to type.
If we are going to be serious about deterring crime -- particularly murders -- then we can't get soft on punishment. Already this timidity in enforcing the law has broken down law and order on every level in this country.
Mr Davis said that legislators have to think of the cost of housing a convict for the rest of his natural life -- particularly if the offender has youth on his side. They also have to think of the increased burden on taxpayers.
Mr Davis told House members that it costs $14,000 a year to house a prisoner. He said that if a person were sentenced to life at the age of 30 - life expectancy for the average Bahamian male being 70 years - the state would have to support him for at least 40 years.
"Do the math," he told legislators, "there are at least 400 persons to be tried -- millions of dollars it will be costing taxpayers!"
These convicts become burdens only if the government lacks the imagination to put them to good use and make them pay their way by their daily labour.
Already in this column we have suggested setting aside a large acreage of Crown land for cultivation. These prisoners -- composed of lifers and those with shorter sentences -- could feed the nation.
Of course, for those with a life sentence this would be a life time job. At least they can turn a misspent life into a useful one and remember -- if the laws had not been changed -- they could have been hanged, buried and forgotten about, instead of breathing God's fresh air, and growing a field of tomatoes.
This production could be a tremendous savings to government by reducing the cost of imports. If done on a large enough scale and managed like a business, it could even increase our foreign reserves through exports.
In the woodwork department, men with this ability could be taught to turn out first class cabinetry that could be sold from various furniture stores. Again if it were handled as a proper business, the prison could open its own furniture store and attract a market. They could even go into the business of making toys for children.
With a little imagination, these men need not become as heavy a burden as some predict. What must be remembered is that outside of prison walls they will be a constant menace.
Society has to decide whether they prefer to pay for their upkeep knowing that they can have a good night's sleep in the safety of their homes, or save the expense and sleep with one eye open, and an ear cocked listening for the thief at the window.
However, these prisoners could possibly earn enough that restitution also could be made to some of the victims of their evil deeds.
Who knows but that it might encourage pride in some of these men in the knowledge that in the end their lives were not a complete waste.
But with the criminal playing hardball with society, society cannot now go soft on punishment.
October 17, 2011
tribune242 editorial
A political blog about Bahamian politics in The Bahamas, Bahamian Politicans - and the entire Bahamas political lot. Bahamian Blogger Dennis Dames keeps you updated on the political news and views throughout the islands of The Bahamas without fear or favor. Bahamian Politicians and the Bahamian Political Arena: Updates one Post at a time on Bahamas Politics and Bahamas Politicans; and their local, regional and international policies and perspectives.
Showing posts with label murders Bahamas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label murders Bahamas. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Rev CB Moss - executive director Bahamas Against Crime (BAC) says: ...the new murder record "ensures that 2011 will be the bloodiest year in The Bahamas' history... setting the fourth new record in the last five years."
Bahamas 'near the tipping point' in crime
tribune242
THE Bahamas is now "near the tipping point" a local anti-crime activist group has warned.
Calling the new record for murders set last week a "shameful" milestone, Bahamas Against Crime (BAC) urged authorities to change tack before it is too late.
"Only a collective effort, with less talk and more focused action, will prevent a deepening of the crisis, with the attendant social collapse," said BAC executive director Rev CB Moss in a statement.
Rev Moss said the new murder record "ensures that 2011 will be the bloodiest year in our history, setting the fourth new record in the last five years."
As if this were not enough, he said, other serious crimes are also at or near record levels.
"Obviously this state of affairs is providing opportunistic and self-serving entities a great platform to assign blame, and to promote their selfish agendas," he said.
"The truth is that most, if not all of them failed to respond when they should have, thereby making a direct contribution to the present sad state."
BAC noted that since 2005, its members have tried "with very limited success" to alert the country to the impending crisis.
"Some of those doing the most talking today were among the least responsive. On April 19, 2010 Bahamas Against Crime organised a summit for private sector organisations, followed by another on June 16, 2010. It is very interesting to note how many of the nearly 100 invitees failed to attend. A visit to our website, bahamasagainstcrime.net/news.asp, will reveal their identities, which should make interesting reading.
"Bahamas Against Crime is once again calling upon the nation to act now before it is too late. If we are not prepared to act, then stop the rhetoric," Rev Moss said.
September 20, 2011
tribune242
tribune242
THE Bahamas is now "near the tipping point" a local anti-crime activist group has warned.
Calling the new record for murders set last week a "shameful" milestone, Bahamas Against Crime (BAC) urged authorities to change tack before it is too late.
"Only a collective effort, with less talk and more focused action, will prevent a deepening of the crisis, with the attendant social collapse," said BAC executive director Rev CB Moss in a statement.
Rev Moss said the new murder record "ensures that 2011 will be the bloodiest year in our history, setting the fourth new record in the last five years."
As if this were not enough, he said, other serious crimes are also at or near record levels.
"Obviously this state of affairs is providing opportunistic and self-serving entities a great platform to assign blame, and to promote their selfish agendas," he said.
"The truth is that most, if not all of them failed to respond when they should have, thereby making a direct contribution to the present sad state."
BAC noted that since 2005, its members have tried "with very limited success" to alert the country to the impending crisis.
"Some of those doing the most talking today were among the least responsive. On April 19, 2010 Bahamas Against Crime organised a summit for private sector organisations, followed by another on June 16, 2010. It is very interesting to note how many of the nearly 100 invitees failed to attend. A visit to our website, bahamasagainstcrime.net/news.asp, will reveal their identities, which should make interesting reading.
"Bahamas Against Crime is once again calling upon the nation to act now before it is too late. If we are not prepared to act, then stop the rhetoric," Rev Moss said.
September 20, 2011
tribune242
Sunday, August 7, 2011
The murder rate for a country the size of The Bahamas has reached a crisis point... It is unacceptable
Are we doing enough to fight crime?
thenassauguardian editorial
Last Saturday’s triple homicide off Carmichael Road has shocked many Bahamians and residents of New Providence already reeling from a rising murder count that is certain to far outpace last year’s record of 94.
In what marked the 83rd, 84th and 85th murders for the year, two women, one of whom was pregnant, and a man were gunned down in an apartment on Montgomery Avenue early Saturday morning.
Police are investigating the possibility that the murders are connected to a double homicide that took place several weeks ago, not far from the site of the triple murder.
Police believe that many of the recent murders are connected and that generally speaking random killings are rare. This is the line that has often been used by senior officials trying to calm the fears of New Providence residents.
The murder rate for a country the size of The Bahamas has reached a crisis point. It is unacceptable.
By the end of July last year the murder count was at 54. This year that number had jumped by 31 by the end of July. Last month a recorded-breaking 20 murders were recorded.
Our average so far for the year is 12 murders per month. On that pace we could surpass the 94 mark before this month is up. It could also mean that we could record more than 140 murders this year.
We know that this point is not lost on police and government officials who have invested efforts and resources in the crime fight. And who obviously want to see crime brought under control.
The Gun Court has been an important step in the right direction and has so far been productive in helping to deal with our significant case backlog. There has also been a significant investment to increase resources for our police officers. And steps have been taken to improve the physical infrastructure of the judiciary.
But have those efforts and resources been enough? Obviously not.
More needs to be done to bring down crime in the country.
We acknowledge that the onus is not just on the government or police to come up with solutions, the community must also do its part.
However, the commissioner of police and minister of national security have been given as a part of their mandate the management and prevention of crime to the highest extent possible.
It is a difficult task, but we must do better than we are doing now.
The crime phenomenon is not unique to The Bahamas, the Caribbean or anywhere else.
We need to look at how other developed countries are approaching their fight against the scourge of crime and violence.
Jamaica, which has had one of the highest murder rates in the world, has seen a significant drop in its murder count this year after a gang crackdown, according to officials.
Based on what is often said by our local police and government officials, it would seem that a similar approach could prove successful here.
It may also be time to look at how existing youth, community and rehabilitation programs can be improved.
Perhaps it is time to consider — as some cities in the U.S. have done — the appointment of a crime prevention coordinator who works closely with the commissioner of police and Ministry of National Security to help implement crime prevention programs, among other things.
We do not have the answers, nor do we pretend to have them.
But we must do something more, and quickly.
Aug 05, 2011
thenassauguardian editorial
thenassauguardian editorial
Last Saturday’s triple homicide off Carmichael Road has shocked many Bahamians and residents of New Providence already reeling from a rising murder count that is certain to far outpace last year’s record of 94.
In what marked the 83rd, 84th and 85th murders for the year, two women, one of whom was pregnant, and a man were gunned down in an apartment on Montgomery Avenue early Saturday morning.
Police are investigating the possibility that the murders are connected to a double homicide that took place several weeks ago, not far from the site of the triple murder.
Police believe that many of the recent murders are connected and that generally speaking random killings are rare. This is the line that has often been used by senior officials trying to calm the fears of New Providence residents.
The murder rate for a country the size of The Bahamas has reached a crisis point. It is unacceptable.
By the end of July last year the murder count was at 54. This year that number had jumped by 31 by the end of July. Last month a recorded-breaking 20 murders were recorded.
Our average so far for the year is 12 murders per month. On that pace we could surpass the 94 mark before this month is up. It could also mean that we could record more than 140 murders this year.
We know that this point is not lost on police and government officials who have invested efforts and resources in the crime fight. And who obviously want to see crime brought under control.
The Gun Court has been an important step in the right direction and has so far been productive in helping to deal with our significant case backlog. There has also been a significant investment to increase resources for our police officers. And steps have been taken to improve the physical infrastructure of the judiciary.
But have those efforts and resources been enough? Obviously not.
More needs to be done to bring down crime in the country.
We acknowledge that the onus is not just on the government or police to come up with solutions, the community must also do its part.
However, the commissioner of police and minister of national security have been given as a part of their mandate the management and prevention of crime to the highest extent possible.
It is a difficult task, but we must do better than we are doing now.
The crime phenomenon is not unique to The Bahamas, the Caribbean or anywhere else.
We need to look at how other developed countries are approaching their fight against the scourge of crime and violence.
Jamaica, which has had one of the highest murder rates in the world, has seen a significant drop in its murder count this year after a gang crackdown, according to officials.
Based on what is often said by our local police and government officials, it would seem that a similar approach could prove successful here.
It may also be time to look at how existing youth, community and rehabilitation programs can be improved.
Perhaps it is time to consider — as some cities in the U.S. have done — the appointment of a crime prevention coordinator who works closely with the commissioner of police and Ministry of National Security to help implement crime prevention programs, among other things.
We do not have the answers, nor do we pretend to have them.
But we must do something more, and quickly.
Aug 05, 2011
thenassauguardian editorial
Friday, January 21, 2011
The Bahamian public is growing weary of the public relations exercises of the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF)...
Operation PR?
thenassauguardian editorial
Not long after ending a record-breaking year for murders, The Bahamas has started 2011 on the same sorrowful note.
Criminals have continued their merciless assault. And while murders continue to grab headlines, there have already for the year also been numerous reports of shootings, stabbings, armed robberies and other serious crimes.
Added to this has been an obvious rise in the fear of crime among citizens, many of whom will probably never be victims.
This state of crisis has placed untold pressure on Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade, whose first year at the helm of the Royal Bahamas Police Force has perhaps been the most challenging of his career.
Greenslade and his team are pressured to act.
So it came as no surprise when this week armed squads of officers hit the streets of New Providence in their first major crackdown for 2011.
While the force should be supported and commended for its efforts to keep our communities safe, we wonder if “Operation Rapid Strike” — as the commissioner dubbed it — is little more than a public relations initiative designed to help ease the anxiety that has gripped so many residents.
It seemed foolhardy for the commissioner to announce the operation before it happened, and may have amounted to a message to criminals to go into hiding along with their deadly weapons until the commissioner announces the end of Rapid Strike.
On Wednesday, reporters were called to a news conference at police headquarters to watch the weapon-toting squads hop into their vehicles and fan out across New Providence.
It was obviously intended to send the message of a strong police force with a police chief totally in control of the situation.
But did it?
Greenslade said he was pleased to announce to the public that the operation was in response to the numerous reports of murders, shootings, stabbings and other serious crimes.
“This operation has as its main objective the mission to seek out persons involved in murders, armed robberies, possession of illegal firearms, stealing of vehicles, stabbings, break-ins and all other criminal activity,” he said, adding that suspects in recent murders were being specially targeted.
Greenslade pledged to restore peace and civility to our communities, and added that citizens should be “elated that we have heard from them in a very real way and that we have pulled out, as we said, all the stops.”
But it seemed that police may have risked giving away the element of surprise, unless of course the commissioner assumed that the criminals are not prone to watching the evening news.
The force must be at war with the criminal element in a way more forceful than at any other time in our post-Independence history.
In war, the enemy needs no notice.
We certainly hope that Rapid Strike was more than just a show for the cameras, and a headline-grabbing initiative.
We await the final outcome of this special operation. On its first night, 14 people were taken into custody for various alleged offenses. The commissioner must now ensure that proper cases are put together against those detained. Our force is good at arresting but not as good at case preparation.
We think in future it might be best for the commissioner to send his armed squads out without the glare of the cameras and report on the results once the operation has ended.
The public is growing weary of the public relations exercises of the police force. A result-oriented approach might be more welcomed.
1/21/2011
thenassauguardian editorial
thenassauguardian editorial
Not long after ending a record-breaking year for murders, The Bahamas has started 2011 on the same sorrowful note.
Criminals have continued their merciless assault. And while murders continue to grab headlines, there have already for the year also been numerous reports of shootings, stabbings, armed robberies and other serious crimes.
Added to this has been an obvious rise in the fear of crime among citizens, many of whom will probably never be victims.
This state of crisis has placed untold pressure on Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade, whose first year at the helm of the Royal Bahamas Police Force has perhaps been the most challenging of his career.
Greenslade and his team are pressured to act.
So it came as no surprise when this week armed squads of officers hit the streets of New Providence in their first major crackdown for 2011.
While the force should be supported and commended for its efforts to keep our communities safe, we wonder if “Operation Rapid Strike” — as the commissioner dubbed it — is little more than a public relations initiative designed to help ease the anxiety that has gripped so many residents.
It seemed foolhardy for the commissioner to announce the operation before it happened, and may have amounted to a message to criminals to go into hiding along with their deadly weapons until the commissioner announces the end of Rapid Strike.
On Wednesday, reporters were called to a news conference at police headquarters to watch the weapon-toting squads hop into their vehicles and fan out across New Providence.
It was obviously intended to send the message of a strong police force with a police chief totally in control of the situation.
But did it?
Greenslade said he was pleased to announce to the public that the operation was in response to the numerous reports of murders, shootings, stabbings and other serious crimes.
“This operation has as its main objective the mission to seek out persons involved in murders, armed robberies, possession of illegal firearms, stealing of vehicles, stabbings, break-ins and all other criminal activity,” he said, adding that suspects in recent murders were being specially targeted.
Greenslade pledged to restore peace and civility to our communities, and added that citizens should be “elated that we have heard from them in a very real way and that we have pulled out, as we said, all the stops.”
But it seemed that police may have risked giving away the element of surprise, unless of course the commissioner assumed that the criminals are not prone to watching the evening news.
The force must be at war with the criminal element in a way more forceful than at any other time in our post-Independence history.
In war, the enemy needs no notice.
We certainly hope that Rapid Strike was more than just a show for the cameras, and a headline-grabbing initiative.
We await the final outcome of this special operation. On its first night, 14 people were taken into custody for various alleged offenses. The commissioner must now ensure that proper cases are put together against those detained. Our force is good at arresting but not as good at case preparation.
We think in future it might be best for the commissioner to send his armed squads out without the glare of the cameras and report on the results once the operation has ended.
The public is growing weary of the public relations exercises of the police force. A result-oriented approach might be more welcomed.
1/21/2011
thenassauguardian editorial
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Bahamian Communities have called for police to stop the bloodshed
'Stop the bloodshed'
It is also up to the Bahamian People in The Bahamas to ensure the place in which they live is a community
By MEGAN REYNOLDS
Tribune Staff Reporter
mreynolds@tribunemedia.net:
A spike in murders once again has everyone on the alert. Communities have called for police to stop the bloodshed.
Tribune Staff Reporter
mreynolds@tribunemedia.net:
They want to see more officers on the streets preventing the murders - like the six that occurred in a space of just six days last week - from happening in the first place.
This is a challenge police will struggle to face on their own,
Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade explained as he sought to reassure residents of Pinewood in a walkabout with his senior officers on Tuesday...
But as residents saw the convoy of shiny police cars crawling through their corners with a small fleet of media vehicles, they closed their doors.
One young man came out to talk to Mr Greenslade, but upon seeing the magnitude of the procession, the swarm of police officers, and reporters with television cameras, others ducked back in behind the safety of their own four walls.
Talking to the police does not look good in Pinewood.
A man was gunned down here just days ago and that was the latest in a string of violent killings over the years.
Although the majority of people say they feel safe in Pinewood (85 per cent according to MP Byran Woodside's August 2009 survey), it is also well known that being too cosy with law-enforcement does not make you popular with "the people in power."
By "the people in power" they do not mean the police, or Mr Woodside and the political big-wigs, but the young men, and less frequently women, who are arrested, charged and arraigned in connection with crimes as serious as firearm possession, armed robbery, or violent assaults, and then walk freely from jail, their bail bonds secured by self-interested lawyers.
They are released and welcomed back into the working-class families of Pinewood Gardens, and other neighbourhoods like it.
These criminals are not foreign to us, Mr Greenslade said.
They are not from the immigrant Haitian or Jamaican communities who Bahamians so willingly blame for our social strains and rising violent crime.
None of the six murders over six days bear signs of Jamaican-style "yardie" killings.
The deaths were not connected to any particular ethnic group or nationality.
They were simply committed by people with "evil in their hearts", the Commissioner concluded.
He also said the bloodshed is not confined to "hot spots" or no-go danger zones to be avoided in order to avoid gunfire.
No, the senseless killings, the unconscionable shootings, such as that of pregnant Marie Claude-Saintilien, 23, and of 30-year-old Fresh Creek, Andros, resident Tevaris Minnis, the week before last, are not indicative of good neighbourhoods turning bad.
The deaths are not happening as a result of an influx of violent foreigners carrying out an attack in an otherwise peace-loving nation.
No, these violent crimes are being committed by people in our own families, living in our homes and in our neighbour's homes, in suburban areas like Pinewood Gardens, where they are not only known to us, but they are known to their local police officers, detectives, prosecutors, magistrates and prison guards.
"These are people known to you," Mr Greenslade said.
"These are our relatives, and they are in and out of the system, having been arrested and then allowed to walk freely in our communities. That is very powerful."
How or why those suspected of such serious crimes are released into communities at the risk of being a menace to society - which the Commissioner asserts they are - begs a bigger question and one the Commissioner was unwilling, or unable, to answer.
But his unnerving assertion, said to reassure Pinewood residents and other neighbours of the most heinous crimes that it is not their community that poses a threat but people in it, is still not the most comforting of statements.
Nor is it any comfort to know many of those who have been killed have also been through the wheels of the criminal justice system.
Because several of them are also due to appear as witnesses in court, or like the four-year-old boy shot in Pinewood recently, they just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Perhaps Mr Greenslade wanted to somewhat diminish the power these bailed criminals have by showing the people being killed are also not strangers to crime.
It certainly puts a damper on the attraction of the gangster lifestyle presented by these freed suspects who serve as examples of just how much Bahamians can get away with.
Sadly they become role models for the most vulnerable youngsters who lack the support and protection of good parents and guardians who might tell them any different, Pinewood resident Angelo King, 21, told me last week.
They show these youth how easy it is to get by in a bad economy if armed with a handgun.
Dealing drugs, robbing people in the street and breaking into their homes at opportune times to steal whatever may be worth selling will surely help you get by without having to worry about the high unemployment rate, taxes, traffic, and all those other hassles and stresses associated with having a job and being a functional and productive member of society.
And with no repercussions - at least not in the criminal justice system - it would seem to many a smart path to choose.
Children as young as 10 are drawn into housebreaking rings and trained to steal anything worth selling instead of going to school.
Mr King said the only thing that saved him from the influence of this path was his basketball talent, which he developed and worked hard at to earn a university scholarship and then graduate degree in psychology.
He said more positive role models are needed, and the police Commissioner tried to live up to this need when he invited the 4ft members of the Bahamas American Football Alliance team to Police Headquarters to meet some positive role models.
He explained how it is possible to carry a gun on the right side of the law and still get to play in Nassau's great game of the Wild West.
Certainly police appear to be stepping up to the plate as the Commissioner responds to calls from the public to speak out when they need reassurance, and shake-up the force as necessary, increasing the number of detectives on the homicide squad from two to five in recent months.
Duty officers have taken more than 133 illegal firearms and over 2,600 rounds of ammunition off the streets since January.
And as the rate of crime continues to plateau at a stomach-churning level, with the occasional peaks and troughs making us feel either less sick or more so, police are consistently charging suspected criminals and bringing them before the courts.
As of Friday, at least three people had been charged in connection with three of the six murders, which took place between June 21 and 26, and the Commissioner expects investigations will result in the charging of suspects in the remaining cases.
Among those arraigned last week was Kendrick Sands, 33, of Matthew Street, Nassau Village, who was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Atlantis worker Kifftino Davis, 20.
Mr Davis, of Peardale Street off Wulff Road, was gunned down by an unknown assailant, near his home at around 2am last Sunday.
His mother said he was due to testify in the upcoming murder trial of Pinewood Gardens resident George Carey, 21, a friend and colleague of Mr Davis' who was stabbed multiple times near Lockhart's Bar, Wulff Road, in May.
For Sands it is the second murder charge he has faced in just over a year, as he was arraigned on charges in connection with the January 2009 Nassau Village shooting of Onando Newbold in February last year and had been released on bail.
After his arraignment on Thursday he was remanded in custody. Police also charged Prince McPhee, 34, of High Vista Estates, last week, in connection with the fatal shooting of murder-accused Bradley Ferguson in Sequoia Street, Pinewood Gardens, on Saturday June 26.
Ferguson had been acquitted of murder charges earlier this year, having been accused of killing pregnant Rosemary Bennett-Wright and her five-year-old son Jakeel Wright in March 2002, as well as of the attempted murders of Devonna Brown and Omega Fox.
Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade and his team stopped near Ferguson's home during their procession through Pinewood, which is within site of the crossroads where seven murders had occurred in recent memory - including the double murder of a mother and son in January last year.
But police did not make clear whether this unmarked road - first said to be Sequoia Street and then Avocado Street - was also the place where Ferguson - armed with a handgun and bleeding profusely from multiple gunshot wounds - forced himself into the parked car of a mother and her three children and severely traumatised the whole family before he became the country's 47th homicide victim last Saturday.
Mr Greenslade spoke to people in the strip-mall business places on that corner in an effort to reassure upstanding members of the community that police were doing their utmost to prevent violent crimes, but he also had to remind the suffering public there is only so much he and his men can do.
With the criminal justice system bursting with a whopping 257 murder cases pending as of April this year - and areas of the prison also oversubscribed - the crime level is more than just a policing issue.
As Mr Greenslade said in his roundabout way - there are other executive bodies to also be held accountable.
Just last week Magistrate Carolita Bethel granted $10,000 bail to a suspect arraigned on several serious charges, including the shooting of a child in Pinewood Gardens two weeks ago.
Pinewood resident Tyson Deveaux, was charged in connection with the shooting of a four-year-old boy in Brazilletta Street, on June 14, an incident in which he also was shot.
He had previously been accused of the murder of Marlon Smith on April 19, 2009, and was also accused of the murder of Corrie Bethel on May 10, 2007.
When he was first arraigned on June 18, Deveaux was remanded in custody by Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez.
But when he reappeared before Magistrate Bethel, facing two additional firearms possession charges in connection with the Pinewood shooting on June 24, he was freed on $10,000 bail with two sureties - one being that he had to surrender his travel documents to ensure he stayed in the country.
Why the suspect in connection with such a serious succession of crimes was granted bail by a magistrate regarded as one of the strictest in Nassau's court system is not known, but the public has no choice but to welcome him back into their communities until he returns to court on August 14 for the rest of his future to be decided - or adjourned.
Because if some of them are not welcomed with open arms, the fear is that by resisting their return we will become the next bloody mess, and murder victim number 48, 49 or 50 - no small number for halfway through the year.
The Commissioner was right when he said their bail release is very powerful indeed.
Perhaps this is why Bahamians are so "tolerant" as the Commissioner said.
"I am very concerned that we as Bahamians are so tolerant," said Mr Greenslade.
"We cannot allow young Bahamian men to continue to walk the streets of our country 24/7 with illegal weapons, selling drugs in our communities, and poisoning our children.
"That's not a policing problem - that's a Bahamian problem.
"If a person is walking our streets on bail and believes he or she is above everybody else, I don't know how policing will prevent that.
"It's very important that all Bahamians report these matters.
"This is about all of us as Bahamians saying 'enough is enough'."
I am certain for many of those who heard or read his statements genuinely feel "enough is enough" whether they have experienced murder and violent crime directly, read about them daily in the newspapers, or choose to avoid the news altogether in an effort to protect themselves from having to digest the unsavoury facts.
I am sure the residents of Pinewood who were intrigued by the uniformed police chiefs parading through the area, but were too intimidated - either by the police officers themselves or the criminals living in their neighbourhoods - to speak to Mr Greenslade and his colleagues, have had enough of the crime.
Who wants to live in a community where you are afraid to speak out?
Where if you witness a murder, you could be the next victim?
Perhaps it is a situation people have become used to, but surely it's not the lifestyle of choice - and, yes, you do have one.
Unfortunately the intimidation of witnesses has become so common it may seem to be the only way of going about things.
As suspects' families celebrate the homecoming of their bailed loved-ones, witnesses of crimes that the suspects may or may not have been involved in, cower in their homes and lock their doors.
Pinewood mother Maria Scott lost her son Marcian Clarke, 31, four years ago. He was shot dead outside their Willow Tree Avenue home in Pinewood Gardens shortly before he was due to testify as a key witness in the murder of his former police patrol partner.
It's hardly surprising that after his partner was killed Mr Clarke left the police force for a job at Atlantis, but changing jobs was not enough to leave the front-line.
As a key witness, even his own efforts and the efforts of police could not protect him.
And with the recent case of Mr Davis's killing, it's little wonder people are so unwilling to come forward when it comes to informing the police.
As a reporter I have walked through neighbourhoods in Pinewood, off Wulff Road or East Street, to try to talk to residents about the latest crime, and the dozens of people sitting around who may or may not know something about it will not say a word.
Sometimes an unwary child will point me in the right direction, or divulge some interesting details, and very occasionally someone bold enough to speak out will do so.
But the long and short of it is - they do not feel safe to appear to be on the right side of the law.
Just as witnesses in murder cases whose names appear on court dockets and are called to testify in court may be vulnerable to freedom-hungry predators with blood on their hands, anyone who happens to see one of the dozens of cold-blooded killings committed in public places, and often in broad daylight, is also exposed to the vulnerability of a witness.
Ways of protecting witnesses could be worked out - by removing their names from the dockets, and having them sign a sworn statement rather than appear in court.
Ways of protecting people from bailed suspects could also be maintained by keeping enough officers on foot patrols in neighbourhoods to ensure the criminals are the ones who are cowering and not the law-abiding citizens.
This simple suggestion was put to me by a pair of bright young men who spoke candidly about Pinewood, the home they know and love, as a place neglected by anyone with the power to change it, as it lies hidden from critical eyes in some central south-eastern area of New Providence to be visited only by those who live there.
They brushed off the police "walkabout" as a PR exercise that would not change the problems of their community, because under the scorching mid-morning sun, there is little criminal activity for them to survey in Pinewood Park.
The officers need to be there on the streets day and night if they are going to maximize police efforts to stop the bloodshed; then even if the criminals are going to be freed on bail, at least they will not get the opportunity to strike again.
As Mr Greenslade said, without these "evil-hearted" individuals the neighbourhoods would be safe, so the balance has to be altered to bring it back to the good.
Young people in Pinewood want more resources to be given to community groups, or invested in the beautification of the community, and they need positive role models.
They criticised their FNM MP for not doing enough to support community groups, and for letting community resources fall into disrepair.
And taking the criticism with the sensitivity of an insecure teenager, or a politician, Mr Woodside chose not to return my call to answer questions about why the swings in Pinewood Park hang broken, why the basketball hoop has not been repaired for years, or why the garbage cans are overflowing, and the grass is overgrown and dumping is so common on empty lots, home to rusting abandoned vehicles.
Instead, Mr Woodside released a press statement highlighting what he had done to clean up the area, including spending nearly all of the $200,000 allotted to the community between 2007 and 2009 on community projects, including a clean-up campaign ($34,500).
And to be fair to Mr Woodside, it's not really up to him to baby-sit the children, teenagers and young adults who keep breaking the basketball hoops, or are reluctant to stop tinkering with rusted broken down cars over the decades so new cars may feed off their old parts.
It is also up to the people themselves to ensure the place in which they live is a community.
If Kevin Moss, the 20-year-old Pinewood resident who spoke to me this week, is as passionate about helping the young people in the community as he said he is, surely he can do that without a handout from his MP.
Yes, he needs support, but if the handful of families who want to keep Pinewood crime free can work together, perhaps they can crystallise those common ideals they have for their children and their neighbours' children, and realize those opportunity for the next generation.
By taking their own angle on the fight against crime, through increasing positive activities, showing they are not afraid, and being courageous enough to reclaim their neighbourhoods, they can help improve their communities while the police keep an eye on those system-worn suspects they know to look out for, and court administrators can get to work on addressing that mammoth backlog churning out bailed suspects who put us all at risk.
July 05, 2010
tribune242
This is a challenge police will struggle to face on their own,
Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade explained as he sought to reassure residents of Pinewood in a walkabout with his senior officers on Tuesday...
But as residents saw the convoy of shiny police cars crawling through their corners with a small fleet of media vehicles, they closed their doors.
One young man came out to talk to Mr Greenslade, but upon seeing the magnitude of the procession, the swarm of police officers, and reporters with television cameras, others ducked back in behind the safety of their own four walls.
Talking to the police does not look good in Pinewood.
A man was gunned down here just days ago and that was the latest in a string of violent killings over the years.
Although the majority of people say they feel safe in Pinewood (85 per cent according to MP Byran Woodside's August 2009 survey), it is also well known that being too cosy with law-enforcement does not make you popular with "the people in power."
By "the people in power" they do not mean the police, or Mr Woodside and the political big-wigs, but the young men, and less frequently women, who are arrested, charged and arraigned in connection with crimes as serious as firearm possession, armed robbery, or violent assaults, and then walk freely from jail, their bail bonds secured by self-interested lawyers.
They are released and welcomed back into the working-class families of Pinewood Gardens, and other neighbourhoods like it.
These criminals are not foreign to us, Mr Greenslade said.
They are not from the immigrant Haitian or Jamaican communities who Bahamians so willingly blame for our social strains and rising violent crime.
None of the six murders over six days bear signs of Jamaican-style "yardie" killings.
The deaths were not connected to any particular ethnic group or nationality.
They were simply committed by people with "evil in their hearts", the Commissioner concluded.
He also said the bloodshed is not confined to "hot spots" or no-go danger zones to be avoided in order to avoid gunfire.
No, the senseless killings, the unconscionable shootings, such as that of pregnant Marie Claude-Saintilien, 23, and of 30-year-old Fresh Creek, Andros, resident Tevaris Minnis, the week before last, are not indicative of good neighbourhoods turning bad.
The deaths are not happening as a result of an influx of violent foreigners carrying out an attack in an otherwise peace-loving nation.
No, these violent crimes are being committed by people in our own families, living in our homes and in our neighbour's homes, in suburban areas like Pinewood Gardens, where they are not only known to us, but they are known to their local police officers, detectives, prosecutors, magistrates and prison guards.
"These are people known to you," Mr Greenslade said.
"These are our relatives, and they are in and out of the system, having been arrested and then allowed to walk freely in our communities. That is very powerful."
How or why those suspected of such serious crimes are released into communities at the risk of being a menace to society - which the Commissioner asserts they are - begs a bigger question and one the Commissioner was unwilling, or unable, to answer.
But his unnerving assertion, said to reassure Pinewood residents and other neighbours of the most heinous crimes that it is not their community that poses a threat but people in it, is still not the most comforting of statements.
Nor is it any comfort to know many of those who have been killed have also been through the wheels of the criminal justice system.
Because several of them are also due to appear as witnesses in court, or like the four-year-old boy shot in Pinewood recently, they just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Perhaps Mr Greenslade wanted to somewhat diminish the power these bailed criminals have by showing the people being killed are also not strangers to crime.
It certainly puts a damper on the attraction of the gangster lifestyle presented by these freed suspects who serve as examples of just how much Bahamians can get away with.
Sadly they become role models for the most vulnerable youngsters who lack the support and protection of good parents and guardians who might tell them any different, Pinewood resident Angelo King, 21, told me last week.
They show these youth how easy it is to get by in a bad economy if armed with a handgun.
Dealing drugs, robbing people in the street and breaking into their homes at opportune times to steal whatever may be worth selling will surely help you get by without having to worry about the high unemployment rate, taxes, traffic, and all those other hassles and stresses associated with having a job and being a functional and productive member of society.
And with no repercussions - at least not in the criminal justice system - it would seem to many a smart path to choose.
Children as young as 10 are drawn into housebreaking rings and trained to steal anything worth selling instead of going to school.
Mr King said the only thing that saved him from the influence of this path was his basketball talent, which he developed and worked hard at to earn a university scholarship and then graduate degree in psychology.
He said more positive role models are needed, and the police Commissioner tried to live up to this need when he invited the 4ft members of the Bahamas American Football Alliance team to Police Headquarters to meet some positive role models.
He explained how it is possible to carry a gun on the right side of the law and still get to play in Nassau's great game of the Wild West.
Certainly police appear to be stepping up to the plate as the Commissioner responds to calls from the public to speak out when they need reassurance, and shake-up the force as necessary, increasing the number of detectives on the homicide squad from two to five in recent months.
Duty officers have taken more than 133 illegal firearms and over 2,600 rounds of ammunition off the streets since January.
And as the rate of crime continues to plateau at a stomach-churning level, with the occasional peaks and troughs making us feel either less sick or more so, police are consistently charging suspected criminals and bringing them before the courts.
As of Friday, at least three people had been charged in connection with three of the six murders, which took place between June 21 and 26, and the Commissioner expects investigations will result in the charging of suspects in the remaining cases.
Among those arraigned last week was Kendrick Sands, 33, of Matthew Street, Nassau Village, who was charged in connection with the fatal shooting of Atlantis worker Kifftino Davis, 20.
Mr Davis, of Peardale Street off Wulff Road, was gunned down by an unknown assailant, near his home at around 2am last Sunday.
His mother said he was due to testify in the upcoming murder trial of Pinewood Gardens resident George Carey, 21, a friend and colleague of Mr Davis' who was stabbed multiple times near Lockhart's Bar, Wulff Road, in May.
For Sands it is the second murder charge he has faced in just over a year, as he was arraigned on charges in connection with the January 2009 Nassau Village shooting of Onando Newbold in February last year and had been released on bail.
After his arraignment on Thursday he was remanded in custody. Police also charged Prince McPhee, 34, of High Vista Estates, last week, in connection with the fatal shooting of murder-accused Bradley Ferguson in Sequoia Street, Pinewood Gardens, on Saturday June 26.
Ferguson had been acquitted of murder charges earlier this year, having been accused of killing pregnant Rosemary Bennett-Wright and her five-year-old son Jakeel Wright in March 2002, as well as of the attempted murders of Devonna Brown and Omega Fox.
Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade and his team stopped near Ferguson's home during their procession through Pinewood, which is within site of the crossroads where seven murders had occurred in recent memory - including the double murder of a mother and son in January last year.
But police did not make clear whether this unmarked road - first said to be Sequoia Street and then Avocado Street - was also the place where Ferguson - armed with a handgun and bleeding profusely from multiple gunshot wounds - forced himself into the parked car of a mother and her three children and severely traumatised the whole family before he became the country's 47th homicide victim last Saturday.
Mr Greenslade spoke to people in the strip-mall business places on that corner in an effort to reassure upstanding members of the community that police were doing their utmost to prevent violent crimes, but he also had to remind the suffering public there is only so much he and his men can do.
With the criminal justice system bursting with a whopping 257 murder cases pending as of April this year - and areas of the prison also oversubscribed - the crime level is more than just a policing issue.
As Mr Greenslade said in his roundabout way - there are other executive bodies to also be held accountable.
Just last week Magistrate Carolita Bethel granted $10,000 bail to a suspect arraigned on several serious charges, including the shooting of a child in Pinewood Gardens two weeks ago.
Pinewood resident Tyson Deveaux, was charged in connection with the shooting of a four-year-old boy in Brazilletta Street, on June 14, an incident in which he also was shot.
He had previously been accused of the murder of Marlon Smith on April 19, 2009, and was also accused of the murder of Corrie Bethel on May 10, 2007.
When he was first arraigned on June 18, Deveaux was remanded in custody by Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez.
But when he reappeared before Magistrate Bethel, facing two additional firearms possession charges in connection with the Pinewood shooting on June 24, he was freed on $10,000 bail with two sureties - one being that he had to surrender his travel documents to ensure he stayed in the country.
Why the suspect in connection with such a serious succession of crimes was granted bail by a magistrate regarded as one of the strictest in Nassau's court system is not known, but the public has no choice but to welcome him back into their communities until he returns to court on August 14 for the rest of his future to be decided - or adjourned.
Because if some of them are not welcomed with open arms, the fear is that by resisting their return we will become the next bloody mess, and murder victim number 48, 49 or 50 - no small number for halfway through the year.
The Commissioner was right when he said their bail release is very powerful indeed.
Perhaps this is why Bahamians are so "tolerant" as the Commissioner said.
"I am very concerned that we as Bahamians are so tolerant," said Mr Greenslade.
"We cannot allow young Bahamian men to continue to walk the streets of our country 24/7 with illegal weapons, selling drugs in our communities, and poisoning our children.
"That's not a policing problem - that's a Bahamian problem.
"If a person is walking our streets on bail and believes he or she is above everybody else, I don't know how policing will prevent that.
"It's very important that all Bahamians report these matters.
"This is about all of us as Bahamians saying 'enough is enough'."
I am certain for many of those who heard or read his statements genuinely feel "enough is enough" whether they have experienced murder and violent crime directly, read about them daily in the newspapers, or choose to avoid the news altogether in an effort to protect themselves from having to digest the unsavoury facts.
I am sure the residents of Pinewood who were intrigued by the uniformed police chiefs parading through the area, but were too intimidated - either by the police officers themselves or the criminals living in their neighbourhoods - to speak to Mr Greenslade and his colleagues, have had enough of the crime.
Who wants to live in a community where you are afraid to speak out?
Where if you witness a murder, you could be the next victim?
Perhaps it is a situation people have become used to, but surely it's not the lifestyle of choice - and, yes, you do have one.
Unfortunately the intimidation of witnesses has become so common it may seem to be the only way of going about things.
As suspects' families celebrate the homecoming of their bailed loved-ones, witnesses of crimes that the suspects may or may not have been involved in, cower in their homes and lock their doors.
Pinewood mother Maria Scott lost her son Marcian Clarke, 31, four years ago. He was shot dead outside their Willow Tree Avenue home in Pinewood Gardens shortly before he was due to testify as a key witness in the murder of his former police patrol partner.
It's hardly surprising that after his partner was killed Mr Clarke left the police force for a job at Atlantis, but changing jobs was not enough to leave the front-line.
As a key witness, even his own efforts and the efforts of police could not protect him.
And with the recent case of Mr Davis's killing, it's little wonder people are so unwilling to come forward when it comes to informing the police.
As a reporter I have walked through neighbourhoods in Pinewood, off Wulff Road or East Street, to try to talk to residents about the latest crime, and the dozens of people sitting around who may or may not know something about it will not say a word.
Sometimes an unwary child will point me in the right direction, or divulge some interesting details, and very occasionally someone bold enough to speak out will do so.
But the long and short of it is - they do not feel safe to appear to be on the right side of the law.
Just as witnesses in murder cases whose names appear on court dockets and are called to testify in court may be vulnerable to freedom-hungry predators with blood on their hands, anyone who happens to see one of the dozens of cold-blooded killings committed in public places, and often in broad daylight, is also exposed to the vulnerability of a witness.
Ways of protecting witnesses could be worked out - by removing their names from the dockets, and having them sign a sworn statement rather than appear in court.
Ways of protecting people from bailed suspects could also be maintained by keeping enough officers on foot patrols in neighbourhoods to ensure the criminals are the ones who are cowering and not the law-abiding citizens.
This simple suggestion was put to me by a pair of bright young men who spoke candidly about Pinewood, the home they know and love, as a place neglected by anyone with the power to change it, as it lies hidden from critical eyes in some central south-eastern area of New Providence to be visited only by those who live there.
They brushed off the police "walkabout" as a PR exercise that would not change the problems of their community, because under the scorching mid-morning sun, there is little criminal activity for them to survey in Pinewood Park.
The officers need to be there on the streets day and night if they are going to maximize police efforts to stop the bloodshed; then even if the criminals are going to be freed on bail, at least they will not get the opportunity to strike again.
As Mr Greenslade said, without these "evil-hearted" individuals the neighbourhoods would be safe, so the balance has to be altered to bring it back to the good.
Young people in Pinewood want more resources to be given to community groups, or invested in the beautification of the community, and they need positive role models.
They criticised their FNM MP for not doing enough to support community groups, and for letting community resources fall into disrepair.
And taking the criticism with the sensitivity of an insecure teenager, or a politician, Mr Woodside chose not to return my call to answer questions about why the swings in Pinewood Park hang broken, why the basketball hoop has not been repaired for years, or why the garbage cans are overflowing, and the grass is overgrown and dumping is so common on empty lots, home to rusting abandoned vehicles.
Instead, Mr Woodside released a press statement highlighting what he had done to clean up the area, including spending nearly all of the $200,000 allotted to the community between 2007 and 2009 on community projects, including a clean-up campaign ($34,500).
And to be fair to Mr Woodside, it's not really up to him to baby-sit the children, teenagers and young adults who keep breaking the basketball hoops, or are reluctant to stop tinkering with rusted broken down cars over the decades so new cars may feed off their old parts.
It is also up to the people themselves to ensure the place in which they live is a community.
If Kevin Moss, the 20-year-old Pinewood resident who spoke to me this week, is as passionate about helping the young people in the community as he said he is, surely he can do that without a handout from his MP.
Yes, he needs support, but if the handful of families who want to keep Pinewood crime free can work together, perhaps they can crystallise those common ideals they have for their children and their neighbours' children, and realize those opportunity for the next generation.
By taking their own angle on the fight against crime, through increasing positive activities, showing they are not afraid, and being courageous enough to reclaim their neighbourhoods, they can help improve their communities while the police keep an eye on those system-worn suspects they know to look out for, and court administrators can get to work on addressing that mammoth backlog churning out bailed suspects who put us all at risk.
July 05, 2010
tribune242
Monday, July 5, 2010
A drug turf war has escalated within New Providence inner city
Drug war has escalated in inner city, say police
By STAFF WRITER ~ Guardian News Desk:
A drug turf war has escalated within the inner city following the death of a notorious drug dealer, according to police sources.
Police have witnessed an upsurge in murders following the drug dealer's death in 2007, as members of his gang have carried out retaliatory killings and the battle for control of the murdered man's turf has waged on in communities off East Street. A significant number of the 87 murders recorded last year were attributed to this turf war, police said, adding that murders outside of the east Street community are also linked to the war.
Some of those murders remain unsolved as law-abiding citizens fear reprisals for cooperating with police. The fear is real with police acknowledging that witnesses have been killed to prevent them from testifying.
However, this year murders related to the inner city have decreased in part because some of the alleged perpetrators are in prison or are dead, sources allege. Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade promised to focus on the 'drug war' when he took office in December 2009.
With 48 murders recorded as of yesterday, the country could record its third murder record in four years.
National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest told the House of Assembly recently that more people who are charged with murder are on bail than on remand at Her Majesty's Prison.
Up to April 30, 130 people charged with murder were on bail and an additional 127 were on remand, according to Turnquest. In total, there are 257 outstanding murder cases.
July 5, 2010
thenassauguardian
By STAFF WRITER ~ Guardian News Desk:
A drug turf war has escalated within the inner city following the death of a notorious drug dealer, according to police sources.
Police have witnessed an upsurge in murders following the drug dealer's death in 2007, as members of his gang have carried out retaliatory killings and the battle for control of the murdered man's turf has waged on in communities off East Street. A significant number of the 87 murders recorded last year were attributed to this turf war, police said, adding that murders outside of the east Street community are also linked to the war.
Some of those murders remain unsolved as law-abiding citizens fear reprisals for cooperating with police. The fear is real with police acknowledging that witnesses have been killed to prevent them from testifying.
However, this year murders related to the inner city have decreased in part because some of the alleged perpetrators are in prison or are dead, sources allege. Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade promised to focus on the 'drug war' when he took office in December 2009.
With 48 murders recorded as of yesterday, the country could record its third murder record in four years.
National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest told the House of Assembly recently that more people who are charged with murder are on bail than on remand at Her Majesty's Prison.
Up to April 30, 130 people charged with murder were on bail and an additional 127 were on remand, according to Turnquest. In total, there are 257 outstanding murder cases.
July 5, 2010
thenassauguardian
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