By SANCHESKA DORSETT
Tribune Staff Reporter
sdorsett@tribunemedia.net
POLICE Commissioner Ellison Greenslade yesterday called the country’s murder count so far this month a “disgrace”, but stressed that many of the country’s recent killings stem from feuds over drugs and relationships.
Commissioner Greenslade said “prolific serial offenders” cannot remain “free in our communities to continue to create fear” and possibly commit more serious crimes. He urged family members, friends and associates of serial criminals to “turn them into police before you become targets”.
At a press conference at Police Headquarters, he pleaded with members of the public to assist the Royal Bahamas Police Force in locating eight men police want to speak to in connection with homicide investigations. They are 27-year-old Alfred Bastian of Kemp Road; 29-year-old Amal Hunter aka “Bow” of Major’s Alley; 46-year-old Mario Deveaux aka Mario Fox of Market Street; 25-year-old Mark McKenzie of Blue Hills Heights; 33-year-old Patrick Goffee of Washington Street; 27-year-old Shawn Brown aka “Fire” of Rupert Dean Lane; and 25-year-old Christopher Joseph aka “Deebo’ of Kemp Road. Last night, the eighth named - 34-year-old Anton Wright aka “Banton” of East Street South - turned himself into police.
Commissioner Greenslade said if police are able to arrest some prolific offenders, he believes there will be “no murder report this evening, none tomorrow and none in the weeks and months ahead”.
Despite recording 11 killings so far this month, Commissioner Greenslade reiterated that crime in the country is down in all areas, except murder. He said the spate in homicides since last November - 40 in two and a half months - is a result of an “ongoing feud among these young men who know each other”. He said the recent killings were not gang related but stemmed from “drug deals” and arguments over women and men.
“We have a feud developing among young Bahamian men who are not prepared to allow the courts to adjudicate their matters,” the commissioner said. “They are not prepared to speak with law enforcement and they have taken the position that they are going to deal with the matters themselves.
“They are not strangers to each other, they all know each other, they fellowship together and party together and of recent we have seen a trend from about November where there has been an ongoing feud between young men who are not prepared to have their matters investigated by the Royal Bahamas Police Force ... The feuds are over drugs. The feuds are over women, we are even seeing some feuds over men. That is real. We did not want to believe that these relationship issues were the cause of a lot of the anger and bitterness, which leads to serious injury and deaths. These people getting emotionally involved and they respond in the wrong way.
“They are unemployed and not seeking to get jobs. The ones who want jobs cannot get them because they are not qualified for the job. You didn’t go to school, you haven’t gone back to learn a trade. You are lazy and are not prepared to work because you want to get rich quick. So what do you do? You sell drugs, sell guns, traffic people, sell counterfeit goods, steal from people and terrorise our communities.”
Commissioner Greenslade also dispelled fears that people were being killed in random acts of violence. “There are no phantoms in this country committing crime, there are no serious offenders standing in the street corners waiting to pounce on residents or tourists,” he said.
“The people that are killing each other are people that are leading a life of crime, they are not employed. They are not looking for work and they are not prepared to lead normal lives as we do, as properly socialised individuals in the Bahamas. They are going against the grain. I do not want to mislead the Bahamas, this is beautiful place. I am not prepared as a commissioner to blanket crime over all the communities of the Bahamas, I will not call our people bad. That is not true. Please let’s be careful; we cannot throw the baby out with the bath water.”
While Commissioner Greenslade said serious crime in the Bahamas had fallen in 2016 by 26 per cent earlier this month, the murder totals have continued to cause concern. In 2016, police recorded 111 homicides, the sixth successive year with more than 100 murders but an improvement on the 2015 record of 146. Since the Progressive Liberal Party took office in May 2012, there have been at least 580 murders in the country.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts on any of the men wanted for questioning is asked to contact police at 911 or 919, the Central Detective Unit at 502-9991 or Crime stoppers anonymously at 328-TIPS. Investigations continue.
Comments
sealice 7 years, 11 months ago
“They are unemployed and not seeking to get jobs. The ones who want jobs cannot get them because they are not qualified for the job. You didn’t go to school, you haven’t gone back to learn a trade. You are lazy and are not prepared to work because you want to get rich quick. So what do you do? You sell drugs, sell guns, traffic people, sell counterfeit goods, steal from people and terrorise our communities.”
All of this coutesy of YOUR PLP!!!!!
SP 7 years, 11 months ago
............................. PLP Don't Deserve All The Credit ..............................
To be totally fair, PLP and FNM equally share responsibility for failing to educate Bahamians. Neither will admit to it but they cannot dodge the bullet!
http://spindleworks.com/library/vanderv…
B_I_D___ 7 years, 11 months ago
Say it...say the words...GANG RELATED!! 'Fellowship together'...what kind of bull crap comment is that. He's scared to say the words GANG and the position it will put he and the force in.
DonAnthony 7 years, 11 months ago
Commissioner Greenslade said if police are able to arrest some prolific offenders, he believes there will be “no murder report this evening, none tomorrow and none in the weeks and months ahead”.
I have been saying this for a long time. The vast majority of serious crime is at the hands of maybe 100-200 prolific offenders. We need to get serious. The commissioner needs on his desk the names of the 100 most wanted profiled thugs in this country and be relentless in taking them off the streets. If the will was there this could be done in a week! Everyday one is incarcerated strike his name off the list. If the courts release them have surveillance on them 24/7 and lock them up for even jaywalking. Make their lives living hell. This country is so small there is no where to hide, the police know who these thugs are, why do we sit like helpless victims.
And our laws need to be stiffened, some of our judges pass sentences that are far too lenient. If you commit a felony, especially so if you are a prolific offender you are incarcerated for decades not months. Judges that continue to put these thugs on the streets need to be weeded out and removed from the courts.
Greentea 7 years, 11 months ago
Obviously there are plenty places to hide because they have been looking for some of these dudes for awhile!
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 11 months ago
I disagree, these guys are like hydra, cut off one head and another emerges. They'll have to do more than arrest people to stop this problem, unless they're going to arrest them and their kids and their brothers, and their cousins and all of their kin.
I often wondered why God would order the Israelites to go into a city and kill everyone...perhaps I still don't fully understand, but removing one or two will not solve the problem.
licks2 7 years, 11 months ago
The COP will catch hell for making his "become targets" statement! I hope the Police do not kill any of the listed persons. . .UN/HRC will "do him" if any one of their hair is cut by the police the Bahamas will be labeled a vigilante state where the police are carrying out extra-judicial killing of serious offenders! Mark my words. . ."ween hear" the end of that statement!
Sickened 7 years, 11 months ago
"The feuds are over women, we are even seeing some feuds over men." My lord, these thugs are actually faggots! Our young men have REALLY lost their way. Don't tell me that young men need to now have sex with the gang leader in order to be accepted? That is an all time low. No wonder these young men are killing each other; they have lost all self respect just by being accepted into a gang.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 11 months ago
Maybe he meant girls fighting over men, then families get involved
Publius 7 years, 11 months ago
He is referring to men committing murder over relationships with other men. There are no women wanted for the murder of other women at this time. The community knows of what he is speaking. It is one of the reasons he paused during his remarks, blinked tellingly and then said "at one time we did not want to believe these things were happening but it is real." There would be no need for him to say that if he was referring to the usual domestic-related murders we see happen. Families getting involved in relationship issues is a regular thing.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 11 months ago
Eye opener
Greentea 7 years, 11 months ago
They want love like everybody else. They dangerous and a blight on the nation, but they are still human.
DDK 7 years, 11 months ago
You think?
TalRussell 7 years, 11 months ago
Comrades! At this early stage in the crime assessment having not yet exhausted the first month into 2017, the Commish is left no other option than to drill down on the known to be thugs and associated individuals and neighbourhoods of hangouts.
They have make life miserable for known family members and others the thugs are interacting with. Start by seizing and impounding their vehicles, watches, jewelry, cell phones, moneys and furniture’s. Start with drilling down to try to make sense of what is behind high murder count so early in 2017. To spend to do whatever it takes to change and improve the social character of neighbourhoods. If you can place policeman’s every block in the downtown tourists areas, do the same in neighbourhoods to be drilled down on.
Drill down by setting up highly visible mobile policeman's command stations in problem neighbourhoods - if necessary park them out-front the thugs and known acquaintances residences.
Let them know that where they go - so will the policeman's be visible in following them around.
Comrades, as we communicate, there is a reported stabbing at a school.
John 7 years, 11 months ago
Did the commissioner say anything new? Did you learn anything from his release? Of the 1,000 plus persons that have been murdered and are now dead how many are still prolific offenders and are still wanted by the police? How many of these murdered persons were killers and are still killing? So there in lies the problem. The situation isn't getting any better and the killings are not stopping because nothing is being done to remedy the situations that lead to young men turning to crime and to murder. An 18 year old male who has become a prolific offender, a thug, an AK-47 gun toting killer was only 8 years old 10 years ago. Ten years ago one hundred persons (average) was still being murdered every year. Get the point. Nothing is being done to ease and relieve the social and economic situations in these communities that lead to young men turning to lives of crime and one that may lead to murder, either as perpetrators or victims. So as was preached in this media times after time, commissioner needs to go to his bosses and call on all leaders to let them know it is not only a police problem. It is a social, spiritual and economic problem and all hands must be on deck. It is a given that many young men are not well educated and this makes them even more dangerous as criminals, especially when their livelihood is threatened or someone imposes on their relationship with whomever. There needs to be intervention before it gets to the point of taking a life. The government has done very little to ease the hardship of young men in this country. They are not all lazy and many do not want to turn to a life of drugs and crime but what alternatives do many of these young men have. Many companies or individuals are afraid to hire them because of their reputations. So what now? Does the country just sit back or take cover and let them finish killing each other?
TalRussell 7 years, 11 months ago
Comrades! We can drill down by sending in the bulldozers to demolish any residences or businesses the resident owners or landlords, knowingly allow be used to harbour the thugs or promote criminal operations.
Publius 7 years, 11 months ago
This headline is a complete misrepresentation of what the Commissioner said. He said:
He was not telling the wanted men themselves to either surrender, or become targets.
Emac 7 years, 11 months ago
Interesting...Thought I was the only one who saw this. Journalism in this country has reached its lowest point.
licks2 7 years, 11 months ago
Hehehehehehehehehehe. . . my bad. . .he was warning the family members that they are to become possible targets for retaliation! I guess I too need to look closely before I "shoot" my mouth off aye. . .lol!
TalRussell 7 years, 11 months ago
Comrades! And the more elite have declared that best solution to nation's escalating crime is to "gate" themselves off from the rest population.
ThisIsOurs 7 years, 11 months ago
That's the worst thing to do, it just means you allow the cancer to grow in a perfect environment and by the time it reaches the gate, and it will reach the gate, you won't even recognize the monster
Sickened 7 years, 11 months ago
I live in the gate and agree with you. I sometimes feel like I'm living in one of those plague movies, where one day the plague reaches the wall and i'm going to have to fight my way to the airport to catch the last flight out to save my family.
Greentea 7 years, 11 months ago
I hope you are near the airport or a boat dock. Nassau's road system isnt designed for a quick escape- too few options. And yes- sadly - I have given this thought.
Zakary 7 years, 11 months ago
Not only are there gangs, but the probability of reaching any proper resolution tends to zero, due to the complex connection of family ties whether by enforcement, victims, or perpetrators. The situation we find ourselves in, is so far down the line...honestly, I don’t know what to say.
John 7 years, 11 months ago
The commissioner has been saying the same thing for years. Farmers have to remove weeds before they choke and kill their crops. But the scriptures tells Up to do what?
John 7 years, 11 months ago
The commissioner is being very disengenious and very misleading when he says 'yes in some cases, men are killing over men." The situation is if a young teen boy is the victim of having his best friend killed, murdered, executed, slaughtered, aniliathated, he will retaliate. But the commissioner try to make it like a gay vibe. Shame on him.
Greentea 7 years, 11 months ago
John - The commissioner is right whether you want to believe it or not and it has been this way for a long time. Homosexuality is present and I would even say prevalent in these gangs. If you are being honest- think about it- how could it not be? And with young men unable to handle emotions and desirous of affection and not getting it elsewhere, when they find it- where ever they find it, they are willing to protect/ die for it. Jealousy is real whether in heterosexual or homosexual relationships. Watch The Wire. Watch Beasts of No Nation. Read Marlon James's novel on Jamaican Gang violence. We have One Order in Nassau and One Order is in Kingston. One Order is affiliated with Labour in Jamaica and the next one- Clansmen or some such- the old Seaga party. Is the same happening here on an informal level? Bahamians need to stop pretending and wake up. We are both willfully blind, corrupt and hypocritical as a people. These religious ministers who want to save gay people, go in the trenches and work with these gangs. Never mind- I know "too real". And they would run ya anyway- because they already know too many of you.
John 7 years, 11 months ago
The Commissioner may not have realized he spoke prophecy when he spoke of the recent spate of murders and about those who are involved: "They are not strangers to each other they know each other they fellowship together and party together ." The first murder was committed over jealousy. It was not among strangers but between brothers. The Bible says :'as was it in the beginning, so shall it be in the end." Brother against brother, father against son mother against daughter and the whole, entire on a roller to decayand destruction.
BaronInvest 7 years, 11 months ago
Well, you can still move out to safer countries like Gambia or Syria, murder count is much lower there when you don't count the people getting killed by the local gangs/factions.
John 7 years, 11 months ago
But at the same time he also tried to deny that st least NINE of the last murdered victims were clearly known gang members.
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