The Tribune

CRIME! Is there a solution? Will there ever be a solution?

When we think of crime we often recall Carl Sandburg’s poem – “The Fog”:

“The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbour and city on silent haunches and then moves on…”

That is how crime quietly sneaked up on the Bahamas. However, unlike the fog, it didn’t move on — it grew slowly until it has become today’s vicious reality that if we, as a community do not destroy it, it will destroy us.

Crime news in the Bahamas in which we grew up appeared as a small item in The Tribune, near the “Hatches, Matches and Dispatches” (births, marriages and deaths) column. The most that it could report in those days was an unfortunate Bahamian being arrested for using foul language to the annoyance of a police constable. That is how far we have travelled in one life time to where we are today – already recording 107 murders for the first nine months of this year.

When we started our career as a crime reporter — other than the sensational Oakes murder — there was hardly a murder to report. However, what we do remember was that if a person were charged with murder, there was no question of whether there should be bail. He went straight to prison to cool his passion until the day of his trial. And, yes, if found guilty, hanging quickly followed.

Today, the police complain that the courts have become a revolving door for the criminal. Not only is the accused charged before the Bench, but no sooner in, than out on bail and the police chase starts all over again. The law was later changed to prevent magistrates granting bail for more serious offences. Instead the magistrate grants the accused a Voluntary Bill of Indictment to the Supreme Court, which will decide the bail issue. However, the Supreme Court is also generous with its bail. And now we have accused persons, some with long criminal records, out on bail, an ankle bracelet encircling one leg, as he continues on his life of crime. However, as the crime scene is now developing, justice is being carried out on the streets. The court system has been removed as criminals conduct their own justice by murdering each other — unfortunately innocent children have been caught in the cross fire. And so the number of victims grow.

Crime started its downhill roll during the drug years in the seventies, gaining speed as it progressed until Bahamians today grapple with almost insurmountable problems.

The PLP won the 2012 election having convinced the majority of voters that if elected they had the magic potion with which they would eradicate crime. Bahamians were bitterly disappointed when not only did the PLP government have no solution, but instead crime suddenly took off like a forest fire, leaving the present government to grapple with an almost impossible task. Now the PLP point accusing fingers as they call for an immediate solution from the FNM for a problem that was too much for them to grasp.

What can be done? We first have to recognise the problem. Today’s Bahamian is not the same Bahamian of pre-drug years. Bahamian mores in those days were grounded in Christian principles. There were certain rules that if broken brought such social ostracism, that only the brave would dare.

Then came the years when Bahamians were made believe that success was measured by the wealth that one could accumulate — and, of course, drug smuggling was the fastest route to money in the bank. It quickly produced all the outward trappings of wealth. From that point, with the Ten Commandments no brake on social behaviour, the new Bahamian was born. He is the Bahamian with whom we have to deal today.

Tomorrow we shall examine how crime might be controlled, starting with the courts and lawyers, then taking into consideration the overcrowded prison system, a consideration of mandatory bail for those awaiting trial for serious offences, to rehabilitation schemes in which offenders can be assisted with rehabilitation in a scheme that will provide them with skills and business acumen by which they can support themselves and not be a charge on the community.