The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Over the last several days the media (printed) has been inundated with the issue of a discrepancy between the PMH reports of crimes of gun violence and those of the police statistics published by the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Let me begin by pointing out to Dr Sands with all due respect that the Commissioner of Police is the only person in this archipelago mandated by the Constitution with the sole responsibility in all aspects for the administration of the RBPF and that includes the annual publication of crime statistics.

The PMH keeps files on all cases of diseases, illness, injuries and other maladies, I am sure that they have a system of categorising the various diseases for easy dispensation when needed.

The RBPF has a system also for the categorising of various crimes which is incompatible with that used by the PMH when dealing with patients suffering from wounds inflicted by guns, for instance, if a police officer is being shot at by a criminal and in turn shoots back and kills the assailant, that is not registered as a crime and therefore it does not show up in the police statistics as such. By the same token, if a passerby who accidentally gets in the line of fire is shot by the police, it will be death by misadventure.

It is not only unfair; but disingenuous and insensitive for politicians to suggest that our loyal, dedicated, hardworking and honest Commissioner of Police has doctored a report on crime statistics that is issued by the force for the general knowledge of the populace.

This debate over the past two weeks by politicians and wannabe leaders was nothing less than an exercise in futility and an exhibition of ignorance of the system used in the categorising of the said subject.

All political and church leaders should be assisting our overworked Commissioner and his dedicated police force in finding ways and means to reduce our crime rate instead of engaging in nonsensical and foolish non-issues.

ERRINGTON W I WATKINS

Nassau,

February 13, 2014.