The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

RANFORD Patterson, the Bahamas Christian Council president, compared the state of crime in the country to a “war zone” as he called on authorities to enforce the laws of the land with a view to allaying the fears of Bahamians.

His comments came during an address at Clifford Park on Wednesday night during a celebration for the country’s 41st anniversary of independence.

Dr Patterson said the fear of crime is still very real as he pointed to the amount of murders in the country and the number of young girls falling prey to grown men on a daily basis.

“I don’t know how many of you drive on our streets,” he said. “It’s like a war-zone out there. We must enforce the laws of our country for the next 39 years because, I believe that this is indeed a very lovely and wonderful country but there are some issues that we must tackle going into the next 39 years.

“I must say that I am very impressed and happy to see the improvements that are being made with our courts. I believe that it will help to speed up some trials so that we can get justice for our people in this country. I thank God that the Bail Act is now being revisited (because) I believe that too many dangerous criminals are on bail today.

“The fear of crime is still very real to us even with the great work of our police force. We ought to commend them but the reality is still too many of us are afraid to come out at night, too many of our young men are dying in the streets and too many of our young girls are not safe for grown men are preying on them every day.”

He said the government must be seen to enforce laws and ensure that it is not selective with its enforcement.

“We send a bad message to the would-be criminals when they see us turning a blind eye to some things. We find a way to let some things go unpunished. Please lets stop being selective in our enforcement,” Dr Patterson said.

Last month, Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage said although 62 murders had been recorded up to June 18, statistics from police show that crime was trending down in most major crime categories. He said murder decreased by four per cent; rape fell by 15 per cent; attempted rape fell by 64 per cent; unlawful sexual intercourse fell by 35 per cent; armed robbery fell by 18 per cent; robbery fell by nine per cent; housebreaking by 25 per cent and stolen vehicles by 32 per cent.

He was speaking about crimes in New Providence for the period January 1 to June 10.

However additional crime statistics showed that up to June 10, the murder rate across the Bahamas actually rose this year by nine per cent compared to the same period last year.

Additionally the statistics show that in Grand Bahama, murder went up by 100 per cent during the specified time.

The discrepancy caused Free National Movement Deputy Chairman Dr Duane Sands to call on Dr Nottage to apologise for failing to paint an accurate picture of the crime situation.

However, Dr Nottage refused to do so saying he did not hide anything and that it was a matter of misinformation.