The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The private sector remains “very concerned” over crime, a senior executive telling this newspaper that the recent US warning “couldn’t have come at a worse time”.

Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, described the crime problem as “very vexing”.

“The Chamber remains very concerned about the levels of crime, especially the types of crime that have been reported recently, and that has to do mostly with regards to crime against the person,” he said.

“We have heard increasing reports of sexual harassment of tourists. We have even heard of some cases of alleged rapes, and we are extremely concerned about the safety not only of the tourists who are coming here and naturally provide us with great stimulus to our economy through their tourism dollars, but we are equally concerned for the health and safety of Bahamians and other residents.”

A new US warning about crime in the Bahamas has expressed concern over home invasions and a recent spike in reported sexual assaults, some of which it says are linked to the “loosely regulated water sports industry” on Paradise Island.

The US Embassy in Nassau released the alert to US citizens living in or travelling to the Bahamas earlier this week. It warned Americans to be on heightened alert to avoid being victims of crime.

Although the warning noted that US citizens are not targeted directly, the alert said that over the past several weeks there has been an increase in the level of crime in areas where US citizens live and frequent.

“The report couldn’t have come at a worse time, particularly when the Government is also dealing with the very emotive Immigration issue, and also coming into the holiday season, which is for many businesses the prime time for them to be able to generate most of their revenue for the year. We are certainly very concerned about it. We, of course, would give our full support and encouragement to the law enforcement agencies,” said Mr Sumner.

“We are open and we have a very good working relationship with the US Embassy in Nassau, and we are open to continuing to work with them to ensure that we get the right messaging out into the wider community, particularly as it relates to issuing travel advisories to Americans coming into the country, and be sure that we get the message right.

“We don’t want to necessarily scare people away. They have an obligation to advise their citizens coming into this country, and any other country, about what they think might be some unsafe practices, whether it has to do with crime or anything else for that matter.”

Mr Sumner said many Bahamian business owners were nervous about increasing incidents of crime, and he urged them to be vigilant going into the holiday season.