The Tribune

ON the heels of a recent visit to Atlanta earlier this year, Foreign Affairs and Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell announced that The Bahamas looks to partner with Atlanta to combat crime.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, with two officials from his office, paid a special visit to The Bahamas to start discussions on the way forward.

A press conference on the announcement was held on Wednesday at the Paul Farquharson Conference Centre at Police Headquarters on East Street.

Mr Mitchell said because The Bahamas has close ties and shares similarities with Atlanta, a partnership between the two places seems “ideal”.

“During a visit to Atlanta, I met with Mayor Reed and during exchanges, we held discussions on how the mayor was able to combat crime in Atlanta over the past few years,” said Mr Mitchell. “These discussions led to the mayor’s visit here today.”

Mayor Reed said that he believes that some of the strategies he implemented in Atlanta may assist The Bahamas in its crime fight.

“When I was elected into office, Atlanta faced similar crime issues that you are plagued by in The Bahamas. As a result, my office implemented several strategies to combat crime,” he said.

Included in those strategies was the implementation of innovative technologies, including video integration centres; predictive policing; increase in public safety funding and targeted youth programmes, including “centres of hope” which provide services to 1,500-1,700 youths weekly and up to 3,000 during summer months. He said, to date, the centres have caused a reduction of 20 per cent in the crime rate among youth.

Mayor Reed, said that his office led the initiative to implement the “Ban the Box,” policy, which eliminated questions of a potential employee’s crime history on application forms. He noted that this allowed a prospective employee the opportunity to explain his/her criminal past during an interview instead of being eliminated at the application stage. This was especially significant for young persons who may have been previously charged for petty crimes.

In addition, Mayor Reed said that during his tenure, he also placed state-of-the-art vans on the streets of Atlanta, which are used as mobile training centres. He said that Atlanta is presently in a construction “boom” which he believes will further decrease the state’s crime levels.

Finally, Mayor Reed said in his view, another effective strategy to combat crime is a robust police force.

During Mayor’s Reed term in office, the city of Atlanta experienced a reduction in unemployment from 10.4 per cent to 6 per cent today, which he says is trending downward with the boom in construction.

Mayor Reed was accompanied by his Chief of Staff Candace Byrd and the Director of International Affairs Claire Angele.

During his three days in Nassau, the mayor’s team scheduled visits with stakeholders including members of the business community, religious leaders and students at The College of the Bahamas. On Wednesday, he held discussions with the country’s top brass in the Royal Bahamas Police Force.