By KHRISNA VIRGIL
Tribune Staff Reporter
kvirgil@tribunemedia.net
DESPITE the fact that nearly 500 homicides have been recorded during the Christie administration’s term, Minister of State for National Security Keith Bell does not believe the government’s crime-fighting strategies have failed.
Senator Bell admitted yesterday that murders continue to challenge law enforcement particularly in certain pockets of New Providence where “generational” killings occur.
These murders frequently occur in situations where best friends have “turned on” each other or due to domestic violence, he said.
Up to press time, the 2016 murder count for the first four months of this year stood at 40, according to The Tribune’s records, meaning 498 homicides have occurred under this administration in three years and 11 months.
Speaking in the Senate, Mr Bell praised the government’s anti-crime strategies saying because of diligent work by law enforcement, overall crime from 2015 up until yesterday showed a 29 per cent decrease.
Despite this, Mr Bell added that there were an unprecedented 749,000 calls for emergency assistance in 2015, to which law enforcement had to respond.
He made the comments during his mid-year budget communication.
“We are dealing with a deep seated societal problem,” he said. “It is apparent that what is a common trend in homicides and shootings occurring throughout the country and in New Providence, the victims or the perpetrator is a young male, no educational attainment, usually left high school at the junior level. He would have come from what we call a heritage area, an Over-the-Hill area and between the ages of 16 and 25.
“I would say there are two groupings. Those who are 16 [to] 25 and those who are 25 [to] 45. He would be driving a Honda and he would be armed with a firearm. That is the background of these individuals who are killing themselves and being killed. There are instances where they turn on one another, best friends. Can you imagine best friends killing one another?”
He continued: “Persons will tell you that under the Progressive Liberal Party we had the largest record number of homicides which is true but in looking at the numbers, a part from the overall statistics trending downwards, we said that we will reduce crime by five per cent every year and we have been doing it.”
He said the government’s solution has been to put more police on the streets and ensuring that they are outfitted with bulletproof vests.
“All front-line officers are outfitted with vests and let me make it clear that these are vests that were bought by the Bahamas government. These ain’t no donated vests and these ain’t no used vests like other people did.
“Forty-five per cent of the homicide rate is attributed to domestic violence whether its friend on friend, husband and wife, common law unions. This is what is part of our challenge so as a society we have issues dealing with anger management and conflict resolution even in the marriage.
“We promised each year that we would reduce the overall crime percentage, granted that we are having experiences with our homicides.
“But between 2012 and 2013, crime decreased by eight per cent. Between 2013 and 2014 crime decreased by 18 per cent. By 2014 to 2015 crime decreased by five per cent and this year, 2015 to 2016 up to yesterday crime is down by 29 per cent.”
He added: “From here the police seized over 150 guns. Machine guns, the AK 47’s, the oozy machine guns, the desert eagle, the AR15, the 7.62, the 9mm all these types of weapons.
“They have seized over 2,200 rounds of ammunition so it means that our strategies are having an impact. (They are) having a significant impact what we must realise.”
When asked by The Tribune yesterday if he thought the government’s crime plan has failed, Mr Bell said he did not.
“It has not failed,” he said outside the Senate. “With any strategy, you have to make adjustments.”
He added that Prime Minister Perry Christie and National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage are currently engaged in discussions with Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade to make “some changes” to the government’s crime fighting initiatives.
Mr Bell yesterday also suggested the “formal establishment” of a national service to combat crime.
He added: “We have to do it. We are at that stage. We have to do it. And for me, we have to combine the police and defence force. Whether people like it or not we have to do it.”
According to statistics gathered by this newspaper, murders under this PLP administration in nearly four years have surpassed the more than 490 homicides that took place in the five years under the previous FNM administration.
From May 7, 2012 - when the PLP won the election - to December 2012 there were 70 recorded murders. In, 2013, police recorded 119 murders. In 2014 and 2015, police recorded 123 and a record 146 murders respectively.
Comments
sheeprunner12 8 years, 6 months ago
What is the Crime Plan??????????????
Required 8 years, 6 months ago
Precisely. No crime plan = no plan that could've failed.
sealice 8 years, 6 months ago
this is just his deflecting = more bullshit from the king plp bullshitter
ThisIsOurs 8 years, 6 months ago
What???? "Combine the police and defense force"?? Effectively another brute force strategy. Why not increase the presence of cctv cameras and invest in training so you actually need less police officers on the street and have constant coverage of a wider area? Work smarter. PLEASE. Because the criminals certainly are
abacobandit 8 years, 6 months ago
You know they hate it when folks make sense now.
sealice 8 years, 6 months ago
Why not improve education while at it so we can have smarter trained law enforcement instead of 1 out of every 5 or 6?
thephoenix562 8 years, 6 months ago
we can free up lots of Police officers.Most of the hundreds of female officers are being used as clerks and secretaries.They are trained use them.Same goes for the plumbers,mechanics,bartenders.If the Staff Association officers could be redeployed overnight so can the others.
Burdle 8 years, 6 months ago
What in the hell is a oozy machine gun???
Zakary 8 years, 6 months ago
What in the hell is a oozy machine gun???
I’m sure he meant Uzi, but the writer of this article messed up.
KareemC9 8 years, 6 months ago
Is Keith Bell high? The government and Minister of National have been fudging the crime numbers from day one, not accounting for some crime and lying about the actual numbers and Tinker bell have the nerve to talk about over all crime is down. What kind of weed is he smoking.Truth be told even the murder count is much higher than they claim it to be. Tinker Bell try go sit in the corner until somebody pulls your chain. You are irrelevant and make no sense to this equation.
sheeprunner12 8 years, 6 months ago
But ............. we do not need anymore police officers in Nassau .............. there are already over 2000 police officers and 1000 marines in Nassau ........... an officer lives on every street in Nassau (and should know what is going on there) .......... the problem is leadership and corruption among our officers plus the growing number of pro-Haitian officers who look out for "their people" ............. No half breed Bahamian should be allowed on the Forces ....... that is where the problem started back in the day when the West Indians ran the Force
TalRussell 8 years, 6 months ago
Comrades if the PLP cabinet's crime plan is indeed working, shouldn't this raise questions like why the Minister Keith doesn't demonstrate that he really 'trusts' what he's saying?
Let the Minister 'walk his talk, right into the Commish of Policeman's office, to surrender his special authorization to pack a loaded gun and to leave his no longer needed loaded side-arm, behind on Commish's desk?
Comrades I am operating under the presumption that the Honourable Minister Keith is not in the categories individuals who were granted gun permits who does require fire power because of their occupations principal activity is in the handling, protection and transporting of cash moneys?
That Minister Keith must have convinced the Commish of Policeman's Greenslade, that his occupation as a crown minister, does require he protect his very life from the murderous criminal thugs who would be too eager to end his life?
Minister Keith, now that the threat your life has diminished under PLP cabinet's crime plan, why not 'walk the damn talk - surrender to the Commish of Policeman's, your loaded pistol?
Comrade Minister Keith, did you pay for your own gun and bullets, or was it paid for, right out state moneys?
John 8 years, 6 months ago
The best crime plan as to follow the 'new' commandment that Jesus Christ gave us when he left this earth. That is for (Bahamians) to love one another,'just as Christ loved the church. Bahamians have been under attack from all forces and from all sides and have turned against each other. The time is now to stand against that divide and conquer strategy and become our brother's keeper once again. . "Romans 13:10 Chapter
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law"
bogart 8 years, 6 months ago
With all due respect Mr. Minister, don't you think that all those police cars with sirens on and flashing lights can ever arrest anyone as that only happens in the animated cartoon movie where the Sheriff was a Hudson model car who arrested the star who was a red corvette? Perhaps a bigger Detective agency where trained investigators can investigate neighbourhoods, sources etc to track down the bad criminals and put them away? I think that is the way the Clint Eastwood detective guy in the movie managed to do it right. Cars don't arrest people, people do.
TheMadHatter 8 years, 6 months ago
I am so glad, and thank God, that Mr. Bell's crime plan has NOT failed - because I would not want to imagine where we would be had it actually failed.
Perhaps even sadder than that joke, is the fact that these fellas can actually make these remarks with a straight face and without a paperbag over their head. Is there a special school you go to learn how to talk like that?
LOL.
TheMadHatter
John 8 years, 6 months ago
In a single school district in South Florida, ninety shootings of students have been recorded, seventeen of whom have died. Just two weeks ago a student was ambushed while he was walking home with his brother and shot ten times. He died on the sport. He was seventeen and just last week there students of the same school he attended, one 15 y/o and two 16 y/o were arrested and charged with the murder. They claim that they are members of "The Clover Leaf" gang and that was the reason behind the shooting. They will be tried as adults and now that has the families outraged and at odds with police. At one of Hilary Clinton's rallies her husband, Bill Clinton, got in an exchange with a, "Black Lives Matter" group of protesters. They were protesting against the harsh sentences given to Black persons who commit crime compared to their White counterparts. Bill Clinton response was, "You (Black Lives Matter), want to protect the same people who are giving 13 and 14 year old kids crack cocaine and a gun and sending them to kill other black teens." So what is the relevance of that to the Bahamas? The drug problem and the gang problem and the guns have spilled over into the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean. America is the most advanced country in the western world and there are some districts its police cannot go. This is not a small problem, this crime and the violence and the murder that comes with it. This country has lost nearly one thousand persons to murder in a decade and more than half that number are facing jail time for murder. Most of them are young men in the most productive stage of their lives. If you google "most dangerous places to visit in the Caribbean", The Bahamas is among the first to pop up. And while most persons visiting this country are relatively safe, do you know how many millions of dollars this country may be losing annually because of how it is branded? Do you know it is easier to sue a pharmaceutical company than it is to sue the manufacturer of a weapon that was sold illegally and used in a crime?
Voltaire 8 years, 6 months ago
All that is true John, and I wish Keith Bell had said it. But he didn't. He said the crime plan is working.
Wideawake 8 years, 6 months ago
The Crime Plan failed as far as the 500 dead Bahamians are concerned!!!
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