The Tribune

By ROCHELLE DEAN

THE Bahamas has seen crime rise at an alarming rate in the past few years.

With a global recession and crime on the rise, the country has seen a major decline for many of its nationals in all socio-economic classes. Many of its social ills have also come to the forefront as well as an overwhelming decline in national programmes and/or quality social and civic organisations that can assist the country in fostering community development and overall growth.

According to an article in The Tribune on June 22, the Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage announced that crime is down by 29 per cent. While this is a positive for the country, The Bahamas must look beyond statistics and address the crime issue with a full understanding of it.

The crime rate has a significant impact on the economy and each individual in the country. The costs of crime significantly affect each individual and have lasting impacts on everyone.

Crime has tangible and intangible effects on the economy. Crime affects the the economy by placing a financial burden on all taxpayers and forces the government to increase needs for police, courts and corrections facilities. However, the intangible costs to victims are far more labouring. Psychological trauma, loss of wages through seeking medical services as well as loss of property, productivity and reduced quality of life for crime victims, as well as those who live in fear of being victims of crime, all produce an ailing society which creates unhappiness, unresolve and depression.

The Bahamas must now look at other measures beyond simply facilitating criminals and seek new rehabilitative programs that come from a place of compassion. The country must seek to find new measures to reduce crime by re-engaging previous offenders who would have served their sentences and allow these individuals opportunities for economic growth. This will impact the economy immeasurably and reduce the tangible costs that have left the country with an immense deficit.

Those in authority must look at the effect that crime has on the military and those who are paid to protect the country, particularly the Royal Bahamas Police Force who also are subject to psychological trauma. The Bahamas must look closely at how the nation views mental illness. The government must address the health of the police and Defence Force officers; however, the reality is that the taxpayers will pay to ensure that they are not victims of the criminals or the behaviour of individuals who are exposed to these criminals. If the country is not addressing these issues then we have seemingly lost control and left it in a chaotic state where crime continues to reign.

As the world evolves so does the criminal element. Crime has become more psychological and therefore the entire country is exposed to criminality that can not be measured and, sometimes, unable to be determined or defined.

The Bahamas must now change its consciousness and look at the major impact that crime has on the country and determine new measures that can change economic outcomes. The Bahamas must resolve to take control of its economic activity by giving each individual the opportunity to do so but also exercising those intangible attributes that are hard to measure or discern but are the things which are the contributing factors in those people who build and decide to thrive.

These intangible things are compassion and remorse and are important to human development.

Crime only thrives when people do not. The Bahamas must move away from barbariac, animalistic reasoning which promotes excessive spending to remain in a society that is build on fear and exclusion. The Bahamas must consider the impact that crime has on everyone.

The Bahamas must find these intangible factors that serve as a bridge to the costs of crime as a means to building the community, society and the country. The country must begin to progress as new elements of crime have manifested and the country is simply still in the dark ages as it relates to crime and its overall impact of the nation.

Poverty alleviation begins with a complete look at crime and its effects.

Rochelle R Dean is a Bahamian scholar, research fellow and peer-reviewer and a theory writer of economics presently completing a Bachelors of Science dual degree in economics and public administration with Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia. Comments to dean_rochelle@yahoo.com