The Tribune

“If there is only one person injured from a shot or weapon, that is too much.”

So said Police Commissioner Anthony Ferguson as he spoke yesterday about the level of crime in the nation – and he’s quite right.

Thankfully, he had good news to report – even if we can still do better.

Crime in the first half of the year is down by 17 percent compared to last year – including murders down from 54 to 45 over the same period as last year.

That’s welcome, of course, but it still doesn’t feel like the tide has turned.

Incidents such as the mass shooting at a party in Montel Heights last month that saw 14 people injured, including a child as young as ten, stoke fears within the community.

Commissioner Ferguson acknowledged there remain concerns about the number of people injured in shootings, saying the figures for non-fatal shootings are “not where we want them to be”. Notably, while he presented crime figures for a number of categories of crime that have fallen, he did not provide the figures for non-fatal shootings.

But we should be comforted that progress is being made. We should also be comforted that the commissioner is putting the focus where it needs to be – by trying to tackle the number of guns on the street.

“There are far too many guns on the street,” he said. He’s right.

Encouragingly, part of the crime rate drop is down to increased cooperation between police and the public – with people providing information helping the bid to crack down on crime.

There remains a long way to go. We have yet to see how much the new Shotspotter technology will affect crime – and we continue to hope that body cameras for officers and increased use of CCTV can also help police in their fight. More camera footage can play a part in the court process – and perhaps ensure some criminals who walk free are behind bars where they should be thanks to such technology.

Beyond that, we need to do more than just respond to crime, we need to tackle the issues that cause it.

We know that unemployment is high – and the cost of living too. Too many people trapped in joblessness for prolonged periods of time get drawn into crime to make ends meet.

Even reaching out to offer pathways back into work can be too late – we need to reach those who might become criminals as early as possible. Many come from difficult family backgrounds. There are many single parents who do a great job raising their children, but there are others who struggle in a difficult environment and that can be a challenge. Extra ways of providing support for those who need it – through social services, through churches, through community networks – can be a lifeline in difficult times. It can offer to those families what the nation itself needs: Hope.

We long for the day when that fear of crime has diminished so that we no longer huddle in our homes, wary of going out after dark. That day does not feel like it is here yet – not when incidents such as the Montel Heights shooting still happen.

So we praise the police for the work done on our streets, but we yearn for more – as we hope the day will come when we can all reclaim those streets.

What can you do to help?

Molly Greene was a remarkable woman. The American woman was on holiday in Abaco this week when a rip current caught her as she was swimming and she drowned.

The tributes have been overwhelming – for this was a woman whose life touched so many.

She was the co-founder of Water Mission, a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing clean water in developing countries and after disasters.

Her mission sprang from a simple question – she asked what she could do to help after Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras. The answer was a request for six water treatment systems. She knew nothing about such systems, but with her husband George, they figured it out. And from there they set out with a goal of providing clean water to 100 million people within a decade.

So as her family and friends mourn her, perhaps her legacy should be this – no matter who you are, no matter what you know or don’t know, you too can make a difference if you ask just one question: What can I do to help?

Ask it today, and let that be your tribute to Mrs Greene.