The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE


Tribune Staff Reporter


lrolle@tribunemedia.net 

AS looting and theft concerns persist in Abaco, Royal Bahamas Defence Force Commodore Raymond King said officials have beefed up security on the island, adding residents there can expect to see a “drastic turnaround”.

His comments comes as the armed forces in Abaco continue to faces criticism from residents, who have been calling for more officers to be deployed to the island to tackle the crime issues.

Residents there have noted incidents of theft and housebreaking to be an almost daily occurrence for the island and its surrounding cays. 

Speaking to reporters at the RBDF Coral Harbour Base on Friday, the commodore was adamant that both the RBPF and RBDF are very serious about security on the island. 

He said both agencies have beefed up manpower on the island and have adjusted strategies accordingly.

He added: “The strategy has changed other than we’re working more jointly, more coordinated in a cooperative manner to do what we need to do and the strategies have changed. I’ve gotten the nightly reports. The numbers have increased and when I speak about the jointness and working jointly - it has to do with sharing the resources.

“I’ll give you an example, you may have one entity deficient in terms of vehicles but if the Defence Force has operating vehicles, we’ll just share the resources so the fear of crime could decline and our presence can be felt.”

He continued: “And they have done tremendous work over the last week.

He added; “What may have been considered something of little or normative value let’s say pre-Dorian, it has significant value now. That is where we appreciate the stakeholders’ concerns even though the numbers may have declined. But it is the items that are being stolen and that raises concern but we’re working very closely with the RBPF.

“We’re sharing our resources. We’re working jointly and the public will see a drastic turnaround. The boots are on the ground and the presence is being felt.”

Last week, National Security Minister Marvin Dames, Police Commissioner Paul Rolle and Commodore King travelled to Abaco to address concerns by islanders in regards to crime and other issues.

The visit came after Commissioner Rolle told a local daily that crime on Abaco had decreased by 39 percent compared with last year’s statistics.

The statement sparked much criticism from the Abaco residents, who branded the statistics “false”, “misleading” and not an actual representation of what’s happening on the ground.

However, Mr Dames has since defended the police crime statistics for Abaco, insisting the crime decline cited by Police Commissioner Paul Rolle “is quite correct”.

Still, he said officials had been revising its strategies to ensure that the residents on the island feel safe.

But some residents say nothing has changed, with thefts and housebreaking incidents still occurring regularly. 

“They’re saying they’re trying all these new strategies and in upcoming weeks, but . . . every night for the past two weeks something has happened in regard to something being stolen or something being broken into and they’re just sitting back,” said one resident, who wanted remain anonymous.

According to Commodore King, there are some 50 Defence Force officers currently working on Abaco.  He said the police force have also increased their numbers. 

 “Our numbers would’ve increased on the reassignment of personnel who are currently assigned in Abaco,” the commodore said.

“I think the number of persons we have may be 47 persons, but this is how our numbers will increase.

“Post Dorian, we had persons spread throughout central, north and south Abaco but the role and functions that they’ve performed at that time was humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and really dealing with a lot and assisting with a lot of food supplies distribution.

“That has since stopped so those persons would be re-assigned as more police move in to those areas. In terms of the Defense Force, we move those persons centrally and they will assist directly addressing the issues that the public have.”