PRIME Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis.
By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
PRIME Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis said his administration is concerned about the nation’s escalating murder rate, but is hopeful that their crime fighting initiatives will start “bearing fruit” soon.
Mr Davis commented on the nation’s rising murder toll on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Great Harbour Cay airport on Friday.
He told reporters that the murder count, which was 126 for the year up to press time according to this newspaper’s records, was simply unacceptable.
“We are all concerned about the murder rate and the level of homicide in our country is unacceptable,” Mr Davis said. “We are putting in place initiatives to curb it and hopefully those initiatives will be bearing fruit in short order.”
Asked for more details on crime prevention strategies, Mr Davis outlined several initiatives implemented by his administration to stamp out gun violence.
However, he did not speak to them in depth.
“We have a disruptive plan, which I can’t go into any details of. We have a saturation patrol plan. We have a violent breakers plan and we intend to engage and just those three I will speak to right now,” he continued.
“But we do have a plan that is now being implemented to arrest the murder rate we have.”
Mr Davis also addressed instances of alleged offenders being murdered while out on bail, describing this as a major part of the problem.
This comes as court officials continue their efforts to get firearm trials completed within 21 days after arraignments.
“Part of the challenge is, unfortunately, that most of the persons who are being extinguished in our country are persons who have had brushes with the law and being allowed to be out on bail,” the prime minister also said.
“And that is the challenge. Had they not been given bail, would we have this rate? You answer that question. If that’s where the target has been — and there’s no excuse for that and I’m not excusing that because any life means a lot to me and should mean a lot to you regardless of that person’s proclivity — but we have to have an answer for the retaliatory and revengeful killings that’s happening in our society.”
There have been a series of murders recorded in the country in recent months, with fears mounting that 2022 will be a record-breaking year for murders.
The country’s highest murder count was in 2015. That year, there were 146 killings on record.
Last year, there were 119 killings recorded; 73 in 2020; 95 in 2019; 91 in 2018 and 122 in 2017.
The Free National Movement has repeatedly criticised the Davis administration’s response to crime, saying the government has no workable plan to deal with the vexing issue.
However, the Davis administration has since pushed back against this characterisation, arguing that countries worldwide are also facing similar issues.
“All we need to do is look to the south of us in the Turks and Caicos. Look to the north of us in the US, look at Jamaica, in Trinidad. Look, in every country it’s a phenomenon that the world is facing,” National Security Minister Wayne Munroe said last month.
Comments
moncurcool 1 year, 11 months ago
Maybe we need to put up some billboards in Nassau showcasing the murder rate under Davis. That maybe could help.
Just tired of these bozo the clown politicians making crime a political issue and speaking as if they trained to deal with the issue.
Sickened 1 year, 11 months ago
Is Davis back in town? Finally.
hrysippus 1 year, 11 months ago
It seems feasible that the country will achieve horrifying 130 + murders this year, the 49th year as an independent country able to determine its own destiny. This unwelcome achievement will almost certainly cause The Bahamas to advance in the World rankings of most murderous countries in which to live, when measured on a "per capita" basis. We were the ninth highest in the World and we will advance to 7th highest. Many people have lost faith in both the Judiciary system to function effectively and the top-heavy police force to be able to effectively combat crime. Obviously, the elected officials have no credible plan to deal with the problem and they are much too busy flying off to foreign countries in any case.
bahamianson 1 year, 11 months ago
Wow, same old story while all the politicians are partying like rockstars, doing their own deals to enrich themselves, family and lovers . They fly through the clouds while we drive through the potholes. They are treated differently, and it is not right. I am going to be a politician because that's the only way to get by on this island.
ExposedU2C 1 year, 11 months ago
A pitiful effort by Davis to distract and deflect from the SBF/FTX and Baha Mar debacles that now weigh heavily on the legitimacy of the PLP as a political party and the corrupt government Davis leads as a puppet at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party as his master puppeteers.
themessenger 1 year, 11 months ago
I asked my son what his plans were when he had completed his education, he said he was considering a career in organized crime. I said he should reconsider as the Government doesn't like competition.
SP 1 year, 11 months ago
WTF? Davis talking pure steaming bullshyt for consumption of ignorant followers again!
Man please STFU and stop insulting our intelligence!
In a nutshell, the TRUTH is...the PLP and FNM totally failed to academically and vocationally educate and train the masses, then added insult to injury by giving 30,000 low-skilled blue-collar jobs to Asians and Latinos which forced tens of thousands of under-educated Bahamians to turn to crime for survival! Hence the resultant crime wave.
The proof is undeniably in the statistics. Successive PLP and FNM leadership have totally F_A_I_L_D the Bahamian people and are 100% responsible for the current crime wave!
The Bahamas is ranked #1 for serious crimes GLOBALLY!
Data Source: World Bank - Similar Country Crime Rankings
Country Name Per 100K Population
Bahamas 33.46 Trinidad and Tobago 29.73 St. Martin (French part) 22.21 Puerto Rico 20.38 Seychelles 16.98 Panama 15.48 Barbados 8.78 Cayman Islands 8.22 Uruguay 7.88 Argentina 7.57 Greenland 7.09 Bermuda 6.25 Turks and Caicos Islands 5.65 Lithuania 5.35 United States 4.44 Isle of Man 3.59 Latvia 3.17 Estonia 3.11 Liechtenstein 2.69 Chile 2.47 Aruba 1.93 Finland 1.61 Hungary 1.49 Canada 1.46 Malta 1.39 Israel 1.38 Denmark 1.31 France 1.23 Slovak Republic 1.20 Australia 1.03 Greece 1.00 Cyprus 0.95 New Zealand 0.94 United Kingdom 0.90 Sweden 0.90 Germany 0.88 Croatia 0.85 Italy 0.79 Slovenia 0.77 Czech Republic 0.76 Poland 0.75 South Korea 0.74 Netherlands 0.73 Luxembourg 0.72 Spain 0.69 UAE 0.66 Bahrain 0.60 Norway 0.56 Austria 0.52 Switzerland 0.50 Hong Kong 0.38 Qatar 0.37 Japan 0.31 Iceland 0.30 Oman 0.30 Singapore 0.25 Macao 0.17 Andorra 0.00
Davis talking 100% bullshyt for idiots.
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