BARELY had our recent Royal visitors departed the country, having brought the international spotlight our way, than Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis turned the media spotlight onto an old problem – crime.
Mr Davis held an “urgent” conclave on Sunday to address the sharp increase in murders this year. Previously, Acting Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander had said a number of murders have been part of a “tit-for-tat” situation between gang members and that a turf war for drugs was underway in the country.
The Prime Minister, while saying there are no “quick fixes”, said that he would have more to say in the coming days, and that immediate measures were able to be identified that would help to reduce levels of crime.
None of those measures, it would seem, have been put in place so far and we await to hear what actions Mr Davis will take.
Among those present at the conclave was the leader of the Free National Movement, Michael Pintard, who offered his party’s suggestions for tackling crime.
Yesterday, however, he cast doubt on the Davis administration’s plans, saying that the government should already have been prepared to present immediate, short-term and long-term goals for crime fighting.
Mr Pintard said: “When you have an upsurge in crime one of the things that’s critical is what are your next steps over the course of the next seven days, 14 days, 30 days, etc, and so I think that is something that is expected of any administration that this is what the discussion entails.”
He has a point. We are still not so far into the Davis administration – it was only in September that the PLP won office. By now, we should still be implementing their proposals from the campaign trail rather than calling a conclave for ideas and discussion. Essentially, we haven’t really seen Plan A yet, so put that in place to start with.
The party had a “Blueprint For Change” ahead of the election, although it was rather light on crime policies, talking of being committed to “enhancing crime fighting methodologies in our aggressive war against crime” without offering specifics, and introducing “research-based analysis and policies on countering anti-social behaviour, violence and crime”. It also talked of dealing with increased crime in Abaco by implementing “proven, effective crime management measures”.
And that was about it. Still, perhaps the first step would be explaining what these enhancements would be and what has been done to introduce such analysis and policies.
If not, then have we arrived at this moment with a spike in murders and an urgent meeting because we do not really have a plan?
Credit to the Prime Minister for responding – and including the Opposition in the discussion at the conclave. But crime has been a spectre haunting The Bahamas for many years now and Mr Davis is very familiar with rising crime levels from his own time in office previously. Rushed policies and laws are generally bad policies and laws that fail to stand up to the test of time. That’s the last thing we want.
We should be thinking strategically and coherently – not just for next week, but for next month, next year – and the next generation. The policies any government implements needs to find ways to keep young people out of a life of crime, not just deal with those already involved.
So we look forward to hearing from Mr Davis about his next steps. And soon.
Comments
birdiestrachan 2 years, 7 months ago
Who can change the hearts and minds of people? It is very difficult.. There is also what kind of environment a person comes out of were they loved and taught right from wrong .
Prevention is also better. It is a difficult situation what is in a human being that would cost them to kill.?
It is a serious Bahamian problem it is not PLP or FNM it goes deeper, the roots of crime grow very deep.
ThisIsOurs 2 years, 7 months ago
They just announced that we'd get 900 more policemen. My question was for what? Not that another 900 policemen was a bad thing but what strategically did we need another 900 policemen for?
To answer the phone? To drive around more cars for a physical presence? What skills would these policemen have to possess? Would "intelligence" figure anywhere in the mix? Do we need more trained lawyers, more trained investigators, more trained technologist, more security monitors etc etc. What deficiencies were we trying to fix strategically and what modern policing skills were we trying to bring on board.
When I heard the commissioner mention a crime plan the details of which he couldn't reveal, "once again", I knew it was another failed strategy. None of what was listed above is a national secret you have given away nothing to criminals but with that type of thinking you've at least demonstrated that you are thinking strategically and not just doing the same old more bodies ill fitted to carry out the work of a modern police force.
It's the intelligence that's failing us. And the more years we go down the hire high school dropouts route the harder the solution gets. I have little hope for the organization because every 5 years we promote more unqualified people to the senior ranks and someone who the new PM likes gets to be commissioner.
In 8 months traffic violations should have been reduced, they haven't. Standing in the street for hours manually checking tags is Fred Flinstone policing. That's about all we need to know about the new crime plan.
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