The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Commissioner Clayton Fernander’s policing plan, which was tabled in Parliament yesterday, outlines six key priorities that aim to upset crime trends and tackle gun violence in the country this year.

These include a zero-tolerance approach to minor and major crimes; revolutionising community policing; restructuring the force’s internal processes; strengthening partnerships with law enforcement counterparts to expand policing and developing a more proactive approach to youth and gang violence and optimising technology in crime prevention and police operations.

“These areas of priority will direct the force in 2023,” Commissioner Fernander wrote.

“The dynamic parts of our aggressive youth initiatives are geared towards youth empowerment and critical thinking to make good life choices that contribute to a civil society. As a result of these programmes, we expect a major reduction in youth demographics for serious crime within ensuing years while creating safer communities in the process.”

The commissioner’s plan also notes objectives for each priority, starting with plans for revolutionising community policing.

The plan states that the goal is to amplify police presence throughout The Bahamas through community walkabouts; engage community members and funnel intelligence gathered through community led initiatives among others.

Additionally, the police force plans to take a zero-tolerance approach to minor and major crimes by increasing concentrated saturation patrols in hotspot communities, expanding Operation Ceasefire and targeting prolific criminals, drug peddlers, repeat offenders and establishing a monitoring unit to monitor suspects being electronically monitored.

As it relates to internal restructuring, the plan says the objective is to hire a minimum of two squads each year to offset attritional manpower losses and re-establish the inspection and review branch to ensure that all areas within the force are compliant with the force’s policies and procedures.

The commissioner’s policing plan adds that the force will expand several of its youth focused policing programmes, including its police cadet programme, Just Adolescent Mentorship Movement (JAMM) and Second Chance programme and others.

To optimise technology in crime prevention and police operations, the 2023 policing plan further states it will expand the use of CCTV to include Grand Bahama, Abaco and Bimini and use social media platforms to reinforce and disseminate crime prevention literature.

Some of these initiatives were foreshadowed by the police chief earlier this year when he unveiled the crime statistics for 2022.

The latest crime data revealed increases in several crime categories when compared to the year before, including murders, armed robberies and sex crimes.

However, Commissioner Fernander has repeatedly pledged the RPBF plans to take policing to “another level” this year. This comes as serious crimes continue to trend upwards in the country, particularly homicides.