By JADE RUSSELL
Tribune Staff Reporter
jrussell@tribunemedia.net
THE Davis administration said it would increase pay and benefits to legal officers to attract and retain top talent and hire more prosecutors to manage the demands of the justice system –– two of many steps it hopes will help reduce crime after 2024 began with eleven murders in two weeks.
However, Free National Movement chairman Dr Duane Sands dismissed the administration’s much-touted crime plan, released yesterday, as a “glossy brochure” with vague details and recycled information.
The administration said its plan is based on a five-pillar strategy of prevention, policing, prosecution, punishment and rehabilitation.
“While a slick and glossy product with beautiful graphics, it was short on granular details,” Dr Sands said. “In all, given the severity of the problem being faced in the country, a glossy brochure as the basis of the way forward confirms that this is more about PR than governance.”
Dr Sands said the government’s crime plan seemed like an expansion of its Blueprint for Change pre-election manifesto.
“We are in crisis,” he said. “This document is not comprehensive. It is not fleshed out. It was a hastily crafted media piece to make good on the promise made during the PM’s lacklustre address. And it is not worth the glossy paper that it is printed on.”
Much of what is in the plan was previously announced by Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis or highlighted by other national security officials.
According to the document, the Davis administration will seek to prevent at-risk youth from being involved and affiliated with gangs by providing scholarships to at-risk youth for the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI).
The plan said saturation patrols would be expanded, and facial recognition CCTVs would be introduced.
New sentencing guidelines will be introduced to “reflect current societal norms and legal priorities,” the document says.
More public defenders also will be hired “to ensure equitable legal representation for all individuals regardless of economic status,” and more pathologists will be hired to reduce delays in forensic examinations and autopsy reports, “which are crucial for criminal investigations and legal proceedings.”
Laws will impose “severe penalties for gang affiliation and activities,” and penalties for firearm possession will be reviewed.
Cognitive behavioural therapy will be expanded to help rehabilitate convicts, and private sector partnerships will be sought to provide jobs for ex-offenders, according to the plan.
Comments
birdiestrachan 11 months, 2 weeks ago
The fnm can release their crime plan if they have one instead of looking for brownie points and taking victory laps when murders occurs
SP 11 months, 2 weeks ago
PLP and FNM multi-decades of dismal failure in education, immigration, unemployment, and disproportionate economic to population growth, have finally come home full circle to roost. They are now reaping what they sowed!
No magic crime plan in the world can undo 5 decades of greed, stupidity, and bypartisan systemic corruption.
The usual soapbox political press statements no longer work because talking bullshyt and living true reality in our country is like oil and water.
The can has been kicked to the end of the road!
birdiestrachan 11 months, 2 weeks ago
If they Fnm party has a problem with the PLP plan then put forward their plan . If they have one
SP 11 months, 2 weeks ago
The PLP and FNM are 100% responsible for the sad state of our country!
They are to be held fully accountable for creating the dire unemployment situation today greatly contributing to the present crime dilemma, by giving work permits to tens of thousands of foreign blue collar workers now occupying menial jobs that should have been reserved for Bahamians. This failed policy forced at risk Bahamians to "hustle" the streets for survival resulting in the present crime wave as people have to literally "fight" for survival.
The alarmingly huge response to job fairs for minimum salary pointless positions is ample evidence that Bahamians are suffering.
PLP and FNM arrogant shortsightedness regardless of decades of warnings from various sectors that what we now face would be inevitable, now rest squarely on their shoulders!
sheeprunner12 11 months, 2 weeks ago
Will the New Day PLP government HANG murderers??????
Or change the Government legal policies that allow the Privy Council to obstruct our constitutional laws?????? Like institute real swift justice for capital punishment cases??? And get rid of this "worst of the worst" facade????????
Our criminal-friendly government will probably not do that .......... so, murder rates will not decrease.
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