The Tribune

IN what is surely the deadliest start to any year, another two murders yesterday brought the total – at the time of writing – to 14 murders for the year. All in just 17 days.

There is some mixed messaging from the government on the issue. Right after Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis holds a national address and calls for a national day of prayer – a request duly honoured – the Minister of National Security pipes up to say that crime was down at the end of the year by a fifth anyway.

The numbers, whatever they are, are the numbers. We cannot ignore the crime statistics for last year just as we cannot ignore the number of murders so far this year.

But it does beg the question of how focused this latest push against crime is and whether all parties are really on board with it.

Certainly, the criminals are not – little surprise, there. The Prime Minister’s speech has certainly been ignored by those who committed three murders in 24 hours starting with an incident in Abaco on Tuesday night.

Mr Davis himself started off his speech saying he had hoped to be talking about other things until the wave of murders took place.

So it is perhaps little surprise that the package of anti-crime measures revealed this week looks in large part like a bunch of things pulled together that were already happening.

Talk of care needing to be taken in drafting anti-gang legislation suggests that is not close to being brought to consultation, let alone Parliament.

Mention of more resources for Urban Renewal and school policing units would certainly be welcome, but is the kind of statement that we’ve heard before, and without a dollar amount attached, it is hard to gauge what impact any such proposal might have. Indeed, with the deficit soaring in the figures for the year so far to the extent that it is nearing the full-year target, how much room is there for investment in such endeavours anyway?

Until we hear how much is being put towards those initiatives – and also towards overtime for officers on the extra saturation patrols and roadblocks – we cannot say how much “extra” this really is.

In the middle of this, the FNM deciding to pick a fight over the words of the Police Commissioner relating to an incident outside their headquarters seems to be missing the larger picture.

The FNM might be best served offering its own concrete solutions for how to deal with crime rather than descending into partisan arguments.

We should all be trying to play a part in reducing crime. We should all be hoping for the authorities to be successful in addressing this deadly situation.

Hearing the words of the police officers on the scene of these repeated incidents is heartbreaking. You can hear in the voices of the officers the frustration and pain at having to deal with these situations over and over. You can hear the earnestness in the call for people to come forward with information over guns and possible shootings and drugs the desire to avoid these murders from happening in the first place.

The question is, is what we are doing enough? And can we do more? That is what we need to strive towards.

A curious situation has emerged over a recent incident.

A child was bitten by a shark during a shark tank experience on Paradise Island. However, it has not been revealed where the resort was where it took place.

Atlantis has such experiences, but has remained silent on the issue. Authorities have been coy in naming the resort where the boy was bitten.

If there is another resort on Paradise Island offering such experiences, we do not know which has such facilities. If it is Atlantis, we cannot change the fact of where it took place. If it is not Atlantis, then speculation internationally has named Atlantis as hosting such experiences and they should not be caught up in such if it is not them.

That said, this is not the first time The Tribune has made queries about incidents at Atlantis – such as one at a nightclub that left a man with an almost severed leg – and found difficulty in getting straight answers as to what happened and when.

Credit then to Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, who said that an Atlantis guest was involved and that the resort would be making a statement - although a resort spokesman cast doubt on the prospect of such a comment.

This is not a matter of blame – that would be for any legal proceedings afterwards – but simply recording what took place. That should be a simple matter of the public record, nothing less.