Mr. Rood was quoted in the St. Petersburg Times on Monday in a story under the headline “In The Bahamas, Rapes Often Go Unnoticed.”
The paper reports that there were 26 rapes reported by U.S. female tourists in the past three years.
It also says that there is no clear-cut process on obtaining information on such matters in The Bahamas.
The story says Mr. Rood is concerned that unsupervised teenagers visiting Nassau feel a little too comfortable.
“There is a vacation mentality that takes over people that come to the islands,” Mr. Rood said. “Bahamians are wonderful people, very friendly. But tourists let their guards down.”
The paper said like Natalee Hollaway – the Alabama teen who went missing in Aruba on a graduation trip in June – teens flock to Nassau during spring break and in June, after graduation.
It said Mr. Rood indicated that it’s no coincidence that rapes spike during that time.
The U.S. ambassador has reportedly been briefed about cases of women climbing into unlicensed cabs and getting raped by the drivers; tourists raping tourists; and personal watercraft operators taking girls to secluded islands and assaulting them.
“If we don’t hear about a case from the police, or if we don’t hear from the victim, we may not ever know about it,” he was quoted as saying.
The Times also says when the U.S. ambassador took over, he was shocked to find that the embassy wasn’t automatically notified when a U.S. tourist was the victim of a crime because it is always notified when a tourist is a perpetrator of a crime.
Mr. Rood has reportedly asked Bahamian authorities to notify his office every time they receive a call from a tourist reporting a rape.
“Not only have the authorities complied with his request, but detectives on the local police force have jumped at the chance to receive DNA evidence training from the FBI agent stationed in Nassau,” the story said.
From: The Bahama Journal
