Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade said yesterday that he is depressed by the high murder rate but expressed optimism that the situation will soon change.
The murder count for 2010, which stood at 67 up to yesterday, appears on pace to hit an all time high.
Greenslade said he believes that things “will turn around” before that happens.
Of the 67 murders recorded so far this year, police say they have solved 50 – accounting for a 74 percent murder detection rate.
“Our homicide team is doing really good work,” said Greenslade during an interview with The Nassau Guardian at the British Colonial Hilton following the opening ceremony of an advocacy and training course.
“Our Bahamian people have been extremely cooperative with us as an organization. You put it all together and it delivers good results. The numbers are pretty high in terms of detection, however, I am depressed: I am very concerned. We have recorded far too many murders in this country.”
The latest murder took place in Abaco on Monday around 4:45pm, police said. According to police, Arah Brown was stabbed in the stomach at Curry Lane, Murphy Town. Police found the victim lying on his back in the driveway of a residence. He reportedly had gotten into an altercation with another man.
Guardian records show that between January and September 2009, 59 murders, were recorded.
A murder record in 2010 would be the third record in four years.
“We all must be concerned,” Greenslade said. “”There are far too many murders. And if we were reporting today a 100 percent detection rate I would not be pleased. There is a lot of work, like I say, that must be done and this is not a police-centric discussion, this is a discussion for The Bahamas. A11 of us are going to have to play an active role in fixing this.”
He added: “The reality is, we’re out there working. We have some challenges and I do believe that we’re going to turn this thing around. It will get better. You’ll see.”
Source: The Nassau Guardian
