In the first 48 hours of a new year we remain shell-shocked, angry, numb and panicked by the\u00a0frenzy of blood from which we staggered out of 2013. \u00a0These feelings are seething, snowballing\u00a0towards an ever-mounting rage.<\/p>\n
In the Advent-Christmas season, a celebration of life and peace, we witnessed a gut-churning spate\u00a0of killing and violence, a culture of life battling with a culture of death.\u00a0\u00a0It was a blood-soaked\u00a0Christmas.<\/p>\n
Why does death seem to have the upper hand, the superior strategy and the greater will to destroy\u00a0and demean life?<\/p>\n
Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade, among others, has spoken of drawing a line in the sand.\u00a0\u00a0The tide of violence continues to erase and mock lines repeatedly drawn.<\/p>\n
It is not just the number of murders recorded that is harrowing.\u00a0\u00a0It is also the types of crimes and the\u00a0galloping brazenness of criminals:\u00a0\u00a0Multiple and cavalier killings in a single incident, the robbery of\u00a0the acting prime minister, assaults on tourists and diplomatic personnel, among others.<\/p>\n
The spiral of killing continues.\u00a0\u00a0The weekend before Christmas a woman was stabbed to death and a\u00a0man gunned down.\u00a0\u00a0That weekend the police discovered the remains of a man and a woman at\u00a0Central Andros.<\/p>\n
Then came the bloodletting of Christmas week: On Monday the 23rd a web shop courier was\u00a0murdered, on Boxing Day two people were murdered and on Friday the 27th there was the carnage\u00a0in Fox Hill which left four more dead.\u00a0\u00a0Christmas week averaged to a murder a day.<\/p>\n
On Monday the 30th, following a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Perry Christie announced \u201ca\u00a0programme of action in the wake of the tragic incident at Fox Hill … \u201d\u00a0\u00a0The next day, New Year\u2019s\u00a0Eve, another murder was reported, a grim reminder of a gruesome year.\u00a0\u00a0On the first day of the new\u00a0year there are reports of at least one murder.<\/p>\n
WILLPOWER<\/strong><\/p>\n Christie indicated that the Cabinet was due to meet to discuss an announcement on the outcome of\u00a0the government\u2019s negotiations with Cable & Wireless over reclaiming a majority interest in BTC,\u00a0but switched the agenda in the aftermath of the Fox Hill killings.<\/p>\n This was something of an irony for many who feel that the prime minister has appeared to expend\u00a0more willpower, energy and determination on the BTC matter than he has demonstrated on the\u00a0crime front.<\/p>\n Many of the \u201ckey measures\u201d in the Christie administration\u2019s \u201cprogramme of action\u201d were measures\u00a0largely introduced by the FNM such as the expansion of the number of court facilities and the\u00a0appointment of new judges.\u00a0\u00a0The vaunted pseudo-panacea of Urban Renewal 2.0 was downplayed.<\/p>\n To understand the recent announcement requires a look back at a previous statement of a leader of\u00a0the opposition.<\/p>\n He stressed:<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are afraid, and they are angry: \u00a0They are afraid that the violence is going to continue to\u00a0escalate, and they are angry that the government has offered no meaningful response … He argued:<\/p>\n \u201c …. The tsunami of violence sweeping our nation was never inevitable.<\/p>\n \u201cIt tells you an important reason for the escalation of crime in The Bahamas is poor governance.<\/p>\n \u201cThis government has been paralyzed, unable to lead on this crucial issue.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd their determination to put politics first, not Bahamians, has made a terrible problem much\u00a0worse.\u201d<\/p>\n He determined:<\/p>\n \u201c… Too many criminals have no respect for our justice system — we need to remove their sense of\u00a0impunity, increase the likelihood they will not just be arrested, but prosecuted, not just prosecuted\u00a0but sentenced, not just sentenced but sentenced harshly.\u00a0\u00a0We must be clear: violence will be\u00a0punished, and justice will be swift …<\/p>\n \u201c … How can it be that people accused of one horrific crime are freed to commit more crime?\u00a0\u00a0This\u00a0violates common sense and it violates common decency.\u00a0\u00a0We must move heaven and earth to get\u00a0persons accused of murder tried within 12 months, preventing their release on bail.\u201d<\/p>\n BENCHMARK<\/strong><\/p>\n These were not the words of current Opposition Leader Dr. Hubert Minnis.\u00a0\u00a0These were the\u00a0conclusions of then Leader of the Opposition Perry Christie on August 15, 2011 in an address to the\u00a0nation on crime.<\/p>\n Towards the end of his address he urged: \u201cSo let us mark today [15 August 2011] as the day that as\u00a0a nation, we say: Enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n By his own words and benchmarks the prime minister has failed to lead in the war on crime.\u00a0\u00a0Nearly\u00a0two years into his administration, and having promised certain actions in his national crime address\u00a0of 2011, the government is announcing measures which should have been introduced at the\u00a0beginning of its term.<\/p>\n Having unnecessarily politicized crime during the 2012 election, including the gratuitous and\u00a0unseemly exercise promoted by now Deputy Prime Minister Philip \u201cBrave\u201d Davis of erecting\u00a0billboards highlighting certain crime statistics, much of the PLP\u2019s crime plan was always more\u00a0public relations than sound public policy.<\/p>\n In his 2011 crime address Christie promised:<\/p>\n \u201cWe will bring back the Swift Justice\u00a0programme, stronger than ever, to coordinate police,\u00a0prosecutors, prison administration and social services, to ensure that criminals are swiftly caught,\u00a0swiftly tried, and swiftly punished.\u201d<\/p>\n Now in the wake of the Fox Hill carnage the government is pushing key measures to help prosecute\u00a0offenders in a timelier manner, measures which it should have acted on soon after its election to\u00a0office in 2012.\u00a0In its recent announcement the administration noted:<\/p>\n \u201cThe government is deeply concerned about the number of persons who are arrested and charged\u00a0with serious crimes while out on bail.\u00a0\u00a0This is a major problem in the war against crime.\u00a0\u00a0The government is fully prepared to legislatively intervene to impose additional restrictions on the\u00a0ability of judges to grant bail in offences involving crimes of violence and the use of firearms.\u201d<\/p>\n Why wasn\u2019t this acted upon before now?\u00a0\u00a0The government now says:<\/p>\n \u201cCabinet has directed the Ministry of Works to work around the clock to complete refurbishment of\u00a0additional criminal courts so that as many as 10 criminal courts will be able to hear criminal cases\u00a0simultaneously.\u201d<\/p>\n Had this been done soon after May 2012 many of these facilities would now be up and running.\u00a0\u00a0The failure to have done so then is a direct failure of the Christie administration which must accept\u00a0full responsibility for this grave dereliction of responsibility.<\/p>\n STOP TALKING<\/strong><\/p>\n As in other matters, the Prime Minister should stop talking about what needs to be done.\u00a0\u00a0He needs\u00a0to act.\u00a0\u00a0Given his and the government\u2019s track record many will wait to see how many of these key\u00a0measures will actually be realized.<\/p>\n Further, the government now says:<\/p>\n \u201cThis massive expansion of the judicial infrastructure will enable criminal cases to be disposed of\u00a0much more quickly and efficiently which, in turn, should dramatically reduce the number of persons\u00a0released on bail while at the same time ensuring that violent offenders are kept securely behind bars\u00a0to serve their sentences once they have been speedily convicted.\u201d<\/p>\n Why did it take the bloodletting in Fox Hill for the government to act on this front?<\/p>\n Crime is complex in its causes and the responses, requiring action by many parts of society.\u00a0\u00a0As an\u00a0editorial in this journal rightly noted crime is a political issue inasmuch as it concerns matters of\u00a0public policy and governance.\u00a0\u00a0As such, political parties should debate issues of law and order.<\/p>\n But it is when either or both parties unnecessarily politicize or play games on the issue that\u00a0Bahamians get upset.\u00a0\u00a0Many become outraged when a party promises action and then repeatedly\u00a0fails to act, such as is the case with the current administration.<\/p>\n In the crime fight we don\u2019t expect magical or easy solutions from our political leaders.\u00a0\u00a0But we do\u00a0want more considered and determined action and less talk amidst what then Opposition Leader\u00a0Christie described in 2011 as a \u201ctsunami of violence\u201d, a tsunami surging still in 2014.<\/p>\n By: Simon<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the first few days of a new year we remain shell-shocked, angry, numb and panicked by the frenzy of blood from which we staggered out of 2013. These feelings are seething, snowballing towards an ever-mounting rage. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[31,142,49,226,38],"class_list":["post-45866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions","tag-crime","tag-incompetence","tag-law","tag-murder","tag-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u201c … Every shooting leaves behind a devastating legacy. \u00a0Every murder leaves behind a shattered\u00a0family, and a heartsick community, terrified they will never escape the cycle of violence.\u201d<\/p>\n