{"id":46727,"date":"2014-01-16T10:01:50","date_gmt":"2014-01-16T15:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/target\/perry-christies-disastrous-leadership-on-crime-2"},"modified":"2014-01-17T10:24:26","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T15:24:26","slug":"perry-christies-disastrous-leadership-on-crime-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2014\/01\/perry-christies-disastrous-leadership-on-crime-2","title":{"rendered":"Perry Christie\u2019s Disastrous Leadership on Crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

Firepower battled with fireworks to ring in New Year\u2019s with a combustible combination of bloodletting and\u00a0retaliation premixed last year erupting with undiminished frenzy in the new year.<\/p>\n

January is considered \u201cthe door to the year\u201d taking its name from Janus, in Roman mythology, \u201cthe god of\u00a0the doorway\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What then Opposition Leader Perry Christie described in 2011 as \u201cthe tsunami of violence\u201d\u00a0surged through the doorway of the new year threatening another bloody 12 months.<\/p>\n

This is not only New Providence, 2014.\u00a0\u00a0It was also the City of Chicago, January 2013 as reported by\u00a0Associated Press:<\/div>\n
\u201cThe year did not start promisingly, with more than 40 homicides recorded in January, including that of 15-year-old honor student Hadiya Pendleton, who was gunned down a mile from President Barack Obama’s\u00a0South Side home \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201c … The city, which ended the year with a 16 percent drop in crime, saw the numbers of violent crimes,\u00a0including robbery, aggravated battery and criminal sexual assault drop significantly \u2014 some by double\u00a0digits\u2014 as well as drops in burglary and motor vehicle theft.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
AP\u00a0also reported:
\n\u201cChicago\u2019s Police Department said Wednesday that after leading the nation in homicides in 2012, recording\u00a0more than 500, the city last year listed the lowest number of killings since 1965, and saw its overall crime\u00a0rate fall to a level not seen since 1972 \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cBy the end of 2013, the city had recorded 415 homicides, 88 fewer than in 2012 and 20 fewer than in\u00a02011.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
AP further reported:
\n\u201cIn Chicago, the police also said the number of shootings fell 24 percent from 2,448 to 1,864 between 2012\u00a0and 2013, and the number of shooting victims dropped from 3,066 to 2,328 for the same period.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cFurther, the department said every police district in the city saw a reduction in crime and all but four of the\u00a0city’s 22 police districts saw the number of homicides either fall or remain the same as the year before.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
VARIABLES<\/strong>
\nWhat a difference a year can make.\u00a0\u00a0Still, in battling crime, one must be careful in extrapolating from one\u00a0jurisdiction to the next given the variables and differences between various contexts.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Yet there are comparisons and analogies between what may be needed in The Bahamas and what appears to\u00a0be working to reduce criminal violence and murder in Chicago, other locales in the US and in some\u00a0Caribbean states.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Christie alluded to this in a 2011 national crime address he made as Leader of the Opposition.\u00a0\u00a0He queried:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cDid you know that in Jamaica murders are down 40% — ours are up 58% nationwide and 69% for New\u00a0Providence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt tells you that the tsunami of violence sweeping our nation was never inevitable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt tells you an important reason for the escalation of crime in The Bahamas is poor governance.<\/div>\n
\n\u201cThis government has been paralyzed, unable to lead on this crucial issue.\u201d<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Essentially, Christie stressed that effective and competent leadership is critical in fighting crime.<\/div>\n
\nAP\u00a0reported what Chicago officials believe contributed to the significant double-digit decline in various\u00a0violent crimes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u201c \u2018We are making significant progress by putting additional officers in high-crime areas, using intelligence\u00a0to prevent retaliatory shootings, moving officers from administrative positions back to the streets,\u2019\u00a0Police\u00a0Superintendent Garry McCarthy said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe department and other city officials have pointed out that the drop in homicides, shootings and other\u00a0violent crimes coincides with changes in police strategies, including tactics targeting violent street gangs that\u00a0are responsible for the vast majority of the city’s gun crimes and, significantly, about $100 million in\u00a0overtime pay for hundreds of officers deployed nightly to high crime areas \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cMayor Rahm Emanuel has said that besides putting more officers on the street, various programs for young\u00a0people have played a role in bringing the numbers of violent crime down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cAt a recent news conference, for example, the mayor said that a record 20,000 young people were involved\u00a0in the city’s summer jobs program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201c \u2018Not one of those kids was affected by gun violence this summer, and I don’t believe for a minute that if\u00a0they didn’t have jobs they would be safe,\u2019 he said.\u201d<\/div>\n
\nWhile there are many components to addressing the causes and the responses to crime, the state has a central\u00a0role.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
RHETORIC<\/strong>
\nThe government has failed on several fronts, with much of the failure that of the prime minister, who\u00a0continues to pass the buck, throwing words and rhetoric at the cycle of violence, instead of mustering\u00a0common sense and workable responses.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Last weekend Christie made this offensive statement, offensive to Bahamians in general and dismissive of\u00a0the Commissioner of Police and his senior officers:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI said to the Minister of National Security, I\u2019m not prepared to have my own legacy, my own reputation, be\u00a0tied to a total reliance on the Royal Bahamas Police Force and to the leadership of that force.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cMy own legacy, my own reputation\u201d? Innocent people are being killed, the criminals seem large-and-in-charge, people are terrified and distraught, and Christie is worrying about his legacy? What a stunningly\u00a0self-absorbed, imperious and arrogant statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Having failed to adhere to benchmarks and promises made in his 2011 crime address, Christie again\u00a0demonstrated that he is a pass-the-buck leader.\u00a0\u00a0Recall those Bahamians still waiting for mortgage relief and\u00a0Christie blaming others for his failure to act.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Notice that Christie did not generally criticize Commissioner Greenslade or his senior command when he\u00a0was in Opposition.\u00a0\u00a0Back then it was all or mostly the fault of then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and his\u00a0National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest.<\/div>\n
\nNow, \u201cas prime minister\u201d, nearly two years in office, it is the police who are seemingly mostly at fault.\u00a0\u00a0Is\u00a0this prime minister prepared to be held responsible for anything, ever, including a wasteland of promises he\u00a0has never fulfilled?<\/div>\n
\nThe same bluster, over-promising, incompetence, poor leadership and blah, blah, blah nonsense that\u00a0characterizes Christie\u2019s leadership in other areas is now adversely affecting the crime fight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
STINGING<\/strong>
\nThe very public and stinging criticism of the police by the head of government is a serious affair in terms of\u00a0governance and public confidence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage also publicly slapped down the Commissioner, who\u00a0criticized the civilian leadership after the robbery of Acting Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Nottage\u00a0recently cooed the Commissioner\u2019s praises in contrast to Christie\u2019s rebuke.<\/div>\n
\nDifferences and disagreements between the civilian and police leadership should be settled privately.\u00a0\u00a0The\u00a0public feud between these leaderships has escalated, with the prime minster openly undermining the\u00a0Commissioner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
With these criticisms the course of action is clear.\u00a0\u00a0Either the Commissioner should voluntarily resign or he\u00a0should be dismissed if the prime minister no longer maintains confidence in him, which is a clear conclusion\u00a0of Christie\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
As an aside, the poor state of leadership on crime was dramatized in the robbery of the acting prime minister.\u00a0\u00a0Imagine had there been an urgent matter or a national emergency as Davis was being robbed?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Neither the Commissioner of Police, the Commander of the Defence Force nor cabinet ministers, the\u00a0Cabinet Secretary or our ambassadors overseas would have been able to reach the acting prime minister.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Oddly, Christie also noted last weekend:
\n\u201cTo the extent that I am leader of the country, I am going to be intrusive in ensuring that the system that we\u00a0are operating under is accountable to the people of this country … \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
What the devil does he mean, \u201cto the extent that I am leader\u201d?\u00a0\u00a0Every chance he gets he reminds the country\u00a0that he\u2019s prime minister.\u00a0\u00a0And, what does he mean that he will be \u201cintrusive\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The term for all of this is\u00a0called doing your job!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But he has been so lackluster, ineffective and unconvincing on the crime front that he is now ducking\u00a0responsibility and telling us that he will now do his job, which, given past performance, is highly unlikely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
So there was Christie again last week with the same overwrought, barely intelligible and hyperbolic bluster\u00a0that few take seriously:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIf I have to put a policeman and a police car on every corner, as they do in some countries, we are going to\u00a0communicate to the criminals in this country that we are going to rout them out wherever they are.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Never mind that it may only be North Korea that has police on every corner, there is action the prime\u00a0minister can take.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Instead of a self-serving photo-op to visit Pope Francis, Christie might have traveled to Chicago to consult\u00a0with Mayor Emanuel to see firsthand what is working in terms of effective policing; intelligence gathering,\u00a0especially before retaliatory killings; more effective action against gangs and immediate and longer-term\u00a0social intervention strategies.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Christie\u2019s blame-game on crime has been shattered, most especially by the carnage in Fox Hill.\u00a0\u00a0He can no\u00a0longer blame Ingraham, Turnquest or Greenslade.<\/div>\n

By: Simon<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While in opposition, Perry Christie blamed crime on poor governance… what’s his reasoning now?<\/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":[93,31,40,142,60,38],"class_list":["post-46727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions","tag-corruption","tag-crime","tag-government","tag-incompetence","tag-plp","tag-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46727","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=46727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46727\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}