“PM: Murder count would have been higher were it not for initiatives put in place” – The Nassau Guardian

 

Excerpt from this article; “Prime Minister Philip Davis said yesterday that had it not been for initiatives Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander put in place, the murder situation would have been worse.

 Acting Commissioner of Police Leamond Deleveaux, meanwhile, said The Bahamas is not experiencing a crime crisis.

Murders are up 18 percent this year over last year.

Police reported two murders on Sunday and another on Tuesday, bringing the murder count to 104 so far this year.

Last year, 115 murders were recorded.

Despite experiencing a triple digit murder count for yet another year, Deleveaux said, “We do not have a crime crisis. We are doing a lot.”

The prime minister told The Nassau Guardian he is “totally” concerned about the crime situation.

“Plans are in place to address the issues,” he said.

“You will find that saturation patrol is out there. We think that the numbers might have been much more had the initiatives that the new commissioner of police [put in place not been put in place]. If you go out there and you see it; there is a lot of disruptions that have been occurring over the last couple of months.

“In fact, you would have heard cries about the disruptive nature of the police and cries of civil liberties being trampled upon, which we don’t think it is, but those are some of the things that are being said, but I think they’re the disruptive interventions by police over the weekends [that] have been working.”

The highest number of murders recorded in a single year in The Bahamas was 146 in 2015.

Although 22 murders were recorded in March 2022 — one of the highest ever recorded in any month — Deleveaux said he does not believe that this will be a record year for murders.”

So exactly what is the New day government trying to suggest here? That the public should not be concerned that the murder rate is at sucn a high level ?

Are they also trying to suggest that if it had not been for the crime initiatives implemented by the New Day Government that the numbers would be even higher?  This is not something to boast about because it only speaks to the failures of the New Day government to mitigate serious crime levels in the country and its inability to keep its citizens safe.  The most reasonable amongst us would look at this silly statement by a prime minister that seems to be “high on his own supply/product” and ask the question; exactly what initiatives were put in place by this New Day government to bring serious crime under control?

I see mention of “saturation patrols”, and I asked didn’t the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) try these when the Perry Christie first became prime minister?  You all remember when the Ministry of National Security (MONS) had the police working 24 hour shifts, refused to pay them and the Police Staff Association (PSA) had to take the MONS to court to sue for payment and won.  Then Keith Bell, a junior minister in the MONS at the time appealed the ruling and lost and had to end up paying the police for services rendered?

I bring this up to merely point out the fact that we have seen this play before.

From what I have seen to date, the only “crime initiative” that the New day government has out in place has been the hiring of Rodney Moncur to the Ministry of National Security (MONS) as a “crime disruptor”.  Is the prime minister suggesting that if it were not for Moncur, that the murder count would have been much higher?

What I see is what the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) did in opposition during their campaign; create a “problem” and then solve it.  Today, there is the intimation that things could have been much, much worst and by solving it by suggesting that they are not because of the initiatives put place by the New Day government. “Murder could have been higher were it not for initiatives put in place”.

If they had not hired Rodney Moncur, because beyond that they have done nothing else to mitigate the proliferation of serious crimes like murder.

Progressive Liberal Party fails for one reason, it is their nature.

END