The Bahamas is a society under chaos, but the problems facing the country are not insurmountable.
This pronouncement was made by Police Superintendent Marvin Dames on Wednesday night at a forum at Mount Nebo Baptist Church on Marshall Road, South Beach.
“Certainly, I would be remiss if I failed to say that we are a society under chaos. But the chaos is not so bad that we cannot fix it,” he said.
Mr. Dames said that the country’s ability to fix the problem depends on people’s acceptance that a problem exists.
Superintendent Dames who heads the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, said that chaos exists on a personal level, in family life and even in the church. He added that this chaos spreads to the greater society.
In order to deal with chaos, the origin of it must be examined and this starts in the home, he said.
“If you have an individual who is messed up and he has a family invariably he will contribute to a messed up family,” the Superintendent said.
He added that the “messed up” family contributes to a “messed up” neighbourhood and the problem continues to fester itself.
Superintendent Dames remarked that the majority of homicides occurring in The Bahamas are domestic in nature.
“The vast majority of murders are domestic related so what you are finding is that people are being killed by someone they know,” he said.
Mr. Dames also referred to the number of sexual offences that are occurring in the country.
“When we look at what is taking place in some of the homes throughout this country, fathers molesting daughters, in some cases sons are the victims of the sexual offences. It’s a serious problem,” he said.
He stressed that these things will not go away but Bahamians must work together to solve the problems.
“We must come together collectively and constructively in search of solutions that will address these serious problems because they won’t go away,” he said Police Liaison Chief Superintendent Hulan Hanna also addressed the congregation of Mt. Nebo .
Superintendent Hanna spoke of the success of some of the programmes they have recently implemented to address the issue of crime.
The high visibility of the police in communities has been one of the most effective tools in deterring crime, according to Superintendent Hanna.
“One of the things that allays the fear of citizens is police visibility,” he said.
Mr. Hanna referred to the community policing that recently began in the Farm Road area and is expected to expand to other communities in New Providence .
“When we got started with the Farm Road project there was an automatic decrease in crime because the police covered that area almost 24 hours a day for a sustaining period” he said.
He added that the project resulted in a “balloon-effect”, that is it pushed the criminal element to the outskirts of the area.
“Because we were smart, we had police officers in those areas that we were pushing criminals into,” he said.
Mr. Hanna also said that citizens liked to see criminals being charged. To this end they made sure that evidence was properly collected and organised.
“We’ve taken a bold and deliberate step to ensure that the quality of evidence, the quality of investigation that is being carried out in connection with offences is such that you create an airtight case, ” he added.
Superintendents Dames and Hanna both encouraged the church members to assist the police in anyway they could and suggested that in order to better their relationship with their neighbourhood police precinct, they should appoint someone to act as a liaison with the police.
