Public attention in The Bahamas is again being focused on what appears to be a contagion of crimes against persons and property. In a number of particularly gruesome instances, allegations are made of grotesquely savage attacks upon a number of victims. In a number of cases, savagery was sexualized, with girls and women being subjected to no end of terror.
For a time, this onslaught of crime news had the pernicious side effect of fuelling an outbreak of fear and dread which threatened to unleash an avalanche of hysteria. Many householders started to believe that they were defenceless, and that the police were being stymied by their nemeses in the criminal underworld. Happily, the police have apparently risen to the challenge implicit in the threat to their credibility and the mental composure of the public. With the arrest of a number of alleged law breakers, a number of Bahamians are just now daring to breathe a little freer. So while we have no way of knowing for a fact that the people accused are guilty of committing any offence against anyone, we, too, are quite pleased and comforted by the recent developments which have led to charges being laid against a number of people.
Time will tell whether the people who are held can help bring closure to the recent spate of robberies, rapes and kidnappings in New Providence , Grand Bahama and the rest of The Bahamas. Believing as we do in the supremacy of the law in The Bahamas, we counsel that now that the police have suspects in their protective custody, all efforts must be made to afford these Bahamians the respectful care and attention they deserve. The quintessence of the matter is that no matter what the charge, no matter what the public outrage or fear, there is the magisterial principle of the presumption of innocence which demands that those bringing accusations prove their case.
We allude to this principle because many Bahamians – in their innocence, ignorance or naivet� – often rush to judgment and conclude that once a person has been charged, guilt has been affirmed and confirmed. In extreme cases, enraged mobs take the law into their hands and execute their own brutal brand of rough justice. Such mobs are themselves guilty of undermining law and order. This is why we are adamant in our conclusion that the police should never shirk from their duty when faced with crowds which threaten public order and decency.
Fortunately for the entire nation, the Royal Bahamas Police Force has carried out its duties with consummate professionalism. The result has been that police officers are able to carry out their duty to serve and protect not only the public, but also the citizens who are in their custody. Now, lest we be considered naive, we hasten to add that there are instances where police do exceed their powers, thereby becoming law breakers themselves. When this happens, the law – again – should take its course, without fear or favour.
While we are relieved by the new developments which have come to light concerning a number of notoriously nasty crimes against persons and property and what the police have achieved, we are alarmed by what appears to be a growing counter-culture, one which apparently condones, encourages and legitimizes horror attacks upon innocent men, women and children. Evidence of the existence of this counter culture is to be found throughout any number of neighbourhoods in our urban spaces where neighbours, family and friends routinely cloak their rapacious sons and daughters and shield them from the state sanctioned consequences of their actions.
This ‘cloaking’ begins when parents find out that their children are using drugs or alcohol. It begins when they become aware that their under age children are sexually active. It is full -blown when these parents decide to do nothing about their children’s offences. A similar pattern is revealed in school when teachers routinely cover up the criminal behaviours of their peers and their student charges. Indeed, the Ministry of Education itself becomes complicit in cloaking when it denies media and police direct access to school campuses. Cloaking is in fine form whenever information is massaged and managed. Unfortunately – and often tragically – many Bahamians cloak, shield and deny until it is too late.
When they reach the point where dereliction and delinquency can no longer be denied, they often turn their wrath on any number of scapegoats. The truth, however, is extremely simple: when mainstream society fails, counter-cultures proliferate. The Bahamas is uniquely susceptible to assault from any number of negative cultural influences which would work to corrupt and pollute the nation. Again, therefore, as we have previously argued the government and its social partners must move with all due speed to shore up the foundation institutions undergirding this nation, inclusive of family, school and church. Continuing neglect can and will lead to further ruin, more rot, community disintegration and the proliferation of criminal counter-cultures.
Editorial, The Bahama Journal
