As the homicide toll increased to 14 over the weekend, Supt. of the Central Detective Unit, Superintendent Marvin Dames, said Sunday, that more emphasis must be placed on conflict resolution.
“We have too many persons, especially young men in particular, who for whatever reasons, are very hot-tempered and do not appreciate the importance of resolving matters amicably,” he stated, “but oftentimes, resort to the gun or the knife. This certainly is not good and it certainly shows that we need to import a collective effort to address such issues.”
The CDU chief said that parents need to pay more attention to their children, and communities need to band together in an effort to examine ways to work along with the youth, particularly young men. He suggested that churches and the police all need to play their role, as there is no “quick-fix” solution to the crime problem.
“It only could take a total community effort and until people begin to realize this, we will continue to fight an up-hill battle. The evidence is there to solve matters, but this is not good enough, because despite the fact that they have been solved, you cannot bring back or resurrect a person after they have been killed by another,” said Supt. Dames.
The public should not be afraid of crime, he said, but should collectively come together and deal with the problems impacting society, while at the same time, collectively find answers. The many individuals committing offences are not “creatures from out of space,” but someone else’s children, he stated.
“The same guy who is living through the corner with you and smiles with you, is one that you will never believe is involved with something until you see him in the papers being charged with a particular offence, but these are the products of our community. They are our kids, brothers and sisters and we ought not to fear them,” Supt. Dames said.
He suggested that the community, in coming together, should reach out to those youngsters committing crimes and “nurture” them, as there is obviously an underlying problem if youth turns to committing acts of crime.
“We bring them into the world, and then we become afraid of them after we would have neglected them for sometime and expect for everything to be ok,” he said, adding that the public needs to reach out to those committing crimes and advise them that what they are doing is wrong. Criminals need to be told, “I will not condone it, and if you do wrong, I will see to it that you are punished. That is the bottom line,” Supt. Dames said.
Supt. Dames further noted that in 2001 and 2002, most of the murders recorded were domestic- related, with the same trend seeming to continue in 2003. “We are dealing with most of these matters again, being domestic-related. Either someone knowing the other person, getting into a conflict and the other person taking someone else’s life.”
Even though the homicide count now stands at 14, Supt. Dames said, statistically, in comparison to 2002, the crime rate for armed robberies, stolen vehicles, sexual offenses, with the exception of murder is presently down.
Therefore, he said, the existing public fear of crime seems to be heightened, as a result of many persons being aware of the crimes around them and the violent nature of many of the recent criminal acts cannot be easily forgotten.
“We need not be fearful,” he said. “When you are fearful, what you are saying is that we have surrendered and we don’t want this. What is happening here is happening just about everywhere else throughout the world. This does not mean that we ought to be content, but we must realize that we all are stakeholders in this and we all have a role to play. The sooner we recognize our role, the better we are. It is not a government problem; it’s not a police problem; it’s not a church problem, it’s a nation’s problem, and the nation now must bind together.”
The year’s 14th homicide victim is 27-year-old Lucas Forbes of South Andros. Around 2:50 a.m., Saturday, Forbes was on the outside of the Mal Jack discoth�que in High Rock, Andros, when he was involved in a fight with another male, which resulted in Forbes being stabbed a number of times in the chest.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
