Monday’s Punch tabloid calls for the Prime Minister to get tough with crime, suggesting he call an emergency meeting to address the rapidly spiraling crime rate in Nassau.
The paper notes that every Monday the newspapers are filled with reports of “murders, mayhem, armed robberies, assaults, rapes and drug dealing arrests.”
Part of the problem, the paper points out, is that the public has little to no confidence in the police’s ability to protect citizens’ from criminals. An example is the fact that it took police a week to arrest the suspect in Freda Pinder’s murder. Suspect Angelo “Nasty” Brennen appeared to be mocking the police as he was seen driving around town for days before the police finally stopped him for questioning.
“It was disgraceful for the police to take one week to pick up a well known suspect in such a horror murder. After all, the killing happened in the day in front of countless eye witnesses. And on a small island 21×7 miles, it should not take police one week to find a suspect who was seen by many witnesses driving around town.”
The tabloid paper says it is no wonder that the public has such little confidence in the police. “There are too many slack and incompetent cops,” making the good, dedicated officers look bad.
Another problem is too many people being afraid to give the police crime tips. The tipsters are afraid to inform cops about criminals because, too often, crooked cops turn around and tell the criminals who “snitched” on them.
The problem needs to be addressed quickly before it has a further negative, possibly lasting effect on the Bahamas’ number one tourism industry.
