The Bahamas must get a grip on crime in the country before it destroys the very fabric of Bahamian existence, a social advocacy group urged yesterday.
Local psychiatrist and social activist Dr David Allen, along with Cassandra Davenport and Bathsheba Stewart of the Bahamian Forum urged Bahamians to increase their efforts in preventing crime, by 20 per cent.
Dr Allen said he firmly believed that, with a 20 per cent increase in preventing crime, 80 per cent of crime can be eliminated.
Dr Allen noted that crime has taken hold of the society, affecting Bahamians of all ages, social classes and races. Therefore, he said, everyone must join in the fight.
"It is not us against them, it is us and us, we are the police and the police are us," he said.
Dr Allen said he was recently horrified when he met a 13-year-old who told him he carried a knife and brass knuckles to school, which the boy said he had found in the bushes. He said the teen had threatened to kill his grandmother.
"She lives in fear, why should she have to live like that?" he asked.
Dr Allen said that if the country does not get a handle on the crime, it can destroy all the good the country has tried to do, in terms of foreign investment and tourism.
Dr Allen added that most people tended to ignore the threat of crime because it had not personally affected them. "But when it comes to you, what can you say?"
Ms Stewart added: "The drum roll of crime goes on repetitiously …and the reaction scenario is repeated. We pray, we console, we cry out for the law to take its course."
Ms Davenport noted that the time has come to work together before everything the country has worked so hard for collapses.
The Bahamian Forum held an information session on crime fighting at the British Colonial Hilton yesterday evening.
Inspector Keith Bell discussed the role the public and police can play in this fight.
"Very importantly, he repeated the clarion call for the help of the public – be it parents, neighbours, our churches and other characterbuilding support associations," said Ms Stewart.
By CARA BRENNEN Tribune Staff Reporter
