Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said that although he is satisfied that the police are doing a good job at finding the criminals, he is not entirely satisfied with the investigative work being done before the cases go to court.
“We are fairly satisfied that the police are locating the criminals,” said Ingraham. “We are not totally satisfied with the investigative work prior to the charge – that the work going to court is in accordance with what is required to withstand defense counsel.”
Too many people have been acquitted of murder charges, in the past several years, due to insufficient evidence.
Ingraham said the dysfunctional court system is adding to the problem, “Our system, to some extent is not quite functional.”
“We have huge backlogs of cases notwithstanding the huge resources that have been pumped in the system. There are many things that do not connect.”
The murder count for 2010 has already exceeded last year’s record, which had exceeded the record set in 2007. With one – historically crime-plagued – month still left in the year expectations are that this year will be a bad one for crime.
Police and prosecutors have come under intense scrutiny with the continuously and rapidly rising violent crime.
In 2001 there were 40 murders recorded in the Bahamas, that number has more than doubled within nine years.
