With the seventh murder in three weeks added to the list of crimes under investigation, top police officials are frustrated.
There are some hurdles that keep popping up in the country’s crime-fighting machinery, according to key police officials.
Stopping short of saying the government was moving too slowly in reviewing the Bail Act, Police Commissioner Paul Farquharson and Deputy Commissioner John Rolle told the Bahama Journal Wednesday that an immediate review of the law is needed to keep more suspects off the streets.
But Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Cynthia Pratt said she does not know when the government will bring a Bill to parliament reviewing the Act. Both Minister Pratt and Prime Minister Perry Christie have expressed support for a review.
Minister Pratt told the Journal Tuesday that she supports this review because, “The mere fact that there has been a number of these young men who have had several counts of heinous crimes they were charged with and they were on bail. And so we must look at that again.”
In November, during his party’s national convention, the prime minister also said there will soon be a review of the Bail Act.
But police officials fear the longer it takes for this review to come about, the more murders will take place.
The recent spate of crime underscored the need for stronger laws related to bail, police authorities said.
Police bring suspects before the courts and often, they are released on bail and commit other crimes.
One of the seven males murdered this month was out on bail after being charged with not one, but two murders. Worse still, police connected him to two other murders.
The five suspects already charged in relation to those crimes were either out on bail, linked to a crime or ex-convicts.
Deputy Commissioner Rolle said keeping criminal suspects behind bars is a key element in crime prevention.
“I think we need to address it seriously,” he said in an interview with the Bahama Journal. “The police force is just one arm of the judiciary. We will do whatever we can to make the Bahamian society a safe one, but we cannot do it alone.”
One police official said officers are frustrated because the courts are “in crisis.”
He said recently, a judge fined a man $50 for illegal gun possession. This is only an example of the lack of seriousness that some partners in the fight against crime display, the official said.
Another cause of frustration for police in their war on crime is the fact that laws related to execution are not enforced. The last count from the Ministry of National Security showed that there were 29 men on death row. But a National Security official noted that “the law must take its course” with respect to the many appeals that these inmates have to exhaust before facing the hangman’s noose.
A few weeks ago, the deputy prime minister told the Bahama Journal that laws related to hanging should be enforced. But there was an apparent shift in her tone this week.
She said Tuesday that, ” I can remember even while we were having executions we were having murders. I think the bottom line is prayer. No matter how we look at it, we cannot get around it. This whole nation needs to go before God because the world is troubled…Violence seems to be everywhere.”
But the two top officials of the police force, Commissioner Farquharson, who is also provost marshal, and Deputy Commissioner Rolle said hanging should resume immediately because it serves as a deterrent.
“We’ve got to start hanging some people,” Mr. Rolle said. “We need to address the problem. In my [opinion] I say we stop stockpiling murderers in Fox Hill Prison.”
Mr. Rolle said capital punishment would send a clear signal to potential criminals that they would face the full brunt of the law.
“If a young man knows that if he kills somebody, he is going to be hanged, he will think twice before he pulls the trigger or takes a knife and sticks someone. So I think we need to use the laws on the book,” he said.
The last time the Bahamas carried out an execution was in the year 2000.
Mr. Rolle said he doesn’t see the crime problem getting any better in the short term.
The murder count for this month is already three more than January 2002, and there’s still more than a week to go before a new month begins.
Police authorities say if the level of crime continues on the present course, it would far exceed the 52 murders reported last year.
This is precisely what police fear.
Anthony Rolle, Daron Lafleur, Kendall Brennan, Elmer Knowles, Eddison Curtis, Dwight Miller and Stephen Fowler all loss their lives after shooting incidents in the past three weeks.
This has led police to increase efforts to rid the streets of New Providence of illegal guns.
Mr. Rolle said a police officer is now permanently stationed in Florida to help in the fight against weapons trafficking. But the Bahamas has porous, open borders that make it difficult to track the inflow of illegal weapons.
Police say illegal weapons continue to be a serious problem. Criminals can purchase guns for $200 to $300 each. They can also rent these guns, and many of the do, police say.
Commissioner Farquharson ordered his officers this week to increase their presence on the streets of New Providence to help confiscate illegal weapons and control crime.
By Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
