Bahamas: Despite escalating crime, career criminals are being released on bail by the courts - many of them contributing to the rising crime figures by retaliatory murders

Public supports Turnquest's comments on judiciary

tribune242 editorial

Nassau, The Bahamas


EVERYONE in authority has been creeping around on cats paws evading a subject that is agitating Bahamians. Despite escalating crime, career criminals are being released on bail by the courts - many of them contributing to the rising crime figures by retaliatory murders.

Finally, National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest had the guts to call a spade a spade. Speaking at a West Nassau Rotary meeting on Thursday, Mr Turnquest said, while not wanting to encroach on the independence of the judicial system, it was his opinion that some judges were far too "liberal" when it came to granting bail to career criminals and those accused of serious offences. He believed that this practice contributed "greatly" to the country's escalating crime problem. He is correct in this belief and he has the support of both the police and the public.

How can any government control a crime situation when as quickly as an accused person with a violent criminal record is taken before the courts he is given bail and returned to the streets looking for trouble -- and, in some cases, the elimination of witnesses who might testify against him.

Pushed under questioning about bail by a Tribune reporter, Mr Turnquest was provoked into uttering a statement that he later regretted. "Liberally they have administered that -- it concerns me greatly -- if we had a system as they do in New York, where judges are elected, many of them would have been chased out of town."

Although he retracted these words, Bahamians would not have done so -- they would have agreed with him.

We also agree with Chief Justice Sir Michael Barnett that these particular words were "unfortunate."

"I'm always concerned," said Sir Michael, "when people attack the judiciary because persons have to be careful in what they say, so as not to undermine the public confidence in those of us who serve in judicial office."

We also agree with this statement, but only in so far as the judiciary understands that it too has to be responsible in its judgments to protect a community in crisis. We agree with the community that many judicial officers have failed them. The courts are not responsible for the country's crime -- there are many causes going back many years --however, no one can deny that there are times when the courts have been part of the problem. It is true that the judiciary should not be criticised, but on the other hand they should be careful not to give legitimate cause for criticism. The legal fraternity should certainly understand that responsibility is not one-sided.

However, what is most unfortunate in all of this is that a serious matter has become political. This certainly does not help.

In criticising Mr Turnquest in Friday's Tribune the PLP statement said: "By its own yardstick, the FNM has compromised the independence of the judiciary by failing in the past two years to review judicial salaries as is required by the Judges Remuneration and Pensions Act."

Is the PLP perchance insinuating that until judges' salaries are raised they are not going to perform satisfactorily? If so, this statement is the highest insult that can be made to the Bench.

What is interesting is that when the PLP was the government, its attorney general and minister of legal affairs was making the same complaint as Mr Turnquest.

This is what Minister of Legal Affairs Allyson Maynard Gibson in her fight for "swift justice" had to say on May 19, 2006:

"Today I reiterate that the Swift Justice initiative, the assurance that offenders and would be offenders will be swiftly caught, swiftly tried and swiftly punished, will greatly contribute to breaking the back of crime and the fear of crime.

"Law-abiding people in The Bahamas have every right to expect that they will be safe in their homes and as they go from place to place on our streets."

And then she said: "The Commissioner of Police has already indicated his concern about the disturbing trend of serious offences being committed while people are out on bail.

"In conversations with Magistrates, those before whom most Bail applications are made, they said they are often shocked to see how many people whose request for bail was denied by them (Magistrates) are back before them requesting bail for another offence committed while out on bail. These people had gone to the Supreme Court and been granted bail."

Here we have lower courts pointing the finger of blame at a higher court. We don't recall hearing at that time that Mrs Gibson was undermining the court system by her revelations. Why now that the tables of government have been turned?

Mrs Gibson then gave examples of persons on bail who had gone on to commit other crimes while awaiting their day in court. She also shared statistics on crimes using firearms.

As a result she proposed an amendment to the Criminal Law Miscellaneous (Amendment) Bill, 2006, to take care of the magistrates' complaints against Supreme Court judges. She proposed that there be a "new section 8A to provide for a right of appeal to the Court of Appeal by the prosecution or a person (accused or convicted), as the case may be where bail has been granted or refused to that person by the Supreme Court or where an application by the prosecution to revoke bail has been denied.

"This right of appeal by the prosecution," she said, "is particularly important as statistics have shown that persons, while on bail take not only the opportunity to abscond but more importantly to commit further crimes. The police have indicated that persons out on bail sometimes interfere with witnesses either by themselves or through their acquaintances."

This was the opinion of the PLP when it was the government. This is also the position of the Ingraham government. The difference is that Mr Turnquest had the temerity to express the problem in blunt terms on Thursday.

Prime Minister Ingraham will now address the issue in a state broadcast on Monday, October 3.

September 26, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

The Bahamas police are doing their job, but the Bahamian courts are soft on law breakers

Tough laws promised to keep criminals in prison

tribune242 editorial

Nassau, The Bahamas



AN EXASPERATED Police Commissioner yesterday called for stiffer penalties for law breakers.

He said that criminals were not taking the law seriously because punishments were too light. In other words criminals were just playing a catch-me-if-you can game with the police, while wreaking vengeance on society.

The Commissioner was asked by the press whether the police were doing enough to stop the bloodshed -- which with 100 murders made Bahamian history over the weekend. As we wrote this column last night a report flashed across our screen that two more persons- a man and a woman- had just been shot in Nassau Village. They were taken to hospital - the man in serious condition, the woman stable.

One could almost see the Commissioner biting his tongue at yesterday's conference as he tried to gingerly skirt the reporter's question.

He said police officers were arresting the suspects, but after a person was charged it was out of their hands and up to the courts. He said he did not want to speak on the issue in too much detail.

He might not want to elaborate on what is a sore point in police ranks, but we shall do it for him.

The answer simply put is: The police are doing their job, but the courts are not.

Let's look at a five-day period to give our readers some idea of what is happening.

Between July 12 and 17th this year 39 prisoners were released from HM Prison by the courts.

Of this number 22 of them were in prison on remand. The courts gave them bail and released them.

Of these, six were charged with murder and at least three of them went before the magistrate's court with a well established criminal record.

Also among the 22 released onto the streets within a five-day period were persons charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to murder, armed robbery, rape, housebreaking, possession of firearms and drugs, causing grievous harm, fraud and forgery. Many of them have prison records, most of them for violence. Four of them were fitted with electronic monitoring devices.

Examining their records it is obvious that they have been sent back into society without any hope of finding a job or earning an honest crust of bread to keep them alive until their court date. And so what do they do?

We leave it to our readers to answer that question. It is easy to connect the dots and understand what is happening in the country. Commissioner Greenslade has already connected the dots, but does not want to talk about the picture they present -- at least not in public.

In an England gone soft on law breakers, a sudden outbreak, mainly by youth, of rioting and destruction last month, quickly brought legislators to their senses. Vowing to stop the "slow-motion moral collapse" of his country, Prime Minister David Cameron demanded stiff penalties for law breakers. The courts immediately responded, so much so that the weak-hearted are sniffling that the law is going too far. But Cameron is taking no nonsense. He has vowed to introduce laws to "crack down on lawlessness and promote a responsible society."

He directed his cabinet to look for ways to combat a "broken society" in which "fathers had abdicated responsibility for their children, schools had given up on discipline and crimes had gone unpunished."

The courts' harsh sentences were intended to reflect the authorities' anger at the looting, burning and murder that raged through London and spread to other cities.

For example, a mother who was given a pair of shorts stolen by a rioter was jailed for five months, a student went to prison for six months for stealing a box of bottled water worth about $4, while a man was jailed for four years for posting a message on Facebook to encourage people to start a riot. Courts also remanded defendants in custody until their court hearing.

Mr Cameron was pleased that the courts had sent a tough message by stiff sentences. Across the country courts were working extra hours to deal with the offenders, which moved into the thousands.

Police Commissioner Greenslade wants sanctions tough enough to make persons afraid to carry a gun in this country because they would know that they would be removed from their family and friends for a very long time.

Since the courts don't seem inclined to step up to the plate, when the House of Assembly returns from its summer break on October 5 government plans to introduce a number of new Bills to prevent violent, repeat offenders from getting bail.

"We hope that we will provide some teeth, some additional resource, to keep these criminals behind bars," said National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest.

Some Bahamians are so agitated by the seeming indifference of the courts, that they are now suggesting that maybe there are those in the system who are trying to embarrass the government.

The situation is bad, but we hope that it is not that bad.

September 20, 2011

tribune242 editorial

Bahamas Blog International

44 percent of the murders committed so far this year in The Bahamas are linked to drugs and criminal enterprise says National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest

44% of 2011 murders linked to drugs

KRYSTEL ROLLE
Guardian Staff Reporter
thenassauguardian
krystel@nasguard.com

Nassau, Bahamas



An analysis of the 57 murders committed so far this year shows that 44 percent of them are linked to drugs and criminal enterprise, according to National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest.

Turnquest said yesterday there is no question that there is a strong link between the drug trade and serious crimes in general.

He said police could not determine the motives for an additional 16 murders.

However, police suspect that they may also be drug related but do not have sufficient information to officially make that declaration.

If those 16 murders are included, that would mean that nealy 72 percent of the total murders so far are linked to drugs.

Turnquest did not provide the established motives for the remaining 16 murders.

“What we are seeing today is the result of the drug trade that sadly gripped our country a generation ago,” said the minister, while contributing to the 2011/2012 budget debate in the House of Assembly.

“The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in a 2007 report, draws a line between the illegal drug trade and other crime, including crimes such as illegal gun smuggling, illegal immigration and crimes of a very violent nature such as murder.

“The trafficking of drugs and firearms into and through our country continues and it remains a matter of concern. This is borne out by the statistics on the amount of marijuana, cocaine and illegal firearms seizures that have taken place in our country over the past five years.”

During that time period, more than 370,000 pounds of illegal narcotics were seized, according to information Turnquest tabled yesterday.

The report also shows that over the past five years authorities seized 1,211 firearms. And so far this year, 184 firearms were seized.

“With this in mind, the information gathering, research and coordination work of the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (NADS) is putting us in a better position to make the connections between drugs and crime, so that we can do more about them. It also reduces the scope for duplication of efforts of various national bodies,” Turnquest said.

The minister revealed that NADS brings together concerned government ministries/departments, non-governmental organizations and civil society, so that their combined expertise and experience can be pooled in crafting responses to the drug problem.

“To further strengthen this approach, my ministry seeks to merge the NADS and the National Drug Council, now under the portfolio of the Ministry of Health, so that the drug challenges can be more effectively and efficiently addressed,” he said.

Jun 09, 2011

thenassauguardian

Bahamas: Tracing the root of crime and murder in the Bahamian society

Tracing the root of a problem
thenassauguardian editorial


As the year 2010 comes to a close and as one reflects on all that the year had to offer, it’s hard to ignore the major problem that has affected the Bahamian society not just during 2010, but for the past few years.
That is the issue of crime and murder.

Like Rudolph’s red nose, the issues beam brightly, making them hard to ignore.

With over 90 murders recorded thus far for the year, already the country has set a new record in the amount of homicides within one year. And to think that there are still one more day to go before the end of the year. But even if the count does not reach 100, there is still nothing to celebrate, for already we have passed the mark.

As Bahamians look forward to 2011, they cannot help but wonder what the new year holds as far as crime is concerned. Will this new record of homicides committed in 2010 be broken again in 2011?

These once quiet island communities that were the envy and jewel of the Caribbean have now become a prison of fear for most Bahamians, as they listen to the murder count rise with each passing week.

The high rate of crime is evidence that all of the programs that have been put in place, and those that are being activated, are not having the kind of impact those who created them hoped they would have.

While some of the youth programs are having some positive impact, the effects are minimal and slow in taking place. Perhaps it seems that way because the news about crime becomes the main focus.

But the numbers speak for themselves.

The government is stumped about what exactly to do about crime in the country. They’ve watched most of the programs they’ve implemented fail and now they are between a rock and a hard place on what to do next.

The new murder record serves as a reminder of what 2010 was like and a grim prospect of what 2011 holds.

If the high murder rate and the increase in crime in the country is allowed to continue at the rate it has, eventually it will become more than just a big deal.

Like a former chief justice pointed out in a recent interview, crime will eventually affect everything within the country, including tourism and politics. If the government cannot get a handle on crime there will be no more Bahamas as we know it.

As the government, the police and all of the authorities necessary put their heads together to find solutions to crime, perhaps the best thing to do is find the cause.

Putting up Christmas lights brings an idea to mind. When a string of lights refuses to blink on, the only way to make them work is to find the one bulb that may be blown. In order to do that it may mean having to trace all of the wires to find the problem.

That is what needs to be done to get a handle on crime, trace the underlying reasons and causes for crime and begin there. With so many studies that have been done, perhaps now is the time to begin tracing the most immediate causes and begin the campaign to fight crime there.

The bottom line is unless something substantial is done to deal with the crime problem in this country, 2011, 2012 and the years that follow will only promise an even deeper spiral downward.

12/30/2010

thenassauguardian editorial

Bahamas Blog International

'Triple threat' responsible for most killings in the Bahamas

 

Illegal drugs are at the centre of violent crimes in The Bahamas

NASSAU, Bahamas, September 21, 2009 - Violence resulting from what is being called the "triple threat" of the drug trade, retaliation and conflict has been blamed for more than half of the murders committed in the Bahamas so far this year.

National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest says that of the 59 murders recorded up to now, 11 were drug related, 10 were retaliation killings and 12 a result of conflict. The others occurred in situations of domestic violence and robbery.

"Looking at the analysis of the motives for the 59 murders, we recognise that 39 of them - 66 per cent - were as a result of circumstances that the police could not have prevented," he said.

The use of firearms also played a key role in many of murders committed so far. Guns were used to carry out 42 of the 59 killings.

The National Security Minister said it was against this backdrop that a Crime Reduction Strategy was launched three weeks ago.

"The Crime Reduction Strategy has a critical overarching objective which is to enhance public confidence in the police and thereby to reduce not only crime and criminality, but the fear of crime," he said.

"It will also target prolific offenders, particularly the emerging and dangerous breed of career criminals, with the objective of disrupting their operations and bringing them to justice for the offences they commit," Turnquest continued, adding that the strategy will also target problem areas and/or areas of concern, particularly the so-called "hot spots."

But he said that effective anti-crime strategies require much more than tough action by the police no matter how efficient that action is.

"In addition to the work of the law enforcement agencies, effective crime-fighting strategies require a country-wide response, from individuals, civic organizations, the Church and the community, including the business community," the National Security Minister said.

"We must not turn a blind eye to crime, whether it is drug trafficking, illegal gun possession, murder, robbery, the encouragement of illegal immigration, or general lawlessness."

caribbean360

Bahamas Caribbean Blog International