Let me begin this briefing with a reference to some recent events to demonstrate the value of these initiatives. The country would have witnessed upfront and personally over the last month, two graphic videos of what we face in this country.
The first video was of the homicide through Coopers Terrace off Kemp Road, where one can see three individuals;
Who are somebody’s children;
Who live somewhere;
Who have many friends;
Exit a vehicle and callously gun down another young Bahamian.
Over the weekend, we again witnessed, as if it were live and upfront, four – what appears to be – young men exit a vehicle and open fire on another vehicle that contained a young man and a three or four-year-old child.
Those four individuals are somebody’s children, they live somewhere and someone knows who they are.
That is the context in which the Honorable Prime Minister in 2023 sat up and initiated the Gang Crime and Justice Task Force.
Which is a cross-ministerial task force that I have the honour of co-chairing together with the Minister of Education, Hon. Glenys Hanna Martin. We are joined on that task force by the Minister of Housing and Urban Renewal, Hon. Minister Keith Bell, the Minister of State in that Ministry the Hon. Lisa Rahming, the Minister of Economic Affairs, Senator Michael Halkitis, the Minister of Health The Hon. Dr. Michael Darville, the Minister of Youth Sports & Culture, Hon. Mario Bowleg, M.P. and the Minister of Works, Hon. Clay Sweeting and his Parliamentary Secretary, Bacchus Rolle.
The aim of the task force, which also has representatives from the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the Ministry of Social Services and the Hon. Minister Myles Laroda. Along with officials from the Ministry of Education, Social Services and the Bahamas Department of Corrections.
This aligns with the government’s Five Pillar Crime policy that was announced. I will remind you that the policy is based on five pillars. Firstly prevention, then policing, then prosecution, punishment and finally rehabilitation.
Clear Hold Build, which I will come to shortly, focuses on policing and, in the later stages, prevention.
But might I just report that the Ministry of National Security and its agencies in its prevention efforts continue to press the HYPE Initiative to intervene with youth at risk in the primary schools.
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force continues its RANGES Program that is spread across the islands. The Royal Bahamas Police Force continues its Cadet Program, which is spread across the islands.
The Ministry of Youth Sports & Culture, and the Police Force have Second Chance Programs.
The Ministry has recently had a soft opening of the Nassau Village Community Centre that we hope will begin to host the Ministry of Social Services Empowerment Hour next week.
The Member of Parliament for that area who was instrumental in that effort, Parliamentary Secretary Jamahl Strachan joins us today.
But more importantly, the Ministry initiated a very simple program, by way of ads and announcements – you may have seen it. It’s the “Crime Free Looks Like Me” initiative. We have presented a number of persons who we have made videos of, to reflect what you can do in crime prevention.
Notably, you may recall Coach Kevin Johnson, who works in basketball with C.I. Gibson Senior High School and young men all over this island. Andy and Nancy Knowles with the “Let’s Swim Bahamas” initiative, teaching a vital skill of swimming to primary school students. With the aid of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the National Youth Guard.
“Crime Free Looks Like Me” is a very simple proposition. We challenge persons to be able to do a very simple video to show what you are doing in this effort.
This is an all-of-government, all-of-society effort. It is not enough to talk about what the police are or are not doing;
What the church is or is not doing;
What the government is or is not doing.
In this effort, there are basically three types of persons. There are persons who are part of the problem, there are persons who are part of the solution and then there are persons who are voyeurs – who just simply sit and watch. Bahamas, you have to determine which of those groups you will be a part of.
Clear, Hold, Build strategy is a policing effort that was launched in Englerston. It is one of the more aggressive police interventions under our five-pillar approach.
And already we are seeing real results.
This initiative relies heavily on the hard work of the men and women of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, but as was said it must go beyond policing.
Clear, Hold, Build is about restoring communities to what they once were: groups of families, friends and neighbours living lives of quiet enjoyment.
This approach has been adopted in several countries, so we’re not claiming to have reinvented the wheel.
We are deeply encouraged by the progress made in Englerston over the past short months.
As indicated in its name, this strategy involves three phases. The Clear phase focused on removing criminal elements; the Hold phase ensured that law enforcement presence was sustained, and now, as we enter the Build phase in Englerston, we are investing in long-term solutions like education, skills training, economic opportunities, and youth empowerment.
Ministers Hanna Martin, along with Commissioner of Police Knowles, will speak shortly about the details.
Since the launch of Clear Hold Build, crime in Englerston has decreased. It has not disappeared, but it has decreased significantly.
However, as we saw with the tragic murder of a young man – still in his teens – in that Constituency just a few days ago, there is still more work to be done.
Every life is precious, and as I’ve said since I assumed this chair, I do not count murders because one murder is one too many.
My heartfelt condolences goes out to the families and loved ones of the victims, as well as the community of Montell Heights, which is a part of the Englerston constituency.
Hopefully the work that is being done means that other families and loved ones will not be grieving a tragic loss.
We cannot let up in our commitment to the whole-of-government, whole-of-society approach which is needed to bring about the change that we so desperately need.
We have learned much in Englerston.
From the various town halls and surveys, residents have been loud and clear in articulating their hopes and needs for themselves and their community.
As you will hear shortly, our efforts in the ‘Build’ phase of this initiative are well underway.
While this continues, we are now ready to expand to other communities.
And so today, we are happy to announce that the next community to be a beneficiary of this initiative will be the Nassau Village community, represented by Parliamentary Secretary Jamahl Strachan and the Carmichael community represented by Minister Keith Bell.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force in their usual fashion began the work well ahead of this announcement and they’re already making good progress in the ‘Clear’ phase.
Nationally, while overall crime figures are down, we know that levels of violent crime are still too high.
I was talking with the Commissioner of Police before we began. I will turn fifty seven on Saturday – that used to be old to me when I was younger.
That’s not very old, but when I was a boy it was not like this and that was only four decades ago. And so this must take a whole-of-society effort because we got here together and we will only get from here together. But it also requires cross-border collaboration.
That is why we are actively leveraging our regional ties to generate unique solutions to our common problems.
Just last week the Prime Minister attended the CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting in Barbados, where regional leaders came together to share strategies for dealing with crime and violence – challenges that we all face in this region.
An important part of our holistic crime prevention approach is youth empowerment. The National Youth Guard (NYG) programme is one way in which we are actively giving young Bahamians the tools they need to achieve their goals.
The programme goes beyond providing disaster preparedness it also focuses on job-ready skills and connects young people with opportunities for employment.
I am proud to say that our National Youth Guards played a significant role in the ‘Clear, Hold, Build’ initiative and as you would’ve heard earlier, they also participated in the Let’s Swim Bahamas initiative. They participated and they will continue to be utilized as they show their national pride.
In conducting surveys and engaging directly with the residents of Englerston, real feedback was gathered that will continue to inform our approach in addressing the community’s needs.
We are thankful for the active participation of all of the constituents in the Englerston community who were eager to participate and improve their local circumstance, it bodes well for the future.
As part of our whole-of-government approach to reducing crime, we will continue to increase and intensify the tools we use to disrupt and eliminate criminal activity.
We will continue, Commissioner, to permit the Royal Bahamas Police Force to improve its man power levels.
The police are currently looking to recruit a squad of a hundred young people which will maximize the training capacity in both New Providence and Grand Bahamas simultaneously, such as the manpower deficit.
And I would digress shortly to say this very quickly, and hopefully uncontroversially. While we retain officers of the rank of Corporal and Sargent who retire, beginning if they are recruited at the age of eighteen, they begin to retire at forty-three to fifty-five.
We are also aggressively recruiting young persons. I would not in this forum disclose what is the manpower deficit that the Royal Bahamas Police Force faces for obvious reasons, I would only say that the failure to aggressively recruit between 2017 and 2021 has put us in a position that’s less than ideal.
We will, Commissioner, continue to arm the Royal Bahamas Police Force with the technology that it requires and the other resources that it requires.
While we do that though for far too long, crimes against our environment have gone unchecked. These include activities such as illegal excavation, unauthorised coal burning, poaching and other environmental crimes.
While our focus tends to be on crimes against the persons for obvious reasons, it is critically important that we take crimes against our environment more seriously.
While this burden has usually fallen on the Royal Bahamas police force as an issue of priority, clearly they will prioritize offences against a person. Mindful of this, this government being determined to enforce laws against environmental crime, we have created The Bahamas Wildlife Enforcement Network steering group that is headed by Commander Desiree Corneille of The Royal Bahamas Defence Force.
This will lead the charge against violators who will now face serious consequences for their actions.
This group will hopefully be regularized by legislation within this legislative year. Currently, it is made up of seconded members of the Royal Bahamas Defense Force, the Royal Bahamas Police Force and other agencies.
As an example of some of the good works of this group, they have actively engaged in training and they have actively assisted the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the Ministry of The Environment and its forestry sections and the Ministry of Works in enforcing excavation permits or the ability not to be excavating.
As we build our communities, we must be certain that we engender a culture of law-abiding citizens. That is the only way that we will continue to enjoy all that God has given us in this country.
This administration stands firm in its commitment to crime reduction, community involvement and national security. We are in fact seeing progress and in partnership with the various communities we will continue our efforts.
We will continue to expand Clear Hold Build and we will continue to invest in our young people and hold criminals accountable and we will continue to restore communities.
Before I conclude, let me just give you one example of something that is very encouraging.
We all saw two young men harassing another young man who seemed to be special needs.
Many people forwarded that video to me. By the time that I forwarded it to the Commissioner of Police, she was able to report that the mother of the two young men having seen the video brought her children to the police and the police were able to sit the mother and the boys down and to solve that issue.
The point that I make is very simple. That was a mother who took responsibility and acted when she saw the default of her two sons.
As I started, the video in Cooper’s Terrace, those are somebody’s children. The video at Dunmore Street and West Street, those are somebody’s children.
And the only question is whether those mothers will have the same courage and love for their sons as the mother of those two young boys.
That is what we face Bahamas. We’ve gotten here in about five decades together. We will only get from here together.
Thank you very much.