CRIME MANIFESTO III, 2020 CIVIL SYSTEM SAFETY
This paper is intended to give the politicians, both government and opposition, a reality check as it regards the desperation the Bahamas faces as a result of the failure of successive administrations to address the menace of this anti-social monster called CRIME.
Crime has gotten so out of hand in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas that even Government witnesses in a criminal case are unsafe. For these witnesses are being targeted by the criminal defendants and their minions and shot down in cold blood in order to prevent said witnesses from testifying against them.
This predicament strikes a legal blow to the very heart of the criminal justice system and puts the witnesses in fear for their safety. Since the government appears to have no effective Witness Protection Program, family members, friends and associates of the victims are pursuing their own brand of vigilante justice to take REVENGE on the culprits and/or their minions. Just a few days ago a female witness in a criminal matter, set for trial in a matter of days, was allegedly brutally murdered by a criminal defendant.
Family members of the deceased woman allegedly hunted the murderer down and assassinated him just hours afterwards, thereby creating more crime, complicated trials and family feuds.
Prime Minister, such mandate the following: in 2020!
1. Propose and pass legislation for every citizen and resident who qualifies to own and carry a handgun.
2. Beef up the police force so that at least two (2) police officers are on each end of every through street and two (2) at the beginning of every dead-end and cul-de-sac in New Providence.
3. Put more street lights and surveillance cameras throughout New Providence.
4. Upgrade the education and intelligence of the police force by recruiting young dedicated officers with no less than an Associate’s degree, have the present officers upgrade their training every year for the first five(5) years and every two(2) years thereafter, and bring in Israeli counter-intelligence personnel to form a new counter-intelligence unit and upgrade the old one, while teaching investigative skills across the board.
5. Form a Symposium, equivalent to a group of about nine(9) professional persons selected from a cross-section of all the philanthropic non-profit organizations, who are civilians and not connected with Government, to be a Watch-Dog Unit and report every six(6) months on the results.
Years ago, a noted psychologist warned the government about the rise of criminal psychopaths that he called “SUPER PREDATORS.” This type of criminal has no conscience and apparently has become so emotionally detached from the rest of society that killing another human being is as impersonal to him as killing a character in one of the myriad of violent video games that are so readily available.
Fast-forward 15–20 years later and this behavior is the norm in this country. Civil society is under attack by these miscreants and the rest of us have become so immune to the violence going on around us that, unless it happens to someone we know, the shootings, stabbings and the murder count are just statistical data and events that are reported in the press.
The call has been made for law-abiding citizens to be allowed to carry hand guns for their own and their family’s protection. The time for the authorities to repeat the same worn out objections to arming the citizenry has long since passed and, until all of us cease to be “sitting ducks” in our homes and work places, the slaughter of the innocents will continue.
What is happening in this country is beyond politics and beyond the normal capacity of the law enforcement agencies to manage or confront.
Draconian measures and radical surgery are needed to cauterize or amputate this festering corruption that is threatening to destroy this country that we call home. It would be an indictment on the government and people of the Bahamas to sit on their thumbs and allow this small band of misfits and anti-social idiots to wreck this nation that our forefathers fought so valiantly to build and in some cases even made the ultimate sacrifice.
They fought and many died so that we could inherit the freedoms and privileges that we now enjoy. However, all of this is hanging in the balance and the question is: How long will it be before we lose all that we have accomplished in the last 44 years? History has taught us that very rarely are societies destroyed by forces from without.
Many of them have crumbled because of things that were allowed to propagate from within. To borrow a favorite phrase from the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, what happened in France a few days ago was “a teachable moment” and one from which every government on the planet should have learned valuable lessons.
The attackers that wreaked so much havoc in France were not outsiders. In light of this, we should consider the following:
1. Propose and Pass Legislation For Every Bahamian Citizen and Resident To Own A Handgun: Since crime is so rife in the country and the people are in fear of their lives, as the police are presently not adequately prepared to protect them, Government, in the first 300 days in 2020 of its existence, such propose and pass legislation allowing persons who qualify to carry a handgun in order to protect themselves and feel safe, whether on the streets, or in their cars, businesses and homes.
The necessary background checks must be provided for criminal records and psychiatric tests must be performed to prevent the mentally unstable and spouse abusers from getting their hands on a gun. As there will be some, who may not be able to use a handgun, such as the single female living alone, Government will provide a Firing Range with police gun experts to teach them how to shoot. These persons will also be encouraged to study martial arts.
Government believes that, regardless of the risk, self-defense or a preemptive strike is better than being shot down in cold blood.
2. Putting Up Police Guards, Street Lights and Surveillance Cameras On The Streets Of New Providence: Admittedly, there are not enough street lights and police officers on the streets of New Providence, and there are no surveillance cameras at all. The few surveillance cameras that are in New Providence are either on private homes or on the buildings where businesses are located.
Government takes the safety of its citizens and residents very seriously and, because it is a primary concern for us, will therefore use all the resources at its command to protect human life and property and keep them safe. Accordingly, Government will see to it that our streets are fully lit to prevent thefts and break-ins of all kinds and, as previously indicated, will put two(2) police officers at each end of a thoroughfare and two(2) at the beginning of a dead-end street or a cul-de-sac, from sundown to sunrise and have squad cars patrol neighbourhoods both day and night to give the officers and Crime Watch groups support in their various communities.
3. Government, working hand-in-hand with the Commissioner of Police: Where legislation is necessary, My Government will see it through.
4. The Symposium: Since the law nor the police can necessarily ensure the people’s safety, as they respond after-the-fact,
Government must rely on non-professional groups, such as the civil jurors and in this case, a civil professional group drawn from a cross-section of professional persons in charitable organizations such as, the Chamber of Commerce, Toastmasters, The Red Cross and The Rotary Club. My Government will, therefore, appoint an Oversight Or Watch-Dog Committee of nine(9) men and women with a Chairman, Deputy Chairman and seven(7) other members, to be called a Symposium, to assure that all is done that ought to be done, reporting to the Bahamian people every three(3) months on Government’s progress and the safety of the people over the 300 days and will also lodge a written report with the Government, one with the Archives on Mackey Street, and one in each library throughout New Providence. Depending on the success of this venture, Government will perform a similar feat in the Family Islands. Government will pay for this entire exercise out of Revenues collected from V. A. T.
CONCLUSION
The options listed above are important and speak for themselves and, once they are put in place and given a reasonable amount of time to begin working, the people of The Bahamas will realize that Government means them well and cares for their safety and wellbeing. The biggest problem that Government will face is to keep guns out of the hands of those who seek to do mischief and desire to get rid of witnesses in a criminal trial by killing them, threatening them or, otherwise, endangering their safety.
The conundrum that this would cause to the judicial system and the confusion and upheaval this would bring to society are catastrophic. There would be numerous possessions of illegal firearms, willful killings, revenge, family feuds and unending hostilities. We would have to take swift action, enact harsh penalties to show these culprits that Government means business.
For the possession of illegal firearms, a Gun Court would be established and penalties of a mandatory minimum of fifteen years imprisonment with hard labour would be enacted. For those who would tamper with or kill a witness with the thought that this action would cause the case to be thrown out or postponed indefinitely, no such luck.
The trial will proceed, with the witness statement being used against them, and the cat-o-nine tails plus a life sentence at hard labour without benefit of parole will be enforced for killing a witness.
Government will amend the Penal Code to ensure that the death penalty is applied as mandated by law and carried out swiftly. Criminal lawyers will be encouraged not to use this method of winning a case. Those who seek revenge will suffer the same penalty, no matter how justified they may feel. For no man has the right to take the law into his own hands.
The Rule of Law is a precious instrument, distinguishing human beings from the law of the jungle. Use it right, it endures to our benefit, use it wrong and it boomerangs to our demise. So said Mr. Justice Cardozo, a former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court
