The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

OFFICIALS in charge of Urban Renewal 2.0 say the programme has met with “overwhelming support” from community members and even helped police make a “number of arrests” in target areas.

Superintendent Stephen Dean said the programme is making trust between residents and police “a reality” and is going extremely well.

“We are pretty much on target with our outline objectives,” he said. “Reducing crime, removing the opportunity of crime, and allaying the fear of crime, and we are improving public safety and confidence in the police.”

Police are seeing “more response” from residents in areas where Urban Renewal has been launched, Supt Dean said, explaining that community members are now more inclined to work in partnership with police.

“We are getting good intelligence on the ground – it is working extremely well,” he said. “We are able to displace, move and weed out a lot of criminal elements, particularly the drug dealers who are peddling drugs in those areas. We have been removing those opportunities.

“As a result of the Urban Renewal on the ground, the Royal Bahamas Police Force has made a number of arrests of persons in the community.

“As a result of Urban Renewal, the police force has been very successful. In the inner-cities we can see the crime dipping. We’ve seen a major change since we’ve been in there.”

Before the social intervention programme was launched, residents felt their communities were reaching the breaking point and many are now saying “enough is enough,” according to Supt Dean.

“They wish to come forward with the police. They’re not going to let a few criminal elements have them in fear that they cannot work with police.”

He said officers are encouraged by the amount of positive feedback they are getting.

“People are saying it’s long overdue, they feel that they see a renewed genuine sense in police wanting the public to work with them. People are beginning to say they feel much safer, some people recognise that crime will always be with us in some cases, but they agree that more police presence reduces the fear of crime.

“Persons are telling us there are areas they couldn’t walk because the criminal elements were congregating there, but now they can.”

Supt Dean said police officers take time to visit crime victims in the communities on a weekly basis.

“If someone becomes a victim of crime, we pay a special visit to reassure them of police presence and assistance and uplift their spirits,” he said. “We have been talking with victims of crime and some of them want to help because of their experience – they want to be a spokesperson and work with us to help other people not to fall prey to crime.

“It’s not a quick fix, but we feel good. We are very encouraged by the overwhelming support. It exceeded expectations so far. We’re going to be here for the long run, on a permanent basis, so people can feel comfortable.

“There’s mutual respect between us and the community and I think that’s what has eroded over the past years, but we are restoring that respect.”