THE government has been urged to establish an independent National Crime Forum where all voices can be heard.
Following a study into the escalating crime problem over the last seven years, psychologist Dr David Allen said such an entity could be a vital part of a long-term solution.
But, he stressed, it should not be yet another “adhocracy group” that simply produces a report then disbands – but rather a institution established by appointment of the Office of the Prime Minister for a 3-5 year basis to help with the implementation of anti-crime initiatives and tackle the root causes of crime.
“They should be visible in the community and work in conjunction with the police,” he said. “It is ridiculous to put the full burden of crime on the already overworked police force.
“They cannot be responsible for ALL the root causes of crime – education, lack of parental education, unemployment, lack of civility, mental health issues and social deprivation.”
Dr Allen said the forum should raise public funds to finance its work and should not depend on the government.
“We have an excellent police force but they can only be as effective as the public is supportive. The process of reducing crime in a population requires an effective social contract between government and non-government agencies,” he said.
A national crime forum could establish just such a social contract, Dr Allen said – but only if it represents a microcosm of society and is dedicated to dealing with the root causes of crime.
He suggested that it be composed of:
• government officials representing health, social welfare, education and law enforcement agencies
• Urban Renewal
• the church
• business (eg the Chamber of Commerce)
• the media
• charity groups (eg Rotary, the Red Cross)
• special interest groups (eg Families Against Murder, the Crisis Centre, Children’s Rights Group, the Professional and Security Officers Association, etc)
• ordinary members of society (eg victims of violent crime).
“The crime forum sanctioned by government with a focused, no nonsense leader will provide a united front for citizens to work hand-in-hand with the police and the public to confront the monster of violent crime.
“This will go a long way to negate the feelings of societal hopelessness, apathy and pessimism associated with community fragmentation and fear in this present crisis,” Dr Allen said.
Functions of the National Crime Forum
• Raise the public awareness of crime and its solutions through discussions at town meetings, media involvement, and in community walk-abouts.
• Increase public co-operation to support our policemen and other law enforcement personnel
• Act as an advocate for victims of violent crimes. Decrease the traumatisation of victims and small children by giving love and support.
• Follow crime statistics and make sure international data on crime are accurate
• Create a National Anger Management and Conflict Resolution Programme for persons in the media, school, church, as well as charity groups
• Act as a think tank to examine the root causes of crime through research and explore possible solutions
• Fighting crime is expensive; the committee could encourage the collection of funds to fight crime. For example, if 50,000 Bahamians gave $1 per week, in one year we will have $2,400,000. A cadre of distinguished accountants could be appointed to monitor such a fund.
• Encourage the church to be directly involved in fighting the root causes of crime. The churches could patrol their areas and act as a community support centre for victims of crime.
• Work in conjunction with Urban Renewal Projects
• Establish the integration of citizen crime watch organisations in all areas.
• Establish a national parenting programme by bringing together all groups presently involved in doing such work. A nation is judged by the way it treats its children.
• Establish intervention groups like The Family: People Helping People Project
• Encourage the development of a national parenting initiative
• Provide research evaluation for intervention programmes.
Comments
banker 10 years, 10 months ago
How can a forum have any effect on crime, when the solutions above are treating the symptoms and not the root causes. The root causes are deep and disturbing and woven within the fabric of Bahamian society.
Starting at the top, we have a government kleptocracy with the likes of Shane Gibson who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar with the Rolex watch and the Anna Nicole Smith fiasco. We have the cabinet minister with a closet full of money. Under a decent, moral system, these miscreants would be forced to resign along with the government according to the Westminster traditions. Instead they get re-elected to inflict more harm with their cronyism, partisanship, and robbing the treasury blind.
Then we have Bahamian society itself, with its endemic, embedded sweethearting and its institutionalized hypocrisy. In addition, we have homosexual and bi-sexual parliamentarians who rail against homosexuals and yet practice it. We have ministers of the church who molest children on the church premises and who are retained even though they are jailed. We have ministers who drive Bentleys and fly private jets in essentially a Third World country. All societal institutions are rotten to the core and corrupt.
Added onto this, we have children having children. Sweethearts have babies just for the financial gifts, and we have three generations of a sexual cargo cult of young girls having babies, fatherless children, and disenfranchised young men. Added to the mix, is a non-caring government who actually nurtures and fosters an illiterate, uneducated growing population who`s vote can be bought with booze, hams, turkeys, and rent payments.
In this crucible of the heart of darkness, lies an unfair economic system that further disenfranchises Bahamians, keeps them at mediocre, low paying jobs, and kills all hope of achieving what is termed the American dream. Bahamians do not own the hilltops, or beaches unless they are rich enough to acquire them unlawfully using the Quieting of Titles Act to carve it up into lots and sell it to rich foreigners. The Bahamian currency is not convertible, hence one cannot pay for a foreign education with the money earned in the Bahamaland.
So all in all, this is the perfect recipe for anarchy, crime, societal disturbance, poverty, early death, hopelessness and the loss of the more altruistic elements found in peoples with a higher developmental index that that of the Bahamian people.
So Dr. Allen can pontificate all that he wants. He would be more effective if he did an intervention on his cousin the current Prime Minister, and confined him for counselling until he grows some courage and morality glands and starts doing the right thing for the country, even though it is politically unpalatable and totally against the grain of the mindset of the parliamentarians.
ThisIsOurs 10 years, 10 months ago
Ditto! and well said.
concernedcitizen 10 years, 10 months ago
nail on the head Banker : however these are hard things to address , this is what we the public will get for our tax dollars ..First we will get a bunch of politicians and religous figures having lunch at the British colonial hilton ,secoundly they will finish lunch in time to get on the eviening news ..lastly they will tells us how they will break the back of crime as they plan their assault on the last cash cow in town NIB ...
The_Oracle 10 years, 10 months ago
Hear Hear Banker ! We were warned decades ago, one only has to reference a speech given by B.K. Bonamy, former Commisioner of Police at C.O.B. when he returned from a regional conference in Jamaica which had to be in the late 70's. The Man came back and spelled it out, Jamaican levels of violent crime would migrate north, only to be ignored by the Government of the day.( And subsequent administrations) The private sector stepped up to the plate, only to be spurned by the PLP then FNM Governments over the ensuing 20 years. Now we reap the rewards of our folly.
timbobbin 10 years, 10 months ago
Call me cynical but Dr David Allen's concerns appear self serving. The underlying message is "Appoint me to head the crime forum" I read the precis of his epidemiological survey which was published in the "Insight" column today. It appears to have a skewed and non representative study population, and have inferences and conclusions drawn on opinion and non scientifically supported constructs. This so called research is another example of the pseudo -science which has been touted for decades whenever the subject of the roots of crime becomes a hot agenda. We need yet another National Crime Commission/Tzar/Forum/Foundation like a hole in the head. What we do need is an efficient, trained, managed and operational law enforcement network appropriately funded and free from political and societal meddling . If our bog standard criminals (or wanna be's) really thought that, if they breached any law, there was a real chance that they would be apprehended, brought to trial convicted and sentenced in short order, maybe that would be a true deterrent
lazybor 10 years, 10 months ago
so, now we need a forum to tell us that the crime is increasing...poor us...
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ThisIsOurs 10 years, 10 months ago
I was surprised that he mentioned Urban Renewal as a part of the solution. I thought Urban Renewal was supposed to be the solution, encompassing all of the aspects he pointed out.
Personal beef, I don't think the administration has a clue what urban renewal is supposed to be. In my opinion they keep presenting "sexy" terms and expecting the Bahamian people to be wowed by how good they sound. In the end, they all lack substance, forethought and planning. We get committee after committee each covering the work that someone else should be doing and no one accomplishing anything. If something doesn't work create another committee.
We need a coordinator, someone who could put the resources we have to the most efficient use, that should be the PM but his ministers are running roughshod over him.
Papsid 10 years, 10 months ago
The Bahamas has loss it's grassroot, Lack of strong Leadership, lack of Parenting skills, no leadership in the Churches, and community base organizations,etc, Education no core values.
The Polical structioner was never design to support the 99%ers in the Bahamas and in the Globel world.
Bahamians (99%ers) just look around your communities. No one has learn anything from other Carribean Nations, when they were facing out of control crime waves. It was then the forum should had already been done and now you want to figure out what the hell is going on... It's a sign of weak leadership
People do not stand around and let the Bahamas become a third world Nation.
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