The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.
Re: Unlicensed (30) Days “House Stores, Loiterers, Drug Dealers, Residents and the Police

I write this letter as a matter of utmost urgency to help pinpoint and explain to the powers that be one of the major causes of neighbourhood crime problems, facing lower and middle class communities in the Bahamas for decades.

Illegal, unlicensed 30-day “house stores” are responsible for fuelling neighbourhood crimes in all of the major islands in the Bahamas. There are four - nine (depending on size) 30-day illegal “house stores” in every densely populated poor and low cost one family housing community in New Providence.

These illegal “house stores” start out selling candies and potato chips, but quickly evolve into selling backwood, cigarettes, beer and lots of cheap alcohol.

They provide a twenty four-seven, holidays and Sundays supply of drug paraphernalia (backwood), and cheap booze unchecked.

Most if not all of these 30-day stores rely on addicts and vagrants from their neighbourhoods to support their illegal businesses.

As a result of these “house stores” in one-family-home communities, there exists a group of loiterers that congregate at these locations.

With the loiterers come swearing, loud music, constant bickering conflict and constant early morning and daily traffic, pollution from beer and food containers, backwood and discarded alcohol bottles.

Another by-product of these 30-day house stores, other than the loiterers, is the petty drug dealers selling crack and marijuana strategically at or near these same locations. These drug dealers blend with the loiterers until a sale comes, then he walks to the nearest “stash site”, abandoned home or nearest bush and the deal is made.

Residents living near or around this constant nightmare are either tired of calling the police and then seeing business go on as usual or they are terrorised and afraid.
Residents in these poor and low cost home areas have no peace and there remains an air of tension and very often conflict erupt.

This 30-day “house store” plague exists in all of the major residential areas where crimes and murder occur.

In southern New Providence, these areas include:-
Nassau Village, Redland Acres, Kennedy Subdivision, Malcolm allotment, Sunshine Park, etc.
Areas like Fox Hill, Bain Town, Englerston, Coconut Grove and Carmichael Road are also saturated with 30-day house stores.

The police have failed the terrorised law-abiding citizens in these areas by turning a blind eye to these 30-day “house stores” and the lawlessness they create for peaceful citizens. The government needs to amend the laws to increase the penalty for 30-day “house stores” and loafing and loitering substantially. There is no respect or fear in the community of either law as they exist. The 30-day law is seldom enforced and no one is ever arrested for loafing or loitering in poor and low cost home communities.

The police in these communities are aware of most 30-day houses, but only check, find nothing and go.
They leave everybody to fend for themselves and carry on with business as usual.

The only time the police do something and come in mass is to pull out the yellow tape when there is a body on the ground.

I have witnessed police visiting a 30-day house store in uniform. Only to leave with a couple of beers.
Police do not even address loafing and loitering in these areas. They pass the loafers (wall sitters) and loiterers under road side “cool trees”.

If they don’t see anything, the police just drive by, leaving these thugs to carry on with business when they go.

Enforcing the loafing and loitering laws will go a long way in curbing crimes in these mentioned communities in New Providence.

The government and the police should move swiftly and decisively to shut down 30-day “house stores” and arrest the operators, arrest loiterers, drug dealers and “wall sitters” in these communities. Enforce the laws. Please!

STANLEY WILLIAMS

Nassau,

January 17, 2014.