Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE Royal Bahamas Police Force does not need outside help to address this country’s worrying crime problem, Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade told The Tribune.
During an interview with The Tribune this week, Mr Greenslade emphasised that Bahamian police know what the country’s crime problems are but have limited power to address key issues like the grant of bail for prolific offenders.
His comment came as concerns persist about violent crime, with 41 murders lodged for the year, up more than 30 per cent compared to this point last year.
“Why would we need outside help if the issue that is confronting us is so glaring to everyone else?” he said in response to a Tribune question. “It is not about inefficiencies in the police force. It is not about issues around deployment in the police department. Everyday we are showing you people that are being arrested for serious crimes. The facts are as clear as day.”
He continued: “I am always surprised when I get the question about foreign intervention. Do you need outside help? Well what do you need that for as a police department if we are doing precisely what the law requires us to do and we are doing it very efficiently and very effectively? I am not sure why the question is put to the police department. You ask us about policing and crime prevention and every day you are hearing Assistant Commissioner (Stephen) Dean and his staff from the National Crime Prevention office making statements…on our websites these things are posted.
“You see in our schools every single day officers talking to our young children trying to save another generation but there are a core group of hardcore adults in this community that continue to offend against our people; that continue to drive fear into the hearts of our people and I am always concerned when I get a report of an arrest and the officers remind me that the person they are informing me about was just recently charged with a serious crime, an indictable offence in a matter and again I am having to discuss the same name. That is as clear as day it is a problem that needs to be fixed. That is not to cast aspersions on anyone it is simply a statement of fact,” the commissioner said.
Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Leader Branville McCartney also raised concerns yesterday about the government’s handling of crime.
“Crime has been the most vexing problem this country has faced for many, many years, in particular New Providence,” Mr McCartney said. “This is the ninth day of April and for the year we have already had 41 murders. That’s a sad, sad situation. We’ve had no word from our prime minister on this crime problem. “The last word we had from our Minister of National Security Dr Bernard Nottage was back in November 2014 when he said we are reassessing the crime situation in our country. To date, for this year, we have had warnings issued by the USA, the last one about two weeks ago.
“The word used about crime in New Providence was “critical” and they warned citizens who live and work here about the critical state of crime in New Providence. Persons often say crime is not a government thing, it’s not political, that’s fine and dandy but as a government you’re able to do something about crime; as a government you are able to reduce crime,” the DNA leader said. “We’ve seen it done around the world. We’ve seen it done in Singapore. We’ve seen it done in New York where the government stepped in. They had the political will and they dealt with crime.”
Comments
proudloudandfnm 9 years ago
What is it with the Tribune and bran?!?!?
The man can't build his own party and you guys are showcasing him as though he has some kind of answer?!?!?
At least wait til the man has some candidates before you start giving him a podium... damn!!
Bran ran someone in every seat for one reason and one reason only. He took ANYONE that wanted to run. He rushed to get ANYONE he could on the ballot. So we have no idea bran can even put a party together again.
At least wait to see if he can be legit man.... suck teet....
proudloudandfnm 9 years ago
I'm sure a PLP government sells plenty newspapers but do you really have to promote their shadow party so much?
FNM_Retards 9 years ago
And yes the FNM did such a great job. ROTFLMAO.
Well_mudda_take_sic 9 years ago
Is this the same Police Commissioner who has all along told us that we must do our part to help our police force fight the growing cancerous scourge of crime in our society today? Now he says he and his police force don't need our help! I can't help but suck ma teeth on hearing dis!!
TalRussell 9 years ago
The Comrade Chief Constable of Policeman's has publicly rubbished the whole idea of communities coming together to reduce crime. He's not even smiling when he tells members of communities, that policing is going so well that not only don't they need to come together to begin to get a grip on neighboured crime, that he doesn't need their help. Okay, maybe I didn't correctly read the story? Could be cuz of his being misquoted, or under quoted? Or, is it - possible, the Chief Constable doesn't realize, how important communities are to good policing? Forgive me for my sounding somewhat, all Chief constable confused.
TheMadHatter 9 years ago
He's not talking about help from communities. He's saying he doesn't need help from Jamaica police, or Miami police, or London police.
asiseeit 9 years ago
Idle hands are the work of the devil. Until you get these punks off the street and working, nothing will happen on the crime front. A quality education might help as well. Also it would be nice to have some leadership in this country that was beyond reproach but we all know that being shady and corrupt is endemic amongst our politicians.
duppyVAT 9 years ago
My how far the diva COP has fallen .................. he is a tired, beaten civil servant. Time to retire
TheMadHatter 9 years ago
Greenslade is doing a great job, while others tie his hands.
He should put a list on the police website and get the Tribune to PUBLISH once per month the top 40 criminals in the Bahamas in the following fashion (names are fictitious)
1 Andrew Beneby:
2 Mario Reckley:
3. third person
etc etc etc
40 40th person
Then the public can see the revolving door - supporting facts
Reality_Check 9 years ago
You have Allyson Maynard-Gibson to thank for the revolving door at Fox Hill Prison. Right now though, she's much too busy trying to keep John Boswick from spending even one full day in Fox Hill Prison. It would seem the serious charges against Boswick for the illegal possession of firearms ammunition is about to be dismissed thanks in large part to the way in which Allyson Maynard-Gibson runs the AG's Office. As AG, she seems to be doing a better job at defending Boswick than his own defense counsel is capable of doing!
TalRussell 9 years ago
Comrades I am not among those calling for the Chief Constable to step aside but I will not support his stubbornness of resisting outside help. In fact he does it all the time, by sending his officers off to countries for training. There are presently 1541 citizens and foreigners confined at Fox Hill Prison, with 900 locked up/remanded in jail, resulting from minor, non violence drug offenses.
"The Royal Bahamaland Police Force exists under the authority of The Police Act 1965. In accordance with the Act, the force is headed by a Commissioner who IS subject to the AUTHORITY of The Minister of National Security of The Bahamaland. The Commissioner is Ex-Officio Provost Marshall, and has the responsibility for the GUIDANCE and general direction of The Royal Bahamaland Police Force."
Comrades this is the real meat on the political interference bone.
John 9 years ago
Hilary Clinton says the most important is not announcing her candidacy for president or even running for the post. The most important thing is having a vision and a plan and having the ability to carry out that plan once you are elected
JohnDoe 9 years ago
Where is the legitimate public debate. We have the Police Commissioner making a philosophical statement about the administration of our criminal justice system, of which he is apart. It is a BIG issue as crime impacts all of us, is he right or wrong? . The Tribune reporter totally misses the point and diminishes the issue by quoting Bran, who as usual offers no more than a surface, shallow political assessment. During the last election the PLP blamed crime on the FNM because they realised that society believes crime is the problem of the government of the day. This obviously has come back to bite the PLP but make no mistake it is us, the general public or society, that has the most to lose from this way of thinking. What has happened to us? We are quick to criticise and belittle fellow Bahamians trying to do something positive yet with respect to the BIG and IMPORTANT issues in our society we are prepared to sit back and expect the government or someone else to solve those issues for us. My friends, democracy is a wonderful theory and it works often not because of good government but because of the vigilence in which society holds government, even good but especially bad government, to account through public awareness, discourse, debate and activism.
TalRussell 9 years ago
by TalRussell
Major_Pain 9 years ago
You don't need outside help, but you do need more education. Why are cops so stupid? Why do they have the mental capacity of a 5 year old? Your Facebook page for example, you have a policeman posting in ghetto slang - "Coropral" Pratt. And it's not by accident, that is obviously how they talk. They don't even spell CORPORAL properly. If you want to be taken serious, EDUCATE YOURSELF, for the love of god. OR at the very least let someone with basic education handle your Facebook page, Website, etc. ~ MAJOR
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