The Tribune

By RIEL MAJOR

MAJOR crime categories continue to trend downward, according to Acting Commissioner of Police Emrick Seymour.

AC Seymour indicated to reporters yesterday the commissioner’s policing plan has been effective noting a decrease in not only murders, but in other crime categories.

“At the beginning of the year the commissioner of the police (Anthony Ferguson) mandated to ensure that he put in place a mechanism which (is) called the Commissioner’s Policing Plan for the year which speaks to how we intend to go about fighting crime and its vices here in The Bahamas,” said AC Seymour on the sidelines of an Interpol anti-smuggling workshop.

“For the most part, the mechanism that we have employed under the direction of the commissioner of police would have been put in place and the fact that we have seen a reduction in not only murders but a number of our crime stats is an indication that the mechanism that was put in place is in fact working. I just came out of a meeting (this morning) with the team and we meet every Tuesday morning and we are encouraged by the signs that we are seeing and we’ll continue to see going into the end of the year.”

He added: “One of the things you hear us say from time to time is that amount of crimes happening are caused by a small percentage of our population and so the vast majority Bahamian people are determined not to cause these elements of criminality to wreak havoc on the wider community and so in partnership with us all the programmes that we would have put in place in the partnership with members of the public we will continue to see a decrease in the elements of criminality. “

He said Commissioner Ferguson will release the new crime statistics at the beginning of next year and “of course members of the public will be able to see exactly how well we did at the end of the year but until such time we will continue to do what is required of us and the organisation to keep the criminal element at bay.

“We cannot allow, as I indicated, a small percentage of people to wreak havoc among the wider population, too much is at stake and so we will continue to fight.”

Last week, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis told the press he was convinced Bahamians are no longer fearful of crime under his administration. AC Seymour echoed these remarks saying the public has seen a difference and is feeling a difference in their communities.

“We are getting that every day from members of the public and so that fear will continue to minimise because as crime starts to go down and, of course, what they see us rolling out they can go about their business as usual without being in fear of being a victim of a crime. We are pretty sure that the fear of crime is decreasing across the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.

“I can safely tell you that we are pretty pleased, pretty encouraged by the numbers we are seeing across the board in terms of the various categories of crime,” he said.

At last count, police said 83 murders had occurred so far this year. This represents a decrease of about 30 percent compared with 2017.