The Tribune

LAST night was the second of Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ national addresses – and while we welcome any increase in communication from the government, we do wish there was more substance to what he had to say.

It’s unlikely the speech will have had tongues wagging too much in the stalls along Potter’s Cay dock or the bars in Arawak Cay or Fox Hill.

“We will be relentless in preventing and fighting crime,” he said. “We will relentlessly track down those who do us harm.”

Those may be nice words, but they don’t tell us much. Show us the politician who promises to be soft on crime. Is there one? No? Then don’t just tell us that you’re going to be tough on crime, tell us what you’re actually doing about it.

Instead, last night’s speech told us what we already know. Dr Minnis trotted out the crime figures that have already been reported. There are welcome reductions – but we knew this when the police commissioner gave his crime report.

He told us a contract was awarded for the installation of shotspotter technology – which had already been reported – without giving a date for when it would be making a difference. He talked about more CCTV cameras in the capital and the introduction of a drone programme – again without dates.

The most definitive thing he could say was there were more police officers out on patrol and police were using “geo-referenced based monitoring for the strategic deployment of police officers” – which sounds like a fancy way of saying using the kind of location services you can find on your phone to work out where officers were and where they should be.

There seems no reason not to give more detail – at worst, you’re informing the public, at best you’re passing on the detail of what works in tackling crime so future generations can learn from your success.

Elsewhere in today’s newspaper, Renward Wells protest the FNM knew nothing of the dire financial state the country was in when they came to power. Leaving aside that Mr Wells was part of the government that put the country in that state before he hop, skipped and jumped over to the FNM, the criticism he has is of a lack of transparency leading to a problem of continuity.

The same ought to apply for the fight against crime – tell us what works so those who pick up the baton from this government in future can learn from success rather than repeat failure.

We say that we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us – so lend a shoulder to the next generation.

And, Dr Minnis, if you’re going to hog the national airwaves and command the nation’s attention, then have something meaningful to say – and not just repeat what we already know. Otherwise, it seems more like a political advertisement rather than an urgent communication.