The Tribune

THERE are too many murders in our country. One would be too many, but our murder rate puts us among the highest in the world.

It would be too easy for a police force to always have to deal with the latest murders, while ones from last year slip past, with no one brought to justice.

Credit, then, to the police officers who keep doing the work, and who keep bringing suspects to face court to answer for their crimes.

Today, for example, six suspects are expected at court to face accusations over several murders – including one man who is accused of committing five homicides, two of them double killings.

That man’s case date back to 2018, and while it may have been a long road for officers following the trail of a years-old murder, it will finally reach court today so the suspect’s guilt or innocence can be tested.

As one man is brought to court to answer accusations over five murders, however, the long holiday weekend has brought us another five murders for officers to investigate, the first on Thursday and the most recent last night.

It sometimes seems there is no end to the violence that affects our country. Police officers know the situation better than anyone, they face it every day on the front line against crime. They suspect some of these latest killings are linked and the result of retaliation between “rival” groups. They may not say the word gangs, but it hangs in the air the same way their presence hangs in the air of our communities, afflicting our young men most of all with a life of violence that all too often ends in prison or with a bullet.

How do we change that? That’s a discussion we’ve had many times, and the solution seems no nearer. Why do people end up in these gangs? Well, how many other places do we give them to go?

We have made progress in some ways – the rehabilitation of offenders has taken a step forward, with a committee giving those with black marks on their record the chance to leave those behind and live a crime-free life.

But the police officers on the street who keep doing their best to gather the evidence and bring cases to court, no matter how old they are, deserve a salute. If criminals feel they can act without fear of being caught, of being held accountable, they would indeed overwhelm us. So while it may take years, every case helps to push back the tide.

While we must redouble our efforts to stop the killings happening in the first place, we thank the police for their determination that these crimes do not go forgotten, and to give the families of victims justice at last.

COVID risk

There is nothing but sadness in reporting that among the latest deaths from COVID-19 is that of a five-month-old baby girl.

The baby died on June 26, and we also report today that a 78-year-old woman has also died from the virus.

For all the talk of any progress we have made in vaccinating against COVID-19, there is one group that remains unprotected so far – our children.

The vaccines that have been developed around the world were first approved for use by adults, before further testing to see how they affected children and whether they were safe for use. Some have already been given approval for children aged as young as 12 in some countries, but not all countries and not all vaccines. The process goes on.

Children are considered a low-risk group, but low-risk is not zero-risk. How can we reduce that risk? Well, those of us who can get vaccinations should do so, to make it harder for the virus to spread. And we should keep wearing our masks, washing our hands and keeping our distance.

If we don’t do this for ourselves, we should do it for the ones we love, to protect them and to try to keep them safe. Too many families have mourned a loved one already – with the official count of COVID deaths in The Bahamas now standing at 254. Let’s do all we can to stop there being more.