The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) has circled the wagon around the gaffe-prone Rodney Moncur. His appointment in the Ministry of National Security as a violence interrupter suggests to this writer that the hierarchy of the PLP government believes that Moncur is one of them, despite his flirtation with the Free National Movement (FNM) in 2016, when he was appointed to the Senate by Loretta Butler-Turner.

The readership would also recall Moncur being fielded by the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) in the 2012 general election. Based on his shifting allegiance over the past decade, I think it’s fair to suggest that the former Workers Party leader has played the DNA, FNM and PLP like a fiddle. And it has finally paid off, with Moncur being rewarded with an alleged lucrative post, that might pay him upwards to $65,000 annually, if former Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis’ revelations regarding this matter are indeed accurate.

Even if the salary speculated by Minnis in Parliament is accurate, if I were Moncur, I wouldn’t have accepted it, unless the PLP government isn’t really counting on him to communicate with the violent, irrational criminal elements of the netherworld in the inner-city areas of New Providence.

Based on what Prime Minister Philip Brave Davis has said, Moncur lives in “Black Village”, which presumably is located in the inner-city. I am going to give my personal opinion on why I seriously doubt Moncur will be able to accomplish what the powers-that-be are hoping for.

In fact, I believe that Moncur’s violence interrupter job could place him in a possible life-threatening situation.

Based on what I have read on the National Institute of Justice’s website regarding violence interrupters, they are tasked with working in criminal infested ghettos where gangs call home. They must gain the trust of gang leaders, which isn’t easy.

Violence interrupters roam the ghettos in order to identify and intervene in gang turf wars before the violence escalates, according to the aforementioned website.

Like American violence interrupters, Moncur’s post calls for him to seek out the families of shooting and stabbing victims in order to persuade them not to seek retaliation. In The Bahamas where Bahamians view the judicial system as broken and ineffective, Moncur’s task will be almost impossible -- and extremely dangerous.

Violence interrupters are featured in Chicago Cease Fire, an anti-violence programme that is utilised in the Windy City to fight crime. Former gang members were recruited as violence interrupters and are paid about $15 an hour.

In a 40-hour work week, they would he paid $600, which is $31,200 annually -- $33,800 less than the $65,000 sum mentioned by Minnis. Chicago CeaseFire is a branch of a national initiative called Cure Violence, the brainchild of American epidemiologist Dr Gary Slutkin.

According to a 2013 PBS Frontline article, CeaseFire cut shootings in two Chicago communities by nearly 38 percent and killings by almost 29 percent.

Despite this success, albeit moderate, members of the Chicago Police Department were distrustful of violence interrupters, due to their former ties to violent gangs. My issue with Moncur’s post, as stated above, is that it puts him and his family in an awkwardly dangerous position.

If the Bloods of Yellow Elder encroach into the territory of, say, the Crips or Aryan Brotherhood in Bain and Grants Town or the 8Trey Gangster Crips in Nassau Village, and end up murdering a Bloods member, what could Moncur possibly do to defuse this dangerous situation?

Moreover, to members of these gangs, while Moncur might be a resident of their community, they will now view him as a member of an establishment that they are at war with. They will not trust Moncur. Also, even if Moncur somehow manages to gain the trust of certain weak elements within these criminal organisations, one cannot naively dismiss the possibility of the hierarchy of the gangs accusing him of being a government informant, who provides sensitive intelligence to CDU and the RBPF regarding their nefarious undertakings.

With Moncur’s address in their territories, he would be easy to get to, unlike many government Cabinet ministers who live in safe gated communities and have security. It would’ve been smarter of the government not to divulge Moncur’s job description, as this places him in an awkward situation with the gangs in Black Village.

But that’s just my concern about this entire ordeal. There are some things far more important than money, especially $65,000 or whatever fee Moncur will be collecting. By accepting this dangerous job, Moncur, I believe, has overstated his invincibility in his community. Moncur needs to understand that gangs will no longer view him a gaffe-prone talk show host and activist who utters hilarious comments.

To them, he’s now a tool of the government, whose RBPF officers have been involved in fatal shootings of gang members over the years in their respective territories. I am not naive in thinking that gang members have forgiven the state and its operatives. My only hope and prayer is that Moncur and his family will remain safe, as he fulfils his potentially dangerous assignment.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport, Grand Bahama

May 1, 2022.