The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

PASTOR Dave Burrows said all hands are needed on deck to curb crime, adding there’s a misconception that only those from the “streets” can reach troubled youth.

“There are not enough people working in this field. And what we need to do is expand the number and variety of people involved.

“We need more trained individuals from various backgrounds. One of the misconceptions that exists is that only if you come from the streets, can you reach the streets,” Pastor Burrows said.

Pastor Burrows, president of Bahamas Faith Ministries, gave a presentation on Friday at the Ministry of National Security on his initiative “Reaching the Streets”.

He spoke at the ministry’s Advisory Council on Crime, which is chaired by noted psychiatrist Dr David Allen.

He said that young people have become more involved in crime but that does not mean they are unable to change.

“We have young people involved in crime and young people involved in gangs. And we cannot just say ‘well they’re unreachable.’ We have to understand and appreciate that they have been reached and they can be reached. And what is needed is the right strategy,” Pastor Burrows stressed.

He added that there are three main components to reaching troubled youth which include: access, engagement, and sustained programming.

“There are several methods of access you have: schools, the community, the church, and then captive access.

“Captive access is one of the most important. When kids are in school and they call an assembly or there’s a programme, they don’t have a choice, that’s captive access.”

He explained that having access to troubled youth allows experts to build relationships with and also to fully engage with them.

Pastor Burrows said that also having probation programmes for troubled youth could aid in their transition to living a non-criminal lifestyle, adding that many young men were raised in a violent community.

Pastor Burrows continued: “What we have to do is whenever we engage these young people, we have to get them involved in a programme. That teaches the spiritual side of it, character, business, career, and life skills side of it.

“And that’s what we talk about in the book,” he said, referring to a book he wrote on the subject.

“If you change your life and you go back to the same environment and nothing is different eventually, you’re going to go back. Because nothing is sustaining you. So, you have to have a programme that’s ongoing where you have contact with these guys on a regular basis.”

On January 2, Prime Minister Phillip Davis said the government was hoping to launch a youth guard programme, which intends to capture the youth to build the communities and to help reduce the effects of crime.

He said the government was hoping to launch this programme sometime this year as a wider part of its crime fighting strategies after the country’s murder toll hit over 120 in 2022.

“Over the years, I think we have spent too much effort and too much resources on detecting crime, punishing crime without any regard to what I call the preventative measures and rehabilitative measures. Emphasis will be placed on those labours of the crime fighting initiatives,” Mr Davis added.