The Tribune

By TYLER MCKENZIE

IS it just me or is there some serious crosstalk going on over crime?

As I write this, the murder count for the month stands at 19 – including two more over the weekend, one on Friday, one on Saturday.

The level of violence is so concerning that Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis gave a national address on the issue. He even said at the time that he had hoped to be talking about other things instead – but here he was, moved by the seriousness of the issue to talk to the nation about where we are and what we’re going to do about it.

That, of course, is the right thing to do – take it seriously and deal with it.

And yet, when the United States puts out a travel advisory warning its citizens about the levels of crime, up go the arms in protest.

The advisory was perfectly straightforward, warning people to practice “increased vigilance in ‘Over the Hill’ area (south of Shirley Street) where gang-on-gang violence has resulted in a high homicide rate primarily affecting the local population”.

Notice the last five words there, “primarily affecting the local population”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rushed to respond on the issue, putting out its own statement saying that the government “has taken note of a number of advisories about personal security issues when tourists travel to The Bahamas” – not mentioning any names, but seems pretty clearly a response to the US advisory.

It added that while “states have a right to inform their citizens” – well, of course they do – “we do not believe there is any elevated or increased security risk to tourists travelling to The Bahamas”.

Oh, so no problem as long as they’re not killing tourists, got it.

The statement added: “We believe that anyone visiting The Bahamas for tourism or business should take the normal prudent precautions that any visitor to a large city in the developed world will take”.

One international newspaper that carried the alert noted the number of murders but quickly got into the sights of the government for a formal complaint when they included the picture of a murder in another country.

Now it is of course the job of the government to defend the reputation of the country – but it seems quite a contrast from the position of the Prime Minister standing up and declaring the severity of the issue, along with talking about introducing measures such as more intrusive policing and bail proposals that have lawyers questioning their constitutionality.

Meanwhile, the crime rate is also affecting the medical staff having to patch up the victims and clean up the messes from one shooting after another.

The National Emergency Medical Services deputy director, Kevin Bell, said that staff are experiencing a “tremendous impact” from the crime wave.

He spoke on Friday as paramedics were presented with 40 ballistic vests to try to protect them if they become the victims of attacks.

Mr Bell said: “They really see a lot. When we average it out, it is said that the average human or the average civilian or citizen will see maybe two to three horrific scenes in their lifetime. These men and women, they see those things on average six times a week.”

Six times a week. Just think about that.

Now, just to be clear, he said there is no plan to put such personnel into dangerous situations – the ballistic vests are precautionary not, as he says, for preparing them for the “hot zone”. He said: “We’re preparing them to interact within the warm area of a particular incident.”

That’s worth clarifying before we start proclaiming what kind of world are we in where our medics are becoming targets – they’re not, it’s just being safe.

Lord knows the criminals have not seemed to have slowed up much since the PM made his address and since the saturation patrols started putting more roadblocks on our streets, so there is no guarantee some of these killers would not show up at a scene and start firing again. This move is in case of those worst eventualities.

But let’s be clear – the murder rate has spiked, our medical staff are struggling to the extent that their deputy director is talking of supporting their mental health needs, we are talking about greater police intervention and changes to the law. We’re in a spot. In that light, the US advisory, which made clear that it affected locals primarily, is not out of line.

Are tourists being targeted? Thankfully, no. It does seem to be largely gang-driven, with others caught in the crossfire, sometimes literally. That tends to take place in the areas where the targets live. We read of shootings at houses, or on people as they drive in cars, or as they hang out in front of a building, sometimes at a business. When there was a shooting at Harbour Bay last year, part of the shock was precisely because it is not the kind of location that normally experiences such a thing. (And how much of a reflection on us is that we can use the word “normal” about such attacks?)

Will the attacks have an impact on tourism? Likely not, but wiser voices than mine shall chip in on that subject.

But we should avoid downplaying the situation – not least because it leaves Bahamians feeling as if they are less important than those who bring in the tourist dollars.

We get it. We know that’s about protecting our economy – and making our economy worse would only likely drive up crime anyway. But either these murders are a big problem worthy of national addresses and challenges to human rights – or they’re not a problem at all. Pick one.