Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe speaks about crime during the weekly office of the Prime Minister press briefing.
NASSAU, The Bahamas--Compared to the same period last year, murders in The Bahamas are up 100% in 2024.
According to The Nassau Guardian’s records, there were seven murders recorded between January 1, 2023 and January 18, 2023. Since the start of this year, 14 murders have been recorded. Thirteen of them have been on New Providence and one on Abaco.
Police have pointed to gang violence as a major cause of the spike. As he addressed the matter last week during an Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) press briefing, Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe said prevention is a key part of tackling crime. While he pointed to various initiatives government is focusing on in that effort, Munroe said a large part of the solution to crime lies with the public.
“I want to bring to this country’s attention that prevention is the job of all of us,” he said.
“That’s the reality of it. We have had too many bad instances of a grandmother attempting to hide the gun of a grandson and going to prison because of it. Prevention is something that must begin in the household and the community but it is all of our business.”
Munroe defended the Davis administration’s five pillar “whole of society” crime plan, which lists prevention, policing, prosecution, punishment and rehabilitation as key focus areas.
While critics have called the plan a rehashing of existing initiatives, Munroe said it demonstrates consistency on the part of government.
“Recycled information says that you’re being consistent,” he said.
“Unless you’re going to have knee-jerk reactions, you should be consistent in what you do. The stopping and starting is the problem. You had Urban Renewal going strong, going well, addressing the needs of people. The government changes and simply because it is not your plan, you stop it and you see the problems that causes. Consistency is the issue. This is a problem of societal decay.” ~ The Nassau Guardian ~
