Rick Lowe
In recent days, The Minister of National Security and the Chief Justice have both vented their frustrations about about the murder rate in the country, and the not so funny thing is, they are both right. See The Nassau Guardian, Saturday, September 24, 2011…
On the one hand "some judges appear to be too liberal when it comes to granting bail to people charged with murder and other serious crimes" and on the other, judges "are guardians of the public rights…the rights of individuals…the presumption of innocence and the right to a fair trial within a reasonable period of time."
Once in a while a thought occurs to me and as the community leaders do not appear to be coming together to help, the government might invite them all to a private meeting, or a series of in camera meetings, to determine how they might become more involved.
Start with the areas the crime is known to stem from and move out from there with ideas on how citizens might best become involved to help stem the tide of violent crime.
I would think the Minister of National Security, the Chief Justice and the Commissioner of Police, the Member of Parliament for the area and the community leaders (Church and Civic) might attend the first few meetings to determine how best to get the situation in each area under control initially?
Obviously I'm no expert, and maybe this is already being done and we are not aware of it, but when the frustrations of crime reach the level where the Minister of National Security and Chief Justice begin airing their laundry in the public like this it's time for a different approach.
