By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

“Marco’s Law is about to become the law” – hopefully before the end of this year, National Security Minister Bernard Nottage vowed yesterday, announcing plans to establish the Marco Alert for abducted children.

In about two weeks’ time – when the House of Assembly resumes on October 2, he said, a bill to amend the Child Protection Act will be tabled in Parliament.

If passed, that amendment will establish “The Marco Alert” – a mandatory action for rescuing children, Dr Nottage said.

“This alert system, we hope, will garner the support of society as a whole and will aid in facilitating the recovery of abducted and/or endangered children,” he explained.

“Of course we prefer not to have to have a ‘Marco’s Alert’, but as circumstances require it, we will now be better prepared for it. I was personally involved in the search for young Marco Archer when he went missing and we were concerned about certain protocols that were in place that we thought hindered the recovery of the child – and so we are fixing that.”

In the United States, a similar system is used called an “Amber Alert” named after a nine-year-old girl who was abducted in 1996 and discovered, dead, four days later.

According to the US government’s official website on the matter, an “Amber Alert” is issued following the abduction of a minor who is feared to be at risk of serious injury or death, and if there is “sufficient descriptive information” that will aid law enforcement’s efforts to locate the child and apprehend the suspected abductor – such as descriptive information about the suspect.

Dr Nottage also revealed yesterday plans to create a Sex Offenders Register through an amendment of the Sexual Offences Act which also will be tabled in the House.

“After consultation with the general public,” Dr Nottage said, “it is hoped that both of these amendments will receive widespread public support and will be passed into the laws of our country before the end of this year.”

Deputy FNM Leader and former Social Services Minister Loretta Butler-Turner praised the initiative to establish the “Marco Alert”, but explained she has some “reservations” as it relates to a Sex Offenders Register.

She explained that she can support the register “in principle” but there are “challenges” associated with such a register as it could lead to rehabilitated criminals being ostracised by society.

“Once you introduced rehabilitated criminals into society, you’re not supposed to continue to punish them,” she said. Mrs Butler-Turner did note, however, if such criminals are pathological, repeat offenders and a threat to society then perhaps the law should treat them harsher – “as murderers.”

Bahamas Against Crime director, CB Moss praised both steps by the government, noting that his organisation had called for a Sex Offenders Register “immediately following the discovery of the body of little Marco and we support it entirely.”

He said: “While we understand the importance of preserving the privacy of every citizen, that is over written by the need to protect the wider community from persons who have been convicted and who have been declared sexual offenders and even predators.”

As for “The Marco Alert”, Rev Moss called it critical as the country has had “a lot” of under-age children go missing for a time with some, never to be recovered alive.

“Once a child is reported missing, I think the entire nation must give attention to that and become involved in locating that child and rescuing that child, if that is needed,” he said. “So I endorse this alert law, even more than the sexual offenders law because the thing is this could prevent a lot of injury to our children if the nation is alerted and we respond to that alert and seek to prevent our children from being exposed to all kinds of hurt and injury and even death.”