Greenslade blames repeat offenders

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

REPEAT offenders out on bail continue to challenge anti-crime initiatives, according to Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade, who yesterday renewed his appeal for Bahamians to “draw a line in the sand” against criminals residing in their communities.

As he expressed his satisfaction for police performance for the year, Commissioner Greenslade said he was still very concerned over the trend of persons engaging in criminal behaviour as they await trial for other serious crimes.

“I am satisfied beyond a doubt,” said Commissioner Greenslade, “that we are doing significant good work. These officers are working very hard, but we’ve got some issues that we cannot solve ourselves.

“We have to draw a line in the sand with respect to these people. 

“It cannot be right,” he said, “in a vibrant democracy for us to just give up the ghost as if we don’t understand what is happening or how to fix it. These are our children. They’re from our homes, we know exactly who they are, and it is unfortunate some hold them up as heroes. They are running around the streets with illegal guns in their hands.”

Commissioner Greenslade said officers arrest repeat offenders, many of whom are still out on bail, on a daily basis.

In January, at a press conference following a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Christie told reporters that “the government is fully prepared to legislatively intervene to impose additional restrictions on the ability of judges to grant bail in offences involving crimes of violence and the use of firearms.”

Following Mr Christie’s statement, a group of lawyers expressed the view that the courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government, or from private interests.

It was suggested that if the government were to carry out the legislative change, it would be ruled unconstitutional by the Court of Appeal.

In November 2011, parliament passed legislation removing the jurisdiction of Magistrates to consider bail for capital offences such as murder, attempted murder, rape, armed and attempted armed robbery, possession of dangerous drugs, among others.

While awaiting formal arraignment in the Supreme Court, an accused can exercise the legal right to apply for bail to this court.

If the Supreme Court agrees to consider the application, a date is set to hear arguments from the Crown and defence.

Bail may be approved or rejected depending on, but not limited to, the following considerations: nationality and ties to the country, antecedents or lack thereof, strength of the evidence, chance of re-offending if granted bail, witness intimidation/interference; and protection from possible retaliation by incarceration.

Commissioner Greenslade said: “They’ve (repeat offenders) murdered people before, many of these suspects that we are seeking, and if we don’t take them out of their communities and get up in their faces and say look you cannot continue to do that, we’re going to have some more problems. This is a very simple issue, and I don’t think we should complicate it.”

Comments

ThisIsOurs says...

Hmmm...did they grant themselves bail? Who chose to have a fancy bridge renaming ceremony, or to build a 20 million dollar school or to have a 5 million dollar referendum or fly the entire cabinet to an out island for a 1hr meeting or have a 1 million dollar audit (that turned out to be useless having to be repeated), who chose that rather than funding a new prison?

Posted 11 March 2014, 2:34 p.m. Suggest removal

Purcell says...

"appeal for Bahamians to “draw a line in the sand” against criminals residing in their communities."
I think he is calling for vigilantism since the courts are letting us down? I'd say lurk around courts and when people held for murder rape and robbery set a foot outside shoot them in the freaking head. That would solve a lot of problems with crimes.

Posted 11 March 2014, 4:23 p.m. Suggest removal

pat242 says...

(Thisisours) Do not be bias. Two parties are guilty of this jail and bail cycle. So stop that right there.

Posted 11 March 2014, 5:41 p.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

Commish, do yourself a favour and go get a job from either one of your former police comrades at Atlantis or Bahamar............... is Albany hiring???????????

This is probably the most thankless job in the Bahamas

Posted 11 March 2014, 8 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

See that's the thing, you cannot take a public posting with hopes of pleasing people and getting lofty accolades. You should begin with a foundation in ethics, principles and a standard that guides everything you do. No matter what anyone says or what people ask you to do or not do, you can weather through it because your compass is so fixed against the standard, you see a clear path to the goal. What people are upset about, what I am upset about is the selective enforcement of laws. And it's clear. The poor little barman and nightclub owner are religiously closed for selling without a licence but the big time webshops owners are left to operate carte Blanche, so bad that the governor of the central bank has to send a shot across the PM's bow to do something about their ILLEGAL banking operations. The PM then acknowledges the problem!!! No police officer has shown up yet to shut them down for conducting an illegal operation, and it is clear they are illegal. When everyone sees this selective enforcement, everyone will complain. Everyone will wonder, the upstanding and the criminals. Be hot or cold. Lukewarm? Not so good.

Posted 12 March 2014, 6:37 a.m. Suggest removal

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