By NICO SCAVELLA

KEITH Bell, State Minister of National Security, said that in view of the recent spate of murders, notably the shooting death of the prime minister’s Press Secretary Latore Mackey last week, the Ministry of National Security will become “very aggressive” in its fight against crime.

Speaking to The Tribune outside the Senate yesterday, Mr Bell said the government needs to “introduce some new things” and “review its initiatives” if it is to immediately and effectively combat the steadily rising surge of violent crimes in the country.

Mr Bell also confirmed that Prime Minister Perry Christie, with National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage and Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade, have conducted “some” of the “special meetings” that Mr Christie said last week would commence as the government goes back to the drawing board on crime.

“We are, of course, obviously concerned with the state of crime in the country,” Mr Bell said. “There’s always a concern. One murder is too many. The real thing is that the overall crime rate continues to decline, but people do not want to hear that, and we do not want to hear that the crime rate is declining when in fact when you look at the murder rate, the homicides, the shootings, we see that there are some increases and concerns. And even if there was no increase, the fact that we may have had a murder and you look at how these incidents are occurring, among our young people, then it is a cause for concern.

“So we’re looking at a paradigm shift. It means that we have to look at reviewing our initiatives. It means that we have to be very aggressive, and those are the kinds of things that you have to do continuously. It calls for continuous reviewing and adjusting because each time you have a case it affects both the victims and the accused person. Everybody loses in those types of incidents.”

Mr Mackey’s death pushed the murder count to 83 after police found the 37-year-old slumped over the wheel of his government vehicle with a gunshot wound in his neck. He had crashed into a utility pole after being shot and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Since then, police arrested four men in connection with the murder, and two, aged 18 and 22, were charged with murder, conspiracy to commit armed robbery and attempted armed robbery in a Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Following Mr Mackey’s death, Prime Minister Perry Christie, who called Mr Mackey his “friend,” said last week that the government would hold several “special meetings” with the Commissioner of Police and National Security Minister to decide what can be done “immediately” to stop the escalating crime in the country.

Mr Christie said the government would be “challenged” to find a solution, but nonetheless his administration would be “relentless in its effort” to decrease crime before it becomes “uncontrollable.”

Mr Bell said he was “aware that some meetings took place” on a “number of issues, not necessarily just crime,” but said that he preferred “for the minister (Dr Bernard Nottage) to appropriately address those issues.” He said however that his primary concern is the “number of young men” that have become “killing machines” and dismissed the notion that crime would eventually become “uncontrollable.”

“I would submit that it (crime) is something that can be controlled,” he said. “It’s just something that requires constant attention. What I am (personally) concerned about is that a number of our young men who need guidance have come to the conclusion that they will be dead by the time they hit 25, and so a number of them have become killing machines. That is the challenge that we have to deal with, and it has been exacerbated by these young men who do not have male figures in their lives to guide them.”

Mr Bell also said he is a “strong supporter” of doling out capital punishment in the country, but as it stands the London-based Privy Council remains an obstacle.

His remarks were in support of Urban Renewal Co-chair Cynthia “Mother” Pratt’s assertions last week that the government should pass “draconian laws” in order to effectively combat the incidents of violent crime and murder that have been plaguing the nation.

“It is the most effective means of deterrence. For us in our society where we have persons who have come out on bail and committed another murder and another murder and so on, it means that, in my opinion, that the death penalty would be most effective. That’s the problem; it isn’t being carried out,” he said.

“I am a strong supporter of capital punishment, but as it stands we are prohibited to carry out capital punishment because of the rulings by the Privy Council,” he said. “We’re in a democratic society. Parliament makes the laws, the executive (branch) enforces the law, and the judiciary interprets the laws. We could make as much draconian laws as we want, if the judges feel – they’re the protectors of the Constitution – if they feel that the laws are draconian, that the laws (are) at the discretion of the courts, that the laws are in some way unconstitutional they will declare it null and void, and that is what has happened continuously.

“We have the option in the Bahamas of abolishing appeals to the privy council, so our court of appeal here would be the final court of appellate jurisdiction. Once we deal with it that way, it may be where you have more cases where the death penalty may be imposed.”

Nearly two weeks ago, six men were killed in less than 36 hours. Yesterday police also reported that an alleged attempted armed robber died in hospital hours when he was allegedly shot during an attempted robbery.