By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Chairman Michael Pintard said the steady rise in the country’s homicide rate is due to a lack of synergy between government and police officials.

He also said he is alarmed by the “lack of urgency” exhibited by officials amidst rising homicide statistics.

According to Senator Pintard, despite receiving the same crime briefings, Prime Minister Perry Christie, National Security Minister Dr Bernard Nottage, Minister of State for National Security Keith Bell and Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade appear out of sync on crime. He said he was “very concerned” by the apparent conflict between the “country’s most important crime fighters.”

“I don’t get a sense of any urgency among government officials given the amount of murders,” he added. “It is alarming, these are not just crimes where people engaged in nefarious lifestyle are murdered; innocent people are being murdered.

“Maybe because they have bodyguards they aren’t concerned. Maybe that’s why they are quiet and refuse to discuss the matter. The FNM is very much concerned. Everyday lives are being lost. Where are these four men?”

Mr Pintard said the policies and programmes presented by all four men have failed to yield the necessary results, leaving the country to bear the brunt of criminality.

“With respect to crime, recently Dr Bernard Nottage and others have touted the $20m that the government now has access to, with respect to developing programmes that would mitigate against crime in general,” Mr Pintard said, referring to a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

“Thus far the programmes they have introduced, the tweaking of legislation that they have engaged in to reduce violent crimes as they have promised in Project Safe Bahamas clearly haven’t been successful.

“The four of them need to be on the same page.”

Meanwhile, he proposed four initiatives to aid the government’s fight against crime.

Mr Pintard called for the government to engage influential community leaders to act as intermediaries in brewing conflicts. He said that church leaders, Junkanoo leaders and other community organisers often are aware of community conflicts and can therefore attempt to stop them at an early stage.

“The government has a Violence Breakers programme, the problem with that programme is that officials lack in my view, the moral authority to get the young men with whom they have been working during the election cycle to properly intervene in brewing conflicts because the reality is some of those very young men are themselves engaged in these conflicts,” said Mr Pintard.

He added: “You need the appropriate persons in this Violence Breakers programme. The average church leader, Junkanoo leader, community organiser – they are aware of the “beefs”, the difficulties that are going on between factions or individuals.”

Additionally, Mr Pintard called for strategic programmes to target young men and women between the ages of 17-35, advocating that the age group is often overlooked.

“Most of Urban Renewal’s programmes are targeting the young people who are already in school, that is your captive audience,” he contended.

“Once people have already left school, once they have graduated, in these inner city communities there are no organised programmes by government that will engage them, whether its employment generating skills, whether it’s a youth association where they can recreate and learn skills or learn discipline or proper work ethic.”

His third initiative was a recommendation that the government, through private-public partnerships to build “true recreational centres” across the country.

Lastly, he called on the government to better target prolific criminals.

Mr Pintard insisted that those initiatives would only produce successful results if executed by a government that displayed urgency.

Up to press time, the country’s murder count was at 92 for the year.