By MORGAN ADDERLEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

madderley@tribunemedia.net

DAYS after more than a dozen people were shot while attending a birthday party in Montel Heights, Bahamas Christian Council president Delton Fernander said residents must give up some “freedoms” so law enforcement can stem crime.

While predicting police would soon implement sweeping searches and road checks, Bishop Fernander asked the public to be receptive to law enforcement being a “bit more aggressive”.

He spoke during a National Crime Council meeting, where it was noted a state of emergency was recently implemented in Jamaica to fight crime, with law enforcement patrolling the streets armed with high-powered weapons.

When asked if the like should be implemented in the Bahamas, Bishop Fernander replied: “I don’t want to ever be perceived to be telling them (the government) what to do, but I’m speaking from a point that I know that’s what they’re going to do, if that makes sense. That’s what they’re going to do.

“I’ll leave that for the commissioner of police and the minister to say what they’re going to do. I am saying that as a citizen… I’m saying that it is the natural approach… we have to give room for this. We as a nation have to give up some of our freedoms so that we can quell this. Because if we don’t quell it, it will fester into something that will be much harder to quell now that we know it’s starting. I’m saying, there has to be massive presence in areas.

“And not just designated hot areas. It’s going to be an intrusion into our freedom, into our moving about and being able to flow and take your lunch hour break. You think you’re going into McDonald’s and coming right back to the office, but there might be a massive check. You can’t get upset because that massive check - because it’s for our benefit.

“We are a shipping corridor and anybody has heard... it’s impossible to check every crate. It’s impossible to check every cargo. And so let’s be real: massive amounts of weapons are out there. And I’m saying to us, we’ve got to allow the paramilitary forces we have to do what they do best.

“They have intel, they know some stuff we don’t know. We’ve got to allow them to be a little bit more aggressive and they’re going to have to do some searches and they’re going to have to impede some of our free flow…My point being: you have task force and agencies, you have groups that have been tasked to do certain things. All of them will not be as nice, all of them will not be as courteous. Because their job is to deal with the worst in our society. And I’m saying, Jamaica did it, they got a certain result. We don’t want to get there. So we got to do it early. So that we can get that same result in our country. I’m just asking that as a country we take the cerasee (bitter medicine) now so that we can quell the cold later.”

Bishop Fernander also decried the caliber of weaponry currently in possession of criminals.

“Any bullet that can pierce concrete wall is not a 9mm or the like’,” Bishop Fernander said. “If you can sit in your house, and I’m not talking about sheetrock and wooden houses. If you are in a concrete building and a weapon that is used (can fire) …through concrete, and ends up lodged up two rooms further in your house, tells you that the caliber of weapon being used on our streets is military grade.

“Unfortunately, this new desperate-to-be-in-charge crew is not concerned about casualties. They’re not thinking through that a 10-year-old got shot twice….and all of the other (victims) are important too,” he said, referring to those injured during the Sunday morning shooting in Montel Heights.

“But you’re talking about vulnerable people in our society who were just out having a good time. So sometimes it feels like we’re moving quickly in the wrong the direction and it should just heighten our effort to do something. Hence that’s where I’m at right now: that we need to do something.”

In interviews with The Tribune earlier this week, residents of Ethel Street in Montel Heights said they have been left “traumatised”, “frightened” and “angry” following Sunday’s horrifying mass shooting.

The tight-knit community was rocked by the incident, with relatives noting seven of the gunshot victims were relatives.

According to police, ten of the victims were female and four were minors — the youngest of which is just ten-years-old. There were no fatalities.