Wednesday, July 22, 2020
EDITOR, The Tribune
I am a seasoned international traveller and have been travelling to the Bahamas since 1968, so fair to say I have some experience. My most recent trip (July 2020) to Nassau was an Airbnb rental in the Fox Hill District. In the past this was the nice side of the island. Oh how things have changed!! So many for sale signs of beautiful estates dot Eastern Road it makes me ask the question, what is going on? Digging deeper, those beautiful estates are now listing for perhaps 30% of their former value. The people that have taken notice are not only tourists, but local thieves.
These abandoned properties are an invitation to seek and steal what you can. My airbnb property was on Eastern Road and while we were sleeping, someone entered and stole our cash. Nothing else. Nothing broken. The property was gated and the front gate locked. Interesting fact though was that while we pursued this with vigor with the Fox Hill Police, we came to find out that a neighbour’s security camera caught an image of a vehicle right outside the property at 3:50 am. A violation of the national curfew. That alone should have sparked at least some police action. It didn’t! CSI came and dusted for fingerprints and found three sets. After a week plus dealing with the police, no news of the fingerprints and no one has done any work on the photo of the vehicle. I was asked by the police about the photo and whether there was any video to go along with it. Since when does a tourist do police work on vacation? Truly astounding!
The day before our car was robbed at Ft Montagu in broad daylight. So two robberies in two days. Very nice picture for tourists considering the Bahamas for a vacation.
Do not think for one moment that these types of occurrences go unpublished on US websites? Think again!.
So I ask you, business owners, how long will you continue to bemoan diminishing revenue from lack of tourism when you know that the problem begins right in your own back yard? Even when the COVID pandemic recedes you will not see a tidal wave of tourists descending on New Providence. Sure, the cruise ships will return, but not until the Fall. How many businesses have the financial strength to weather that storm?
There are issues to address:
Why do you continue to mark rental cars with yellow licence plates? To make an easy mark for thieves? Or is there some other bureaucratic reason?
Why does the department of tourism not list the Fox Hill district as a high crime area? Everyone on the island knows it is true, why not let the tourists know? In fact the State Department of the US posted in November of 2019 that the Bahamas is a high crime area for US tourists. Look it up, it’s still posted!
To follow police procedure, as we have done, is an exercise in futility as the police seem content to paper push rather than investigate. On more than one occasion I had to question the police as to why they did not have any evidence in their possession, but I did.
It is clear that this country thrives on tourism and mostly US tourism.
The Bahamas is a beautiful country, and the Bahamian people are truly lovely, but US people will not be coming as they once did. The State Department for the US has listed the Bahamas as a high crime area for US tourists. Now I am sure that this is old news to many and many have stated that it is a never ending story. But reality 2020 has come, people! Downtown Nassau looks like Beirut from the 1980’s. How much longer do you want that picture circulated through the world’s press, and most importantly, the US press? Tourist stories will continue on social media platforms about crimes and other sordid episodes that occur with regularity in Nassau. Tourists do not like wearing shirts with bulls eyes on their backs! Isn’t it time you decided to do something about this? I don’t know, maybe you like things the way they are.
MIKE COHEN
Legal Orthopedics, LLC,
Adjunct Professor,
College of Charleston.
July 19, 2020.