Munroe ready to put police into schools

By RASHAD ROLLE

and EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporters

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said he is prepared to station police officers within schools to strengthen safety.

His comment in the House of Assembly came after a stabbing incident at AF Adderley Junior High School left a male student in hospital and two other students in police custody.

 Mr Munroe said the incident may be gang-related.

He was responding to Marco City MP Michael Pintard who criticised the Davis administration for not involving the Free National Movement in matters of national significance. Mr Pintard said the government has demonstrated a lack of urgency in dealing with rising violent crime rates.

 Mr Munroe said: “At the relevant time, the urgency of what is happening in this country caused me to be out of this chamber, addressing a stabbing in a government maintained school. And so any talk of lack of urgency on the part of this government is just simply disingenuous and is the sort of comment and behaviour that gives one pause for permitting the other side to be intimately involved in the inner workings of your government.

 “It’s one thing to talk about we’re going to work together and then in your words and actions do quite the opposite. And, yes, there was a stabbing at the A F Adderley School involving two young men who police intelligence say may be involved in a gang other than a good gang … but certainly the commissioner, deputy commissioner and I stand ready to put police into the school and obviate the debate we used to have about whether police should be in the school. I trust that that is urgent enough for Marco City and St Barnabas.”

 He said these types of problems are the result of years of festering issues.

 “We got here as we have said continuously. From my 30 years at the Bar I’ve continuously, having spoken to these people, said that they are products of our society. I do not change on that,” he said.

 Mr Munroe said there are easy avenues available for the opposition to access him and discuss important issues.

 “Many people have had courtesy calls on me as minister, a whole heap of them,” he said. “I’ve not had one request for a courtesy call from the opposition and so for them to say that they are willing to help, my brother, it’s a government building. All sorts of people have courtesy calls on me where you can discuss anything you wish. Whenever you get serious, you can call me, not my PA and arrange a time where you can come.”

 The student who was stabbed was in stable condition up to press time.

 Director of Education Marcellus Taylor said the student was stabbed in the back and was taken to hospital.

 “As far as we know, he left fully conscious and so we don’t think the stab (wound) was life threatening,” Mr Taylor told this newspaper. “The police were on the scene immediately after it occurred and they apprehended the other two students involved and they were conducting their investigation. That’s all I can tell you at this time.”

 Last May, a stabbing incident at Government High School left an 11th grader dead and another student in serious condition in hospital.

At the time, police could not say if the matter was gang-related or not.

 Asked if officials were concerned about gang activities on campus, Mr Taylor said this is a concern whether it involves students or members of the wider community.

 “As a citizen, we are concerned about gang activities wherever it is — whether it is in the school or in (the) community.”

 He added: “The school campus is our jurisdiction and so we pay particular attention to it on the school campus, but I’m just making the greater point that this is a problem that is all throughout our country and all of us as Bahamians should be concerned about it and what it is that (could) be done to mitigate it.”

 He said there are existing initiatives to help students, including after school activities.

 “We have various programmes in our schools, including the formal curriculum that includes subjects like religious education. Subjects like health and family life. We have assemblies and all these are designed to teach children about the values and attitudes that they must have. A lot of our content (has) critical thinking, you try to help people to understand how to resolve conflict, how to act intelligently.”

Comments

bahamianson says...

Munroe, before you put police in schools, put them in homes.

Posted 24 March 2022, 9:51 a.m. Suggest removal

JokeyJack says...

Good point, but we are where we are now, and so police are needed now. Stop the bleeding (literally) and then we can try lock up some parents also. Many many many of them need to be locked up. But, of course, those parents who need to be locked up and many of their friends and family members are voters and so Mr. Munroe can't put all of his voters in jail - and rightly so because if the majority of Bahamians WANT children to be stabbed in schools, then it is the responsibility (under a democracy) for the government to provide them with their wishes. Let the children be stabbed and killed - that's what the people want (probably because they couldn't afford an abortion in the first place, right?).

Posted 24 March 2022, 11:16 a.m. Suggest removal

moncurcool says...

Before he puts them in schools, put them on the streets.

Posted 24 March 2022, 1:46 p.m. Suggest removal

mandela says...

The parents who bring up these children are solely responsible for their actions, not the Minister.

Posted 24 March 2022, 9:55 a.m. Suggest removal

Sickened says...

Can someone please disclose if these two attempted murdering kids know their father. $10 bucks says they don't. And another $10 says they got at least a couple half-brothers and sisters as well.
I would love to see a full slate of family statistics on our violent criminal kids.

Posted 24 March 2022, 10:26 a.m. Suggest removal

tribanon says...

And just think how many of these murderous gangster thugs are the spawn of illegal aliens who were never intended to have citizenship under our Constitution and yet our corrupt political leaders are wrongfully seeking to illegally workaround (bypass) our Constitution and the Bahamian people by way of ill-conceived legislation to grant all such violent and murderous young punks Bahamian citizenship. Truly sickening to say the least!

Posted 24 March 2022, 10:47 a.m. Suggest removal

JokeyJack says...

Please don't talk about illegals in the Bahamas - you will only end up losing your citizenship and getting locked up.

Posted 24 March 2022, 11:17 a.m. Suggest removal

JokeyJack says...

Government schools have constant stabbings, gangs, violence, teacher shortage. Just like many other government schools. Nobody wants to be a teacher at these places to get killed. The children get a slap on the wrist when they assault someone, stab them, kill them, whatever and these things don't even make the news. This is evident from this morning's paper which does not even mention the incident on G.B. They "talking" about police in the schools. Really? Talking about it? Police need to be more than one police that the teenagers sneak up behind and stab or hit with rock on the head. One police can't control no government school. Need 5 to some of these schools, minimum.

Posted 24 March 2022, 11:13 a.m. Suggest removal

ohdrap4 says...

The students bully teachers as well ans sometimes physically assault them.
Even in private schools and administrators do nothing to keep revenue coming.

A teacher's only recourse is to leave the profession or the country.

Posted 24 March 2022, 11:41 a.m. Suggest removal

Sickened says...

A friend of mine moved here from another country to teach sports at a gov't school. The first month of school he was doing a class on the field, some guys jumped over the wall stabbed one of the students and took off. My friend transferred to a private school soon after.

Posted 24 March 2022, 11:47 a.m. Suggest removal

TalRussell says...

Putin's war machines attack on Ukraine has resulted in price fertilizer being up by more than 40% in the just last month...a new all-time high, prompting concerns over a global food shortages... presents export windfall, far in excess metric tons of **Bull-fertilizer** production **by those peoples in the know,** greater metric tons than will be needed fulfill local supply demand we 1200 out islands, cays, settlements, towns and inlets,... lots potential be major export revenue earner, makes sizeable chunk cash towards paydown what will remains we's realm's national debt ...**in final 18-months countdown to full separation** from the visiting Duke and Duchess's mommy and mother-in-law, ― Yes?

Posted 24 March 2022, 12:58 p.m. Suggest removal

sheeprunner12 says...

I agree with Munroe ....... Put the police in schools so that that they can run the schools in the place of the principal
Then see how that will turn out. More chaos

Y'all don't listen to Munroe. He's like looney tunes

Posted 24 March 2022, 6:55 p.m. Suggest removal

realfreethinker says...

I am still waiting on the video of the killing of the Kemp road 6. Wayne munroe said the cop was hiding it from the public. Now he is in charge what happened.

Posted 24 March 2022, 10:15 p.m. Suggest removal

Log in to comment