By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Phillip Davis said he is “distressed” by the latest streak of murders in New Providence.

Three men were killed on Saturday, a 28-year-old, a 22-year-old and a man believed to be in his forties.

Three women were killed the week before that — a mother and her daughter, and a mother whose body was found floating in the South Beach canal.

 During a CARICOM symposium on violence in Trinidad and Tobago last week, Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander said murders had declined by 22 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 2022. It is unclear what dates that comprised. 

 “I’m distressed over all of these issues,” Mr Davis told reporters on Saturday.  

“It’s clear that we could do things that are physical. We could provide resources. We could flood the streets. But, when things are planned and intentional, it’s just then it’s very difficult to curb what that person is about to do once they’ve planned it and it’s intentional.” 

 Saturation patrols have been a key part of police strategy for reducing crimes in New Providence, with police frequently setting up roadblocks around the island to capture people breaking the law.

 However, Mr Davis said early intervention in the lives of young, at-risk Bahamians is critical. He said the minds of criminals need to be recalibrated, a point that was emphasised to Caribbean leaders at last week’s symposium. 

 “One of the things that came out from our crime violence conference in Trinidad is Dr David Allen’s intervention when he spoke about the abused child being dangerous adults and many of the persons who are perpetrating these violent crimes they have discovered in their research, were somehow or the other abused at a very young age,” he said.

 “And so, from a scientific data collection point of view, it tells us that we have to craft interventions at an early age. We have to identify these young men and women who are being abused at young ages and try to put them on the right path. For now, the mindset is to recalibrate young people’s mindset, which again, when you’re talking about mindset, is very difficult to turn around.” 

Asked if he would encourage police to go even further with saturation patrols, Mr Davis said: “That is happening as you speak.”  

“There’s not a question of directive. You would have seen over the last several weeks, we have saturation patrol that’s working. You’ll see in the next few weeks, a number of vehicles that I’ve invested in to ensure that we have police presence on the street.” 

“But even though you have the presence, like I say, a person who is intentional about what they want to do and they’re planning it, sometimes very difficult to prevent that person from carrying on his plans. All we can do is to create the atmosphere to deter them from that.”