By LETRE SWEETING

Tribune Staff Reporter

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said he has sought advice from the Attorney General on the way police should deal with Rastafarians using marijuana.

The group has long complained about being arrested and brought up on criminal charges over the use of marijuana, despite it being used as a sacrament in their community.

At a press conference at the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday, Mr Munroe said discussions and consultations are continuing with the Rastafarian community on their sacramental use of marijuana, with the latest communication being yesterday morning. He said officers may be able to use their discretion in arresting those from the community.

“I have met with representatives of the Rastafarian movement, in fact, this morning, they sent me a letter and I sent (it) to the AG (attorney general) for advice,” Mr Munroe said.

“It is a matter that the police can take policing decisions. So if you want to look at how the police, that the prosecutor in Baltimore, and the US decided to approach it, you can determine how you approach them,” he said.

 “If they have a potential legitimate claim for the right to practise their religion, you may or may not want to confront them over it, if it causes liability to the state. So, I expect to get sanguine advice from the Office of the Attorney General as to the proper way to approach it,” Mr Munroe said.

 He also spoke about several initiatives planned to tackle crime including a new school programme and demolition of dilapidated buildings.

 He said he is concerned that children from a very young age are practising criminal behaviour and therefore his ministry is preparing to launch the Hype primary school programme.

 “Criminals do not appear overnight. They’re created through a process of socialisation. It’s a process that can be interrupted. So we expect to launch the Hype programme, which is a specific intervention programme for primary school students,” he said.

 “The Hype programme is a multi-agency programme. There’s a discipline component that is provided by the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and the Department of Corrections.”

 Mr Munroe said the various government ministries and agencies involved in the programme would include the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and the Department of Social Services.

 Mr Munroe added that his ministry is in the process of seeking consultation for the establishment of a public boarding school, “for children whose parents cannot manage them at home, are not properly parenting them and need to be taken into state care”.

 Asked about the rise of sexual crimes mentioned during a police press conference on Wednesday, Mr Munroe said he is concerned about the experience that victims of sexual offences and domestic violence go through when trying to make complaints with police. He said the consolidated sexual offences and domestic violence unit should be open in a few weeks.

 “Very shortly, you will have open our consolidated sexual offences domestic violence unit that will not only house the members of the Central Detective Unit and CID (Criminal investigations Unit), but we’ll also have offices for NGOs that take care of the needs of victims of sexual offences and domestic abuse,” he said.

 Mr Munroe also mentioned that he supports the demolishing of derelict structures and vehicles to deter crime as well as beautify neighbourhoods.

 “So dilapidated structures not only pose a vector control problem, with rats and other vermin, but it is somewhere where the other vermin, the human vermin can hide, where they can hide their guns, where they can hide their drugs. So removing them, not only beautifies the neighbourhood, but it removes the hiding place,” he continued.

 “There’s a formal demolition process. And so that is the process that we’re engaged and a lot of the owners of these properties consent to them being taken down. And that makes it quicker and easier,” Mr Munroe said.

 Mr Munroe added that police are working on getting a police control board to be able to see in the control room where all police vehicles are located at any possible time and better direct units to occurring criminal activities.