By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

THE Davis administration said it would increase pay and benefits to legal officers to attract and retain top talent and hire more prosecutors to manage the demands of the justice system –– two of many steps it hopes will help reduce crime after 2024 began with eleven murders in two weeks.

However, Free National Movement chairman Dr Duane Sands dismissed the administration’s much-touted crime plan, released yesterday, as a “glossy brochure” with vague details and recycled information. 

The administration said its plan is based on a five-pillar strategy of prevention, policing, prosecution, punishment and rehabilitation.

 “While a slick and glossy product with beautiful graphics, it was short on granular details,” Dr Sands said. “In all, given the severity of the problem being faced in the country, a glossy brochure as the basis of the way forward confirms that this is more about PR than governance.”

 Dr Sands said the government’s crime plan seemed like an expansion of its Blueprint for Change pre-election manifesto. 

 “We are in crisis,” he said. “This document is not comprehensive. It is not fleshed out. It was a hastily crafted media piece to make good on the promise made during the PM’s lacklustre address. And it is not worth the glossy paper that it is printed on.”

 Much of what is in the plan was previously announced by Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis or highlighted by other national security officials.

 According to the document, the Davis administration will seek to prevent at-risk youth from being involved and affiliated with gangs by providing scholarships to at-risk youth for the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI).

 The plan said saturation patrols would be expanded, and facial recognition CCTVs would be introduced. 

 New sentencing guidelines will be introduced to “reflect current societal norms and legal priorities,” the document says.

 More public defenders also will be hired “to ensure equitable legal representation for all individuals regardless of economic status,” and more pathologists will be hired to reduce delays in forensic examinations and autopsy reports, “which are crucial for criminal investigations and legal proceedings.”

 Laws will impose “severe penalties for gang affiliation and activities,” and penalties for firearm possession will be reviewed.

 Cognitive behavioural therapy will be expanded to help rehabilitate convicts, and private sector partnerships will be sought to provide jobs for ex-offenders, according to the plan.