The Government is wasting the people's time and money just to showboat for their public image. Instead of demolishing we should enforce the law. lack of enforcement is how these towns happened in the first place. The government failed to enforce the law for so long that more and more people built these places until they became a village. Demolition is a quick but ineffective fix. Destroying these people's lives will leave them no other choice but to try it again somewhere else.

Now that the government knows where the shanty towns are. Enforce the law with a long-term sustainable solution:

1. Take an inventory of every building and person in the villages.
2. Regularly patrol the village to prevent any additional development of the land (structures, infrastructure etc). Or any illegal activity (unlicensed business, rentals etc.)
3. fence in the village and create controlled entrances/exits so you can ensure no new adults are moving in long-term

With this, the village is contained and the law is being enforced proactively. The people know that the village will no longer grow and they can't renovate. Now use economic tools to influence them to leave on their own. If they're illegal then process them according to the law or give them a path and timeline to become legal taxpayers.

Enforce property tax collection. Make them pay land rent for occupying land they don't own. If they're illegal and the government doesn't want to deport them then collect an income tax to pay for the public services they are benefitting from. Make it more economical for them to work towards following the law and have them work towards leaving the villages and becoming legal immigrants. Many will leave and some won't. But at least the ones who stay are now paying their way (property rent, taxes etc.)

Seems like the only way the government knows how to enforce the law is to first do nothing and then once someone/people have been so obviously breaking the law that it hurts the government's image they show up with clumsy unsophisticated punishment.

It's like we only know how to govern our people like the previous colonists and slave owners, through fear (beat, hang, throw in dungeons, kill and destroy property). Instead of leading with fear the government should lead by example and with integrity.

Good stuff! Keep nurturing a friendly, competitive, and productive spirit in all areas of your life. Make friends, keep in touch and look out for each other.

The people are too beaten down. They don't realize that the government is their employee not employer or master. I gave up on the people banding together for their rights when the government legalized gambling despite the people voting against it. And we just rolled over and let it happen.

This political mafia class is having a jolly ole time enriching themselves on the backs of Bahamian suffering.

lol, what's new? It's terrible. When will we wake up?

*"He lift the dog up and put him on his shoulder and brought him out to the front area. I thought that was so profound. I thought it was an excellent initiative by the handler."*

He's getting leadership inspiration from the training of a dog? Wow. A dog doesn't get a salary to spend however they please.
Government employees are rewarded by their salaries, pensions and benefits. Also as civil servants, they should get intrinsic and personal satisfaction from serving the community. Otherwise, why did they apply to be a civil servant?
Any bonuses should be for improving the community. Not for performing arrests the basic tasks of the job. The goal should be to get us to the point of not needing arrests because the community is living in peace and harmony.

Are we going to arrest ourselves to a crimeless society? Is that how we get there? Everyone makes mistakes at some point in their lives. I never heard of or met anyone whose life was positively transformed thanks to being arrested. And prison only seems to damage people more creating lifetime criminals.

This guy should be fired. Not leading impressionable young officers.

Why do we expend Bahamian public resources on finding illegal drugs? Those drugs are in transit and the movement of drugs adds money to our economy.

Focus public resources on issues that have the maximum benefit to the average Bahamian life.

We're still brainwashed by the USA President Nixon's "war on drugs" from 1971. Which was later proven to have an anti-black agenda.

Our first black prime minister Mr. Pindling already addressed this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCoWgiO…

Focus on improving the average Bahamian life. Instead of treating the average black and poor Bahamian as criminals and a nuisance. Reward officers for community-building activities. Treat arrests of the average Bahamian as a tragedy that we didn't teach, mentor, and provide them reasonable opportunities to live a lawful life. The majority of Bahamian criminals are doing so because they don't have a better alternative.

I agree. What's there to consider? Tourists are visiting because of our environment. This is deleterious to the country's primary industry.

Reject this blame game. We need the current leaders to focus on what they will do and do it!
Not try to distract and waste time blaming others.

Build new. In a less congested area. Keep the current location for emergencies.

All talk. People don't change. If we want change the people must vote for leaders who haven't been indoctrinated by the political class. What reason does the political class have to change? They get paid and prosper regardless. There is no incentive for them to put in the work and take on the risk to make changes. If we want improvements we should demand freedom of information. All government activities should be documented a posted publicly so they can be held accountable. All contracts and deals should be publically posted for a competitive bidding process open to all. Politicians shouldn't be allowed to use the country's resources to enrich themselves or increase their personal power. Politicians' salaries should be capped at the country's average wage. Then give them the opportunity to earn performance bonuses based on KPIs the people care about. For example reduction in poverty, reduced murders, increase in the average grades. This incentivizes them to actually make improvements because if they do they get paid more.