Former Police Prosecutor Warns of Judicial Collapse in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

Former police prosecutor Keith Bell told a public forum Monday that the Bahamian criminal justice system was "on the brink of collapse" and we could look forward to kidnappings and terrorism unless it was fixed.

Bell, a lawyer who spent 23 years on the police force, headed the prosecutions department before his retirement last month with the rank of chief superintendent. He also worked in the police intelligence branch.

"Now is the time to stop all the talk," he declared in a panel discussion at the College of the Bahamas on the Sanctity of Life: Socio-Legal Responses to Misadventures and Unlawful Killings in The Bahamas.

"From 1990 to the present we have had about a thousand murders, and that doesn't include attempted killings or causing grievous harm. Our murder rate is higher than the US and three times higher than Canada.

"We have intercepted arms shipments for the Bahamas that included assault weapons, grenades and explosives, and we could soon see the spread of kidnappings here like they have in Trinidad or terrorist actions like they have in Jamaica."

He added that there were already areas on New Providence like Nassau Village where police had to go in large numbers of 30 or more officers if they wanted to make an arrest.

"We have to control it on New Providence. If this spreads to the out islands we will be unable to control it and we will go back to the days of piracy."

Other panelists at the forum on Monday evening included Canon Kirkley Sands, lawyer Leandra Esfakis and COB criminology lecturer E'Thegra Symonette. The discussion was moderated by Jessica Minnis of the School of Social Sciences.

Bell told the audience that the Bahamas was witnessing a "paradigm shift" in the way people are being killed, and the justice system itself had become the biggest obstacle to crime reduction.

"One third of accused murderers are out on bail, including those accused of up to 10 murders. The statistics and reports are all there. We know what is happening. The only question is who is going to be next."

According to official figures, over 1700 inmates (or 68 per cent of the total prison population of 2,556) are on remand. And last year only one of the inmates admitted for murder was sentenced while 89 were awaiting trial.

Bell said the only way to address the problem was for the political class as a priority to agree on a common agenda for crime reduction and comprehensive legal reform.

"Police seize 180 firearms on the street every year," he said, "but it is only a small fraction of what is out there. I can go out on the street right now and buy machine guns, ammo and bullet proof vests.

"Already, more than half of our murders and two thirds of armed robberies and injuries are committed with firearms," he said."We have every major gun trafficker before the courts, but they are out on bail."

"If we can go on TV and say (Samuel) 90 (Knowles) is a god, we have not got our priorities right. What about all the people he destroyed with cocaine?"

The reference was to a ZNS news segment last week that featured residents of Knowles' former neighbourhood praising the convicted drug trafficker as a "robin hood" and a pillar of the community.

Knowles was extradited from the Bahamas in 2006 to face federal narcotics charges in the US. He was convicted in March and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

"We have still not recovered from our drug years and if you read the 1984 commission of inquiry report you will see that the whole fabric of society was corrupted by the drug trade. Four hundred crime files a month came across my desk and about a third involved drugs."

Bell called for an independent national ombudsman to combat corruption, which he said permeated the entire society. He added that, although there were some "bad apples", the police force was the only agency trying to do something about corruption, which had become institutionalised in business and government.

He declined to answer a question from COB lecturer Michael Stevenson on the degree of political pressure that police intelligence officers faced.

He said rape was another serious problem for the Bahamas, revealing that infants as young as five months were being raped by people with HIV/AIDS, often sending the victim's parents into the Sandilands psychiatric hospital.

"There are 100,000 matters before the courts, including 11,000 criminal cases and 48,000 traffic cases," he said."That's about a third of the total population before the courts, and it is getting worse and worse."

He pointed out that the investigation of serious crimes was compromised by the lack of a police forensic lab and other facilities. For example, there were only 10 officers assigned to the murder squad. And when crime samples were sent to the US for forensic tests, they had a low priority which further contributed to the delays in the justice system.

He said more judges were urgently needed because the judicial system had no choice but to set accused persons free on bail if they could not be tried in a timely fashion. Many of these persons on bail were committing more crimes to help pay their legal fees, or targeting witnesses.

And - because of recent Privy Council rulings on capital punishment - all those already convicted of murder now had to go through protracted re-sentencing hearings, putting further strain on the system.

"It's going to get a lot worse unless we take the bull by the horns and make some very tough decisions," Bell said. "We have the capacity to act, but we lack the tenacity.

"For example, why are we still charging unlawful killers with murder when we know that capital punishment cannot be applied? We should amend the law to provide for degrees of killing to make it easier to convict and implement a system of formal plea bargaining.

"Why are we still wasting time on Cordell Farrington (who was charged with the murder of several schoolboys in Freeport five years ago) when he has already been convicted and sentenced for (another) murder?"

Bell said the volume of criminal cases faced by the police was enormous. In addition to murders, there were some 1200 armed robberies a year, not to mention all the other serious offences.

"I had case files going back to 1970 to be tried. We have to fix the system."

Comments

[Rick]

Shocking stuff Larry.
I wonder why he is only making this known after he quits as the country's prosecutor?
However, it's important that the public knows about it, even if he might bear some responsibility for the tragedy.

[Lee]

Well, he couldn't have done it while in their employ but the truth needs to be told. Unfortunately, corruption has permeated every sector of our society and his words will fall on deaf ears as usual.

[nicob]

Rick, it's very easy to sit in judgment until you work a year or two in the system. Bell cannot be held accountable for a system in which we are all -- private and public alike -- responsible (private for willing ignorance, general self-interest and massive conservatism and public for unwillingness to change policy).

One of the major problems with the entire system t is that public servants cannot by law speak as Keith Bell has done here.

Have a look at General Orders, which governs the civil side of the public service. The police have their own rules, probably more stringent. Neither has changed substantially since the mid-20th century.

One has to leave the service to be able to speak, thus ending one's ability to change from the inside. The culture of secrecy -- many individuals have to sign oaths of secrecy upon joining the government service -- is both pervasive and destructive. Civil service reform is critical, and it is no a joke -- it is fundamental to our future, and to our very society.

[C.Lowe]

To work a year or two in that system would probably rob any individual of any desire to change the system. Surviving that system would be task enough.
Yes the oath of secrecy taken is a hinderance to truth, but only to those who take it seriously, which few do.
The system is the problem itself, and this system will not self correct.
Surgery is required, and from external pressure or action.
The private sector though, in having to produce in spite of the adversarial stance of the public sector, has by and large "cut a deal with the devil"
Only those who have not compromised themselves can effect change, and by not compromising with the rules or law.
This makes for a small contingent to effect change.
This method of rule by compromise or complicity by guilt is the problem, from top down.
By the way, "general self interest" is not the problem, it is the foundation of human achievment.
The methods used to acomplish individual achievment are most often the problem. We have not yet recognised that win, win, win is possible, instead repeating the same old "win at someone elses expense" scenario.

[Lynn Sweeting]

Kidnappings and terrorism? Truly a terrifying prediction from a former police prosecutor. One third of accused murderers are out on bail? An outrage. In my opinion Mr Bell should be commended for speaking out.

[Nanaqu2]

Very interesting article, I wish most of our students would of attended this meeting. I think that we need to have the death penalty, the death penalty needs to be enforced. Who are committing these murders and why? There should be a study into why such crimes are being committed.

[Rick]

Absolutely right Chris.
I do not buy Nicolette's argument that all 'good people' like herself and Mr. Bell cannot do anything about the system while they are in it. They choose not to - General Orders or not.
The points Mr. Bell raised should be in a report somewhere, and this in turn should be public knowledge. Pressure can then be brought to bear from inside and outside the system.
If they are not in a report, they can be leaked to the press or other sources that are willing to state them publicly.
I think they refer to it as accountability???
As I keep repeating, laws are passed every day to keep society and the private sector accountable, yet many in the civil service and many politicians get a pass.
As I pointed out in the first comment, it is important that these points are made public. Now we will see what those that hold the mantle will do about it.

[C.Lowe]

I still say build a prison to accomodate ten thousand inmates and stop bail being given for repeat offenders.
Hire sufficient Judges from the commonwealth group of countries to process realtime and clear the backlog.
It is obvious we cannot "judge" ourselves, or trust the system as it exists.

[Bill]

Hi Larry,

Great excerpt. I was shocked by Bell's outlook as well. But, he is only the messenger. Fact is, he articulated what's on many people's minds, anyway!

We have kidnappings now as we speak. The amount of murders on bail, in addition to this, witnesses going missing, is a recipe for further kidnapping- but, kidnapping is a case for ransom. So, I don't buy the kidnapping argument, from the way Bell put it. But, witnesses going missing, is basically kidnapping and subsequent, murder.

Nicollette said it right; people in the service, can't speak. The minute you do- as lax as the regulations are in public information leakage- and come forward publically after you have TRIED to persuade your superiors on the seriousness of the matter, you are branded and beaten down; victimized by the system.

No government, wants for folks, to say that their administration, is screwing up. No Department Director, would want his subordinates, to go public with mis-management of public services and funds. So, this "go and tell it on the mountain", when we factor in personal victimization and the singularilty of the phenomenon, gives you enough common sense to simply try to do your job, the best way possible- especially when public disclosure, is against the governemnt code of conduct.

That being said, I thank Bell for the revelation. Hopefully, from his new and fresh position, we can move forward on addressing what it is that is wrong.

Best,

Bill

[Rick]

A couple additional things please Larry.

It seems that, once elected, the political class becomes defensive when discussing the Ministry that falls under their purview.

If we are all about offering comment to help build a better Bahamas, petty personal differences aside, we should all be able to agree on what the problems are and seek to fix them.

Of course there may be differences in the "how to" but not on whether or not the problem exists.

In this particular case, Mr. Bell has been in place for years and we are now just learning about most of these problems. They must have caused him tremendous angst when he held the post, as it will cause his replacement.

Saying that the system prevents people in responsible positions such as this from pleading their case to the powers that be in writing or through the press or friends in the legal fraternity is simply a cop out.

Maybe resigning is his protest?

[Leandra Esfakis]

I would like to reply to the comment by Nanaqu2 that we need to enforce the death penalty.
In my view that is not the solution. No study I know of, has shown that the existence/enforcement of a death penalty reduces the murder rate, so it is not an effective deterrent.
As a Christian nation, we cannot endorse the death penalty as a solution. If Christ died for our sins, then he died also for the sins of those convicted of murder - assuming that the justice system convicted the right person. In a number of celebrated instances, the justice system has been proved wrong.
Studies to determine why people murder could be helpful in the intermediate term to long term but at present resources would best be applied to crime detection, and enforcement, and getting the accused to trial so that they are not released on bail.
The first real obligation of a state government is to provide for the physical safety of its residents, from invasion from without, or violence from within. If it cannot do that, it forfeits its right to govern.
The Nassau Institute had a speaker here last(?) year. He was a former president of El Salvador. His young party went into power after a long civil war. They learned that a high crime rate was linked to a high corruption rate. That government fired 1/3 (?) of the police force. The crime rate ( ie not the detection rate, but the actual crime rate) decreased correspondingly.
Our political leaders need to take similar healthy initiatives, even if it means they are not going to be re-elected. What is more important here: putting the country back on track, so we have a place where we want to- CAN live, and survive, or getting a particular party or Mr. X or Y re-elected?
It is a question of priorities.
We need to introduce accountability, if we want a better Bahamas.