Security Minister's Spin Will Do Nothing To Tackle Crime in the Bahamas

by Larry Smith

There were some interesting reactions to the shocking things that former police prosecutor Keith Bell had to say about crime last week.

In case you missed it, Bell told a public forum that I attended last Monday that our criminal justice system was "on the brink of collapse", and we could look forward to kidnappings and terrorism unless it was fixed. He then reeled off a string of horror stories and statistics to support his argument.

"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. It's going to get a lot worse unless we take the bull by the horns and make some very tough decisions."

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. He also called for an independent national ombudsman to combat corruption, which he said had become institutionalised in business and government.

His considered opinion - as the man in charge of police prosecutions until just a few weeks ago - was that although we have the capacity to act, we lack the tenacity.

Strong stuff. But we were dismayed at the official response. When the Guardian questioned National Security Minister Tommy Turnquest about Bell's comments, he admonished the media not to report such matters because it could affect tourism.

"This is a small country and a very small minority are committing crimes," Turnquest said. "We have to work together and we also have to let the tourists know that we put hardened criminals in jail when they are convicted and sentenced. That should also make headline news to bring down the temperature in our country."

As for the forecast of kidnappings and terrorism, "If we get to that stage, then yes, we'll worry," Turnquest said. "But we're not at that stage...I don't think that the system is going to collapse."

Bits and pieces of what Bell had to say have been reported before, but to my knowledge they have never been related so comprehensively and directly by someone in a position to know the dirty details.

In an unusual display of candour, Opposition MP Bernard Nottage admitted that parliamentarians shared much of the blame for the country's spiraling crime rate: "Could it be that we politicians are part of the problem rather than part of the solution?" he asked his colleagues in the House.

Well yes, it certainly could. And the attempt to downplay Bell's remarks by, in effect, saying we'll worry when things do collapse was an entirely inappropriate and counterproductive attempt at spin doctoring by the National Security Minister.

Do the math
The prospect of judicial collapse is not a matter of speculation, it is based on simple mathematics. There are currently 100,000 cases before the courts, of which 11,000 are criminal matters that must be tried by the supreme court. Each one of these cases will take a certain amount of time to dispose of - two to three weeks for serious matters, lawyers say. And there are only three judges available for criminal trials, who hold court for only a portion of each year.

Clearly, it will take an eternity for a handful of judges to process thousands of criminal cases. And the math does not take into account the time lost in scheduling witnesses, choosing juries and pinning down ducking lawyers - on both sides. And if - by some miracle - the courts were able to convict and sentence a large proportion of offenders, there wouldn't be enough jail cells to hold them.

Furthermore, demands to make more judges available for criminal trials simply cannot be met because of physical limitations in terms of courtrooms and support facilities. That is not my opinion - that is a fact presented by the chief justice as recently as a few months ago.

And, as many readers will know, the political class has been dithering about a new judicial complex and other improvements to the justice system for at least 10 years, with little to show for it.

As Chief Justice Sir Burton Hall also pointed out, "Crime flourishes when we fail to enforce our laws, particularly the small laws. Chaos in any society provides the cover for criminal activity. We permit and encourage lawlessness."

But Minister Turnquest says things are not really so bad: "The police have a high apprehension rate because we know who the trouble makers are."

That may be so, but it doesn't mean a hill of beans because once apprehended they can't get timely trials, which means they must be released back onto the street. According to Bell, those on bail include a third of all murder accused (including persons accused of up to 10 killings) and all the major gun traffickers.

"The statistics and reports are all there. We know what is happening. The only question is who is going to be next," Bell says.

Just a few days ago, for example, the Ministry of National Security released a report showing that over 1700 inmates (or 68 per cent of the total prison population of 2,556) are on remand - meaning waiting to be tried. Last year only one of the inmates admitted for murder was sentenced, while 89 were awaiting trial. And after a certain length of time they have to be bailed.

I would be willing to bet that one year ago, an out-of-office Turnquest would have sung a different tune. What is it that makes him so defensive today? The fact that he now bears some official responsibility should not blind him to the obvious.

As we have said before in this space, a series of commissions involving lawyers, judges, psychiatrists, criminologists, clergymen and social workers have worked hard on this subject over the past 20 years. Their reports have identified all the contributing factors and suggested a range of remedies. These can be divided into three categories - socialisation, enforcement and justice.

Socialisation covers all the things that produce new entrants to our society - the family, home life, schooling, moral codes and work. Enforcement is the way in which society's rules are applied or not applied. And justice refers to the way we process those who break the rules.

Of these socialisation is the most difficult to address because it requires long-term investments in education, family counselling and social programmes. Enforcement is a no-brainer, but by itself it will only lead lead to gridlock unless the justice system is fixed. And that is probably the easiest of the three categories to deal with, because the solutions are clear and finite in scope - requiring only political will and money to make them a reality.

We know the prison is overcrowded, so if we want to keep criminals locked up and deal with all the backlogged cases we obviously need a bigger prison - or new jails for various types of offenders - and more prison officers. Once we have places to put offenders we can set about processing them - and that requires more judges, more courtrooms, more prosecutors and more support facilities.

To those who would say we can't afford all that, I say there are ways to find the money. In fact, our politicos can always find the money to do what they want to do. It's simply a matter of setting priorities. And in an emergency such as we are facing today, that should be an easy task.

Whistleblowing
The second reaction to Bell's comments involved the question of accountability. One commentator on the Bahama Pundit blog questioned why Bell was only now bringing this important information to the attention of the public.

Another replied that "it's 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 is that public servants cannot by law speak as Keith Bell has done here. 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 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."

To which the first commentator replied: "I do not buy the argument that 'good people' like Mr. Bell cannot do anything about the system while they are in it. They choose not to - General Orders or not. The points he 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?"

In a separate email exchange, one mid-level civil servant told me that "Criticizing without having any real idea of what it means to work in the public sector, what it means to be a public servant of integrity, and what it costs to maintain that integrity, and then linking it glibly with party politics is a cop-out.

"But the real cop-out was the asininity of last year's political campaign, which was reduced to name-calling, hero-worship, and point-scoring, and which contained absolutely no discussion of public policy, no concept that our country is on the verge of a crisis, but which drowned in a sea of red and yellow stupidity.

"the worst thing about our country is that one's perceived party affiliation (even if one has none) curtails or even ends the kind of work one can do from within. That this may be true even in our security forces is frightening to me."

We have mixed feelings on this issue, so we asked Keith Bell a direct question. Here is what he said:

"The Police Act prohibits the police from speaking openly. I have written tirelessly on all these matters and much, much more on how we can counter these problems. All these matters were deeply researched and carefully considered. Those in authority who are able to affect policy change know fully that they were given written proposals from the areas that I was the officer-in-charge. I gave everyone the opportunity to review the documents and consider the content; I never received any responses. Your article placed all those who did not attend the forum squarely as though they had actually attended."

Comments

[nicob]

It's not just the judicial system that is on the verge of collapse, but the entire public service. More later.

[Rick]

Glad you found a voice for this Nicolette.
Let's get your recommendations out in the public domain. Please.
Let the politicians defend the indefensible if their position is untenable.

[leandra esfakis]

I do hope the politicians get their pants on, get to the operating table, and do some serious surgery and transplants before the patient (the judicial system, and with it social stability) expires from neglect.

Any evidence of this happening?

[EB Christen]

I would like to point out three things from this article:

1. To all the detractors who attack Larry as pro-FNM... read this and weep! The fire of truth is for all our shabby leaders. This country must fight for its own future and party politics is for retards! Take your head out of the red and yellow sand and think with your own mind!

2. Tommy Turnquest should really focus on solving the problems and stop talking about how we, the public, should talk about the problems.

3. Both the FNM and the PLP, along with the public are equally accountable for all the countries ills at this point. It is our leadership in general and our society as a whole that is at fault. Finger pointing will solve nothing!

The truth must be openly discussed if apropos action is to be taken. If it isn't, then we are left with reaction, which is the great folly of Bahamian history.

[Ralph Deans]

Larry

Your Tough Call today was, as usual, right on the money.

With everything wrong, where to start? The answer is "everywhere" but that, obviously, cannot be because you can't turn the whole country and its entire economy into a crime-fighting machine.

Social programs, rescuing kids at risk, counseling, rebuilding rundown neighborhoods, jobs training, creating employment etc etc... the list is endless and it's all necessary. But the cruel fact is that once a person starts on a life of crime, he or she usually continues in it. You can spend a lot of money trying to change that dynamic, and you should, but you have to recognize that it's an uphill battle. You have to deal with the situation you've got, not the one you'd like to have.

My non-expert suggestion is that you have to start at the foundation and that is a brand new, state-of-the art prison. That sounds negative. Social activists would prefer to attack the roots of crime, not what we do with the criminals after they have committed a crime. But there isn't time for the altruistic approach, quite aside from the fact it sometimes doesn't work, or if it does, only over the long haul.

Her Majesty's Prison at Fox Hill is a national disgrace, as everybody knows. The conditions inside are inhuman; it's an insult to common sense and ordinary sensibility. The whole place should be demolished as soon as possible after it has been replaced with a much bigger and fully modern institution. And this should be done quickly as a matter of the utmost national priority, including the imposition of new taxes, if necessary. It is the very first step that needs to be taken to fight crime.

For even if you trebled or quadrupled the number of judges (at least until the 100,000-case backlog is punched into better shape), and found the money to create the courtrooms and pay the support staff that such an increase implies, the new judges would just be jamming an ever-greater number of dangerous individuals into an ever-diminishing space -- which is the very definition of a bomb.

If China really wanted to give The Bahamas something useful, they should consider a $30 million state-of-the-art prison, not a sports stadium that would rarely, if ever, be filled. (IMO, that gift is part of a naked superpower ploy to buy cheaply an ability to tilt the votes of Caribbean and other small nations in the UN - but that's another rant.)

Appreciate your work.

Ralph Deans
Editor/Bahamas Handbook

[larry smith]

As an aside to Nico's remarks on this and an earlier post, I attended meetings at ZNS today and a number of people referred to my recent article on public service broadcasting.

They were incredulous. It was not so much what I said - which was nothing really dramatic and most couldn't recall it anyway - but that I actually had the TEMERITY not to simply mouth official views and repeat bland nothings.

These were all very senior and responsible people, but they are ever so terribly deferential to those in power - people that we put there in the first place.

We have a serious problem in this country because citizens are terrified to discuss the issues without descending into a pit of red and yellow snakes.

[C.Lowe]

I agree with your article and especially your last comment.
Why do we defer to the incompetent? I realize we elected them, but we have done so repeatedly to our own detriment.
This deference can be equated directly to the blind leading the blind or worse, volunteering to put your own eyes out!
A very large prison is needed, but so are foreign plice officers and judicial personel.
Parallel them if you like with Bahamians but we as a people are not apparently able to police or prosecute ourselves.
Short of aliens landing and taking over we seem to need foreigners for more than their investment or money.
By the way, our ex chief prosecutor is not the only one who is tired of writing reports only have them ignored for no good reason other than the self inflicted superiorority of the recipients!

[SDJosey]

As a people we are more accustomed to talking about problems rather than providing solutions. I will state emphatically that Larry has proposed via this blog numerous solutions for a myriad of local issues. We can never allow ourselves to become so overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation that we become paralyzed into inaction.
One of the immediate solutions we need is the creation of a juvenile remand and incarceration system totally separate from our adult prison system. Our goal for such a system would be intervention programs geared to turning around the lives of potential career criminals. In my opinion this is a proper application for the YEAST program and the YEAST dollars.
According to Carlos Reid we have a potential population of 15,000 youth and young adults who are disposed to becoming social deviants and future criminals. This is another place where our efforts need to begin.
History has shown that our politicians do not have all the answers. We must give them credit for having the courage to assume the task of leadership in many of our societal issues. However, we must keep them honest and not give them a pass when they fall short of our hopes and expectations.
It would also seem to be a no brainer, that part of the solution for reducing the court backlog, is to systematically employ the qualified resources from wherever we can find it and reduce the backlog. It is unthinkable that career criminals charged before the courts with one criminal offence are free to commit other offences with this freedom. I am deeply troubled that key players in the judicial/justice system cannot convene a symposium discuss the issues without political prejudice and formulate a solution. It does speak to our nation’s maturity. But then again isn’t that the real issue?

[larry smith]

As if to prove the point, four ex-policemen had charges against them of conspiracy to commit murder, armed robbery and arson dismissed by the supreme court this week.

The reason - their case had not been tried within a reasonable time.

Chester McKenzie, Keith Patton, Henry Brice and Stephen Stubbs were arrested in 1992 and dismissed from the force when they were committed for trial by Magistrate Carolita Bethel in 1994.

Justice Jon Isaacs, who freed the accused, expressed amazement that such a serious matter could be allowed to linger so long without being tried. He added that the evidence was very strong against the four men.

The men were accused of conspiring to murder fellow officers in a bid to break into the police drug storage facility to steal drugs and ammunition.

[Bahamas Community Blogger]

It is nice to see so many people concur with my opinion of Mr Turnquest's remarks, which I published on June 13. I feel good knowing that I am not the only one with this viewpoint. Both you and Nicki Kelly (The Punch) have since published articles reiterating what I said, but far more eloquently. :)

[Bob Knaus]

No policy recommendations here, just a couple more "do the math" questions.

Is the Bahamas ready for US-style incarceration rates? The Bahamas already gets dinged in the press for having large numbers of people in prison... but if we take a population of 1400 at Fox Hill against a Bahamian total of 320,000 citizens that gives an incarceration rate of 437 per 100,000. Compare that to the 800+ rate in the US:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisons_in_the_United_States

Also on this page, look at the 3.2% total rate in prison/parole/probation in the US. Is the Bahamas ready for this? Can it afford this level of justice?

Most importantly, will the families of the men caught up in the wheels of justice stand idly by when they are removed from society? And from the gene pool? Because that is what long-term lock-up policies do. They are crude, but quite effective, at removing the criminal element from society.

Is that what Bahamians want?

[John Hinchliffe]

I have not read the entire article or indeed all the posted comments...but I get the picture.We have the same problems,it seems, in the UK....permissiveness rides high in the saddle.
As my time drew to an end in GBI in 1988,I slept with a pump-action s/gun under the bed and for very good reasons...any one remember the GM of the Power Company Dan Clayton being shot and damn near killed in his own home? ...and does anyone remember the 'outlaw' Pheral Lewis? On my departure I gave the late Edward St.George a verbal blast which featured in the Tribune...he felt that the Island was a safe haven and that my comments were a load of "balls".Edward St.George was part of your problem and a known 'corruptionist' with the effects spiralling down.
We all face problems of destructive social behaviour...witness intimidation features on Radio 4 BBC as I type...and it needs firm resolve on the part of the greater public with the policing authorities to ease society out of this...STARTING AT THE TOP!

[Fact Gathering]

Can you give the names of the persons accused of up to 10 killings?

[1955-2008 Grand Bahama]

Mr. L. Smith you have your mind on the crime in Grand Bahama and Nassau,and I feel after 50 years of observation you are correct in its growth. The causes being failure to prosecute because of political or family influence and familial failures. The young men and women - men in particular = who were born out of wedlock and "out children" circumstance - whose mother was never financially assisted or mature enough to create some type of self esteem in their child, are now seeing these people without education or respect for reproduction as it created them, bite back. The "dead beat" father issue in the United States has $680 Million being held back from the male creatures that fathered them - we need a similar scorn for these types of "men" that produce life indiscriminately.