Today’s blunt conclusion is this: crime on the streets is conjoined with crime in our nation’s streets.

Both must be rooted out of this nation’s social fabric.

Today – with this conclusion in mind – we say that we hear and see some of what the Minister of National Security, the Hon. Dr. Bernard J. Nottage has had to say concerning crime and its incidence in the Bahamas.

For the most part, we agree with him when he says that, “…Drug use and abuse destroys the body and the mind and what we see in our Bahamas today is very much the result of our solid foundation not being laid on which to build…”

He is also on solid ground when he notes, “… There is a segment of our society where the widespread use and abuse of mind altering illicit drugs, alcohol and other substances… is prevalent. We often see the consequential bloodshed and death as gang members destroy themselves and others in seeking to maintain and/or establish turf in a war between and among our people…”

Nottage notes the obvious when he indicates that, “…The focal point to building a safer Bahamas must be a commitment to national renovation and renewal and that, the security of the country is a vital pillar on which to build a thriving nation…”

It is to be noted that, Dr. Nottage is on record with a crying claim that blames the Free National Movement for the current state of affairs as regards crime and the fear it has spawned in today’s Bahamas.

By the same token, there are very many hierarchy members in the FNM who would argue that this nation’s current dalliance with crime is rooted in that same history that brought us the 1984 Commission of Inquiry and its myriad of allegations and damning conclusions.

There are other Bahamians – especially all those who have some smattering of knowledge of the fact that the Bahamas has always been a smuggler’s paradise and that, its masses have always borne the deleterious effects of such nefarious trading.

In a sense, then, rum-running in the 1920’s would have laid the foundations for the rot and ruin of alcoholism in the same manner that, the trade in cocaine would have had its cruel effects on today’s generations of Bahamians.

A similar set of conclusions apply to ganja.

Evidently, our troubled Bahamas is as it is precisely because it has neither capacity nor will sufficient to resisting the siren call either of guns and drugs or the easy allure of money that is to be made on the quick.

This leads us to conclude – as other right-thinking Bahamians have already concluded – the troubles we face on the crime front are due to what has gone down not only in the past ten or twenty or even thirty years; but to the Bahamian penchant and desire to get rich quick regardless.

Sadly, many Bahamians die trying.

Many others are left in distress.

All of this notwithstanding, we now return to the current Minister of National Security and his apparent fascination with the idea which tells him, there is a war going on in today’s Bahamas.

He also apparently convinced that, this is so because, “…The Free National Movement neglected to lay solid foundations to fight the widespread abuse of drugs and alcohol and violence that has put the country in a state of war…” As previously suggested, we take this conclusion with a large dollop of salt.

The Minister is on solid ground when he notes the obvious, indicating among other things, “…it is the government’s responsibility to put the proper measures in place for the prevention of crime, the protection from crime and the punishments for crime and rehabilitation…”

Here we are certain that Dr. Nottage is quite aware of the fact that would tell him, sometimes your best is just not good enough.

In truth, this conclusion applies not only to what was attempted on the crime front by both the Free National Movement when it was in office and to the Progressive Liberal Party when its cadres last held the reins of power.

While we hope against hope that Dr. Nottage and his colleagues can – at long last – make a difference that matters, we are realistic enough to know that, while the wages of sin might be death, there is no reason to believe that crime does not pay.

Indeed, there is evidence galore here in these Bahamas to support and sustain the conclusion that crime invariably brings with it handsome rewards; thus its allure for criminals in our nation’s streets and thugs on this nation’s streets.

Both must be dealt with as if each was but one face of the same crime-coin.