A senior police officer yesterday admitted that many of the country’s murders stem from arguments over women.

“Young men are feuding over women. Family members are aware of it and they try their best to intervene,” Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade admitted yesterday during a news conference at police headquarters.

“Sometimes these men are best friends and these men argue and then gunshots ring out. It’s all because of jealousy and people are not communicating. Your challenge is to get on the ground and intervene early and if you see the tension then communicate with your superiors. We may even have to bring family members in and sit them down with pastors say enough is enough.”

The police commissioner said the men who are killing each other are “not strangers to each other.”

“I’m amazed when family members tell me these men have eaten out of the same pot and have slept in the same house,” he said.

The country has recorded 62 homicides so far for the year.

Men make up the majority of the victims.

Meantime, nine communities throughout New Providence today have fully operational Urban Renewal centres following yesterday’s launch of Urban Renewal 2.0.

The Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) officially launched the programme.

The communities include Englerston, St. Cecilia, Pinewood, Nassau Village, Centerville, Kemp Road, Bains Town and Grants Town, Fort Charlotte and Fox Hill.

The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) heavily touted the programme while on the campaign trail. According to Commissioner Greenslade the programme will eventually be spread out to other Family Islands.

“The flagship Urban Renewal 2.0 programme is a direct response to past and current problems facing a number of inner city communities in the Bahamas such as crime, poor housing conditions, joblessness, illiteracy, homelessness, and other social ills that contribute to crime and anti-social behavior,” the commissioner said.

“The Urban Renewal Community Based Policing programme is one of the most ambitious crime prevention programmes in The Bahamas. It is a comprehensive approach to crime, antisocial behavior, and community safety. It emphasises both innovation and integration of efforts and resources by a wide range of agencies and the community at large.”

The objectives of the plan include preventing crime and reducing the fear of crime in the community, identifying and tackling the main causes of social conditions which promote the occurrence of crime and deviant behavior.

“We have to examine and improve the quality of life and the social and environmental conditions of high crime communities,” Commissioner Greenslade said.

Forty-one officers will be attached to the programme as well as several inspectors.

Mr. Greenslade urged the officers to focus on conflict resolution within the communities.

The programme will be run by Superintendents Stephen Dean and Carolyn Bowe.

“Officers, who are assigned to the Urban Renewal 2.0 programme, have an expanded scope of police work which includes crime, the fear of crime, quality of life offences, social and physical disorder, and community decay,” the police commissioner said.

“These officers are expected to use a full range of talents, skills and abilities to not only prevent and interdict crime, but to also enlarge their role and become community problem-solvers. Community policing focuses on bringing the police and citizens together to prevent crime and solve neighborhood problems. In community policing, the emphasis is on preventing crime.
Preventing crime is a big job. The police are more effective when they can depend on residents for help.”

He explained that community policing calls for a commitment to improving the quality of life in neighborhoods.

The programme will be launched in Grand Bahama soon.

The commissioner added that the programme will be extended to Abaco, Exuma and Eleuthera in the coming months.

The Urban Renewal Project was first launched as a pilot project in the Farm Road constituency in June 2002.

The community was identified as the pilot area because it showed trends that were prevalent in other communities in The Bahamas such as crime, social ills and urban decay.

According to the commissioner’s policing plan, the team removed derelict vehicles, organised the demolition of abandoned buildings, dismantled street drug peddling groups, and arrested a number of prolific offenders.

These initiatives resulted in a significant reduction in crime, according to Mr. Greenslade.

The team then set up similar projects in eight other areas of New Providence, five in Grand Bahama and one in Abaco.

As a result, the team was awarded the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police Motorola Community Policing Award in May 2003 and subsequently won two other Community Policing Awards from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).