One week after a double homicide on the property of the Sandilands Rehabilitation Centre followed by another fatal double shooting in Jubilee Gardens, Acting Police Commissioner Emerick Seymour said there is no need to fear.
ACP Seymour’s comments echoes those of Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis, who recently stated that the fear Bahamians once felt they no longer do.
“We are feeling it, we’re getting that every day from members of public so, that fear will continue to minimize because as crime stats go down and of course as they see what we are rolling out, they can go about their business as usual without fear of being a victim of crime.
“So, yes, we are pretty sure that the fear of crime is in fact decreasing cross the Commonwealth of The Bahamas,” ACP Seymour said.
ACP Seymour added that only a small percentage of the populace contributes to the crime factor and that Bahamians are not sitting by and allowing the criminal elements to take over. He further commended members of the public for assisting with investigations across the board.
“One of the things that you hear us say from time to time is the amount of crimes that [are] happening are caused by a small percentage of our population. And so, the vast the majority of Bahamian people are determined not to cause these elements of criminality to wreak havoc on a wider community.
“So, in partnership with us, all the programs that we would have put in place with partnership with members of the public, we will continue to see decrease in the elements of criminality.
“We cannot allow a small percentage of people to wreak havoc among the wider population; too much is at stake, and so we will continue to fight,” ACP Seymour said.
ACP Seymour added that with the four recent homicides last week, police are still aggressively investigating.
“I can tell you that we are [having] significant leads in both of them and I am sure that given our trajectory, pretty soon we should be able to come to you and give you some more information on that; but yes, we are, in fact, progressing steadily with our investigations.
ACP Seymour attributed the reduction in crime and other such successes to the Commissioner’s Policing Plan for 2018.
To-date, the murder count stands at 83, a number ACP Seymour says the Royal Bahamas Police Force “hope to ensure that that stays as low as possible for the next two weeks of the year”.
