by Jerome R. Pinder
Letter to the Editor dated the 9th December 2009:
Dear Editor:
Just hold Dorothy's hand and skip along the Yellow Brick Road to the Land of Oz, the Fairy Country, there you will find our Minister of National Security.
On Tuesday December 8th you reported on an exclusive interview with the Minister of National Security: "Turnquest says number too high, but killings not necessarily random." So if I am understanding the Minister, then all I have to do is:
1) Make sure I do not have an argument with anybody, as I may be like 1 of the 28 that have been murdered as a result of arguments.
2) Don't argue with my wife she may kill me and I may be like 1 of the 9 murdered in domestic violence.
3) Don't accident ly stumble on a drug deal, as I may be like 1 of 14 killed in a drug related murder.
Wow, I am sure this exclusive interview made the family of the Burger King Manager feel better, I am sure it brought closure to the family of Wendy Bullard shot in a robbery, or peace of mind to the family of Mrs. Cates who was brutally murdered in Eleuthera. What explanation does the Minister have for these crimes. And how will the Minister explain the explosive rate of armed robberies. We even had a Supreme Court Judge held at gun point. I guess it is the fault of the hard working businessperson why they have a gun held to their head, while their material possessions are taken and their lives threatened.
Again Minister, we do not expect you to be in everybody's bedroom or prevent every drug deal, but we do expect you and your Government to move forward with legislation to get these thugs off the streets and carry out capital punishment. Do we have to say it in Spanish to get the People's voice across.
I was going to leave the December 8th report alone, but then I read the Tribune on December 9th. There on page 5: "Turnquest: Tribune headlines focusing too much on crime." This made me realize what I had been missing all along, I live in the Bahamas and the Minster lives in the Land of Oz. So let's skip down the yellow brick road and stop reporting the crime, then maybe it will go away. Is the Minister serious? As a matter of fact, I have people tell me about crimes all the time that don't make the Tribune. What would the Minister think if the Tribune got the opportunity to report all the crimes? I suppose us innocent people would not leave our homes, if this was the case. Trust me Minister, some crimes are being suppressed because they are not reaching the media.
Well I ask the Minister, what about word of mouth, what about email, what about text messages, what about blogs, etc, etc, etc. I often hear about crimes by word of mouth the same day they are committed, hours before they are reported in the Tribune. I don't need the Tribune to put the fear of God in me. It's happening by just talking to people and living in this Country.
Why didn't the Minister use the exclusive interview to report to us what the Government is doing to amend the Bail Act? What are they doing to expand the capacity of the Courts? What are they doing with signing death warrants? When will the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy hold their next meeting? I guess he does not have an update. I should not be surprised, since I am advised that the Commissioner of Police meets with the PM on a weekly basis, not the Minister of National Security. So will the PM please answer these questions.
The Minister should stop worrying about the Headlines and start worrying about his Government punishing the criminals and keeping the thugs off the streets. Listen at the people man!
If we could only all hold hands and skip off to the Land of Oz, maybe there would be no murders.
Right on Jerome.Has anyone seen Dorothy ? I think I better “Click” my heals & get out of here like the tourists are doing. The Minister must be in Oz for sure.
I wonder if they call our Minister of National Security “the Lion” there in Oz???
Sorry DP…..
Dorothy doesn’t come out of her house anymore… ever since she was robbed at gunpoint leaving a shopping centre – by a punk who was out on bail! Oh, and her dog was stolen out of her front yard.
If there is noboby to protect us, are we to take matters into our own hands?? maybe start pushing for legalised handguns?? The bad guys got’em…
The Minister needs to do his job today and focus on what’s going on in this country now – NOT look towards the next election. I’ve said it before… If he doesn’t have the stomach or whatever to do this job… be a man and step aside [maybe I’d have a little more respect for him]. At the rate things are going I wouldn’t plan too heavily on getting re-elected anyway!
STEP UP or STEP OUT !!!
So true AGR. At the very least, businesses should have a licensed hand gun, at the very least.That would be a step in the right direction. The bad guys don’t have a license.The laws seem to be there to protect the criminals anyway.Every responsible business in this country should have the option of getting a hand gun .that’s my five cents.
The provision is there, in the law for legitimate handgun possession and licensing, but
“policy” has made the issueing of licenses very rare, if at all.
Besides, shooting someone with a licensed handgun brings on the possibility of imprisonment as we all know, the law is only for the lawful.
Freely licensing handguns will open another can of worms for, you guessed it, the courts(!!!)
Having said that, the right to defend onself and ones possesions is a fundamental human right, and it is an impossibility to expect the police to prevent crime, they can only respond to and investigate crimes past tense.
Perhaps a police presence can prevent, but do you really want a police shadow following you around?
They are too few in number, with no incentive to stick their necks out, and every incentive not to.
I just opened the Tribune to read about the PM & Global Emissions, which are a little shady at best. Could somebody tell me why we can’t seem to hear from him on crime, after all, our crime problem is a fact. We here from him on everything else.Does the government think that maybe by putting their collective heads in the sand that when & if they take them out that it will All be OK ?
There is an open letter to the PM in this mornings Tribune that, I think, expresses the way a lot of people feel.It is worth the read.