NASSAU, The Bahamas – While making his 2020-2021 Mid-Year National Budget Debate Contribution to the House of Assembly, on March 3, 2021, Minister of National Security the Hon. Marvin Dames said that, although crime continues to trend downward, now is not the time to “raise the victory flag and put away our battle shield and armour.”

“We must remain steadfast and focus on our ultimate goal – a crime free Bahamas,” Minister Dames said.  “This battle requires a holistic and long term strategy – it is a protracted one – and one that we are willingly committed to.”

“Our Government is resolved to engage in the continued fight against crime with the full arsenal of resourcefulness,” he added.  “Our emphasis remains on conducting research that gathers and analyses data to discover the root causes and remedies for mitigating criminal behaviour.”

Minister Dames noted that, for the 2020/2021 fiscal year, the Royal Bahamas Police Force was allocated $127,296,337; recurrent expenditure accounted for $122,268,807; and $5,027,530 for capital expenditure.

He pointed out that, according to the Police Force, for the year ending 2020, overall crime decreased by a “significant” 16 percent compared to 2019.

“Significant decreases were observed in a number of serious offences including murder which declined by 23 percent, armed robbery which declined by 41 percent, and attempted rape which declined by 38 percent,” Minister Dames said.

“Property crimes also declined by 15 percent,” he added.  “This includes housebreaking which declined by 13 percent, stealing from a vehicle which declined by 32 percent, and stolen vehicle which declined by 19 percent.”

Minister Dames pointed out that the presented data indicated that during the last four years of his Government’s Administration, crime had been on an overall downward trend.

“Not only does this mean that we are on the right track, it also means that our four-pronged approach of conceptual leadership; technical investments in technology complemented by professional development to support the same; and good governance undergirded with fiscal responsibility and integrity are indeed working,” he said.  

Minister Dames said that the Police Force had also been successful in reducing the number of illegal firearms on the nation’s streets.

“According to the 2020 statistics, a total of 279 firearms and 4,044 rounds of ammunition have been seized,” he said.  “These firearms included 214 pistols, 25 revolvers, 21 shotguns and 19 high-powered rifles such as the AK-47 assault rifle.

“We are grateful that the police are ridding these types of weapons off our streets as they are, more often, than not, the weapon of choice in homicide and other violent crimes.”

Minister Dames added that, closely associated with firearms and homicides, are drugs and, again, that remained a top priority for the Police.

“Drug seizures for the year also reflected successful interdiction efforts as a total of 4,301 lbs. of marijuana, 1,505 marijuana plants and 165 lbs. of cocaine have all been seized,” he said.  “A total of 1,244 persons responsible for these drug offences were arrested, with 1,092 of them being, subsequently, charged.”   

“While our Government feels good about these successes and the direction we are heading, it is not lost on us that there is, however, a significant amount of work ahead,” Minister Dames added.