Faces which met their untimely deaths in The Bahamas. Victims of murder now 50 scream from the grave.
Nassau, Bahamas — Police-in-charge at the Southern Police Station, Stephen Dean, took us by surprise as he carried out an interview on Friday with the Cable 12 channel and again with JCN channel 14 on Monday praising the police.
Now on Friday in the newscast Dean highlighted an idea of officers patrolling the homes of residents out of the country on vacation. He noted that the police on a constant basis would visit homes to make sure they are secured whilst families are away. It sounds like a good plan hey? But anyone seeing the record number of officers now dragged before the courts for ‘THIEFIN’ people things, they would quickly abandon the idea of using the programme.
And then there was the newscast on Monday, where Dean reported that murder was down in the southern area against last year figures. His comments came following the sudden weekend murder of a young mother. Bloggers would note Dean never told the public what those numbers were last year. Nor did he share what those numbers were this year, but he says it down, so it down.
Readers would remember Dean has he yet make a single statement to the public on the murder, which took place in the southern police precinct. Yes, we are taking about the incident where police at his office said a boy hung himself in the station. We don’t buy that story one bit!
Members of the public would now remember that Dean only found his voice to tell the press he was congratulating the police, after a mother of two, 29 year-old TaGia Soles-Armony, who was visiting The Bahamas from her home in St. Kitts, was killed by a gunman in the area. Bahamas Press wonders if officers like Dean think we’re STUPID? Police are expressing commendation on themselves whilst a would-be robber, right in front of young children, murders another innocent woman in cold blood. What asinine statement is this coming from the police?
But imagine this, Armony had just returned here in The Bahamas on last Sunday for a visit with relatives. She lives in St. Kitts. And just days after her arrival here she is a dead woman. Or look at this, businessman Hywel Jones a British citizen was stepping out of his car in western New Providence when someone came up to him and shot him in the head. He died days later. Or remember this, 33 year-old Anna Michelle Garrison, was a woman from West Palm Beach. She was the woman found wrapped in plastic and a bed sheet on the side of a lonely road in Fox Hill on July 4th. Or did Dean remember this incident: Tim Massa’s, the 30 year-old teacher from Connecticut. His body was found on a Monday night early in the year floating in the harbor near the Atlantis Resort where he stayed. The U.S. State Department reported that they were investigating the case as a possible homicide. Not one word of an update has come from Bahamian police on these . And members of the WUTLESS MEDIA refuse to ask about them. WHY?
On all these incidents, which happened this year – with the exception of Garrison – NONE ARE SOLVED! With the exception of Garrison, their killers are still lurking the streets looking for more blood. Yet a braggadocio attitude of Dean in the midst of all this slaughter, mayhem and rising blood is sending congratulations to officers in wake of the murder of a young mother.
All we would say is this, If we were a country sending one of our girls to compete at the Miss Universe Pageant here in The Bahamas, knowing The Bahamas is the #1 place in the world for rape incidents and knowing it has one of the highest per capita for murder, we would’ve dispatch a small military contingent to protect our queen. She would’ve met them waiting at the LPIA when her plane touched down.
Why would an officer come on the news to congratulate themselves only after a brutal murder takes place? After seeing members of the public racing in and out of their vehicles [some being killed in the process] in fear of the rising levels of crime in the country. The war of crime for years occurred on the ground with ordinary Bahamians and many still see no justice. Today, that war is not hitting on guests, taking them out one by one. WHAT A BLASTED SHAME!
Again this reflects exactly how WUTLESS those in the media are, reporting such asinine statements by police when the facts tell a different picture.
We need CHANGE!
Published On:Wednesday, August 12, 2009
By MEGAN REYNOLDS
Tribune Staff Reporter
mreynolds@tribunemedia.net
POLICE have been slammed for failing to protect the community from murderers and rapists by a former Crime Stoppers advocate who is demanding the basic right to public safety.
Lucia Broughton, a mother of three from Camperdown, eastern New Providence, spoke on the record as she demanded that senior officers in the Royal Bahamas Police Force be held to account over corruption and a policy of secrecy.
The lawyer who helped bring Crime Stoppers to the Bahamas in 1998 said she is on the brink of publicly denouncing the charity until police show they are able to perform their proper function.
And she criticised Assistant Police Commissioner Raymond Gibson for remaining tight-lipped about a series of rapes and attempted rapes in eastern New Providence, She said that by hiding the details police make women more vulnerable.
Mrs Broughton said: “It is wholly unacceptable not to notify the public through the media. Why do I have to wait to meet a police officer in the street to tell me to be careful when I am a woman living in the east with a 17-year-old daughter? Is it for the tourists?
“If there are three rapes carried out, why can’t they say ‘be on your guard’? They want to hold out in the name of the investigation and leave women exposed and at risk because it’s a procedure? It’s a disgrace.”
She further blamed the force for corruption which allows brazen criminals to carry on undeterred and said she has been driven to denounce the police and Crime Stoppers until she can see the police “actually functioning.”
“They can’t keep you safe, and they don’t even have the decency to warn you when they are not sure you are safe, so what is their function?” Mrs Broughton asked.
“All I ask for is the same simple protection everyone is entitled to, it’s a basic human right and if you can’t give me safety, tell me when I need to take extra care; when I need to buy my own gun.”
Mrs Broughton left Crime Stoppers in 2001, but spoke out for the charity once again when Welsh banker Hywell Jones, 55, was shot in the head outside his Britannia Investment Group office in West Bay Street on April 22, and died in hospital on May 8.
However, she has since become incensed with the handling of the murder investigation which has so far failed to lead to any arrests.
Mr Jones’ brother Ilt Jones maintains his brother had made but one enemy during his 21 years in the Bahamas, but police have not yet named any suspects.
Mrs Broughton said: “It just incenses me that all this time has passed by and nothing has been done.
“Crime begets crime, and if people just fumble along it will continue. Someone needs to say something for once and I don’t know how many murders have to happen, how many people have to be raped, but until my children are safe, I will take the brunt of becoming a target because I put my name in the paper.”
Police Commissioner Reginald Ferguson said: “As long as I have something to do with this police force and responsibility for investigating a crime in this country, wherever evidence exists to move against someone for criminality I will be doing that.”
However Mr Ferguson failed to provide any further details of the two rapes and two attempted rapes in eastern New Providence.
He said: “(Mrs Broughton) has a legitimate concern, but we don’t want to create any unnecessary excitement and I told her about this thing in the east… Investigators are saying there is some trend but to say there’s a serial rapist out there would be kind of far-fetched at this time.
“I think we want to always be concerned about what’s happening in our environment we want to always be on the alert. And people are being alerted without being specific, that’s the approach we have always had. We can’t hide crime, that’s a reality.”
Where are the Police annual report for the past two years?Someone is trying to hide facts from us and obviously they live in gated communities.I am informed that in the year 2008 more than a 1/3(third) of the MURDERS that took place in the BAHAMAS occured in the Division jheaded by DEan.I have noticed this PR bullshit but they never address serious crime.Someone from the POLICE need to tell us why no one who was shot in the driveby shooting where a MURDER occured has come forward.I wonder if Dean has been given the support staff to work with.In any jurisdiction in other countries once crime is noticed to occur in any particular area manpower and resources are moved there.Four Cabinet Ministers in this troubled area and no results?Shame Carl Bethel,Neymour.McCartney,and Woodside hire someone who can advise you and not just incompetent supporters.
Stephen dean is an unashamed self promoter. He has been bounced around the R.B.P.F. and not been particularly stellar in any Police College, perry Christie’s constituency Urban renewal Office and now this. He is a smart guy and articulate and very hip to internet technology no doubt, and very good at politic speak
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