July 2001 Table of Contents

For some time now, crime has been a persistent problem in The Bahamas. It has only most recently been evident that it is becoming a problem in the Abacos. In the Abacos there was once a time when it was possible to leave keys in the ignition or leave the house unlocked at night. But oh - no more! Today, it is impossible to leave the doors of the house unlocked without fear of it being burgled.

Why do we now have to fear dark? Where have we failed? Where have we failed in the society that was once so pure and untainted?

The fact that these questions must be asked proves that something has, in fact, gone wrong. There must be something, something that has gone wrong over the course of time and went unnoticed, causing all of these question to rise. What have we overlooked? What have we let slip past us without the thought of a second glance?

Today there is truly a lack of discipline. More than ever, people are getting away with what was unheard of 20 years ago. We have forgotten principles and the common trust that we and our neighbours once shared.

With the present topic, one might feel that in order to police Abaco we may need to bring in more policemen. This is not so. Abaco has the number of policemen needed for its population. In order to police Abaco we must enforce discipline right from the start. It is not enough that we let matters slide. Discipline should be instilled before there is a need for the previously asked question to arise.

If you were to spend half of the resources that we have to combat crime on Abaco on services that help prevent them, the entire island of Abaco would not be in the state it is now. It is not enough that we allow this disruptive behaviour to continue. We must stand together in the fight against crime. We must lend a helping hand to our neighbour when the need arises.

We must not allow our neighbour to be robbed and gladly stand aside in praise that it is not us. We must not say that this problem is not ours because, yes it is! If we allow this to continue, somewhere down the road it will be us that will have fallen victim to our own selfish ways. Where it should have been us to call in the necessary authorities on that criminal, it shall be the same criminal to rob us. It is our responsibility to look after our own neighbour. When have we gone from peaceful, caring neighbours to cold, hardened strangers?

We have fallen captive to the protection that shielded us once before. We have abused the bond that once held this country together and now the evidence of this is obvious. We have stripped Abaco of her purity and now without the much-needed help of our own people, we will be no better than those countries where "people get away with murder".

It is not right that we allow our country to be torn to shreds because of our own unwillingness to help correct the situation. What will we be subjecting our children to? What kind of world will they grow up in when they can't even walk down the street without some persistent fear of being robbed or taken advantage of?

On order for us to police crime we must fight it not at its peak but at its source. We must offer programmes that help to mould decent citizens that will help to build up rather than destroy the island of Abaco. There is no doubt there are ,in fact, programmes that already do this, such as the Abaco Brigade and the Boys and Girls Scouts, but there is so much more that we as a society can do.

We must not sit by and hope that the problem will correct itself because in that case we will be sitting by for the rest of our lives. We must take affirmative action now! When we see something we know is wrong, call the police! We must not be prisoners in our own home. This is our land and no criminal should be given the power to take it away from us. It may be our brother, sister, cousin or friend, but if when the need arises for crime to be taken care of, let us do it! We must not wait for tomorrow but strive for the betterment of Abaco today. It is us, and only us, that will become the necessary forces to police Abaco in this new millennium.

July 2001 Table of Contents