UBP: Let’s Work Together On Crime Challenge
The statement below is from the United Bermuda Party Leader Kim Swan and Senator Michael Dunkley, Shadow Minister for Public Safety:
We are seriously concerned that many Bermudians when they heard about Friday’s shooting murder took note and went about their business. On the surface that is what one expects people to do because they have lives to live and they must get on with things.
But we suspect that the shock of what is happening on our streets is no longer shocking to the community. People are getting used to it. Shootings are becoming part of our way of life and the culture of safety that has always prevailed in this country – the culture that made Bermuda a better place to live and raise families – is beginning to disappear.
This development, however understandable, is as dangerous a threat to our way of life as the shootings themselves. We have to fight what we perceive as a creeping sense of resignation about the crime situation. We have to fight it because our future depends on it.
The United Bermuda Party is not going to roll over and go along with the acceptance and decline. And we feel there are many like us who are ready to step forward and fight for a better Bermuda.
We appreciate the Police are working hard to get a grip on the situation but the fact is that nothing has changed on the streets. Gangs are flourishing and the shootings continue.
One of the biggest challenges in Bermuda today is overcoming the divides in our politics, where ideas proposed by one group are rejected outright by the other side or don’t even register with them because they come from the other camp. Good ideas don’t get pursued because of who they come from, merits be damned.
The complexity and depth of our social problems manifested by the shootings require community engagement and cooperation the likes of which we have never seen. It means breaking political taboos – such as political parties working hand in hand to solve a challenge that threatens all of us together as Bermudians.
That simple reality – our existence as the people of Bermuda – is something we should carry at the forefront of our thinking. It is a reality that ties us all together, regardless of background, and offers the one defining commonality upon which much that is good can grow.
We cannot forget it, and so regardless of political stripe, we are all Bermudians first and it behooves us to work together to solve common challenges.
It is also up to us as political leaders to set the tone and take the action that demonstrates how we can martial the common bonds to advance solutions that work for all of us as Bermudians. This is about showing leadership.
There is no better opportunity to find this better way of conducting the people’s business than today’s terrible crime situation, which we believe is the most serious threat to Bermuda’s way of life since the Second World War.
On Friday in the House of Assembly, there appeared to be budding recognition that the island needs to pool its resources to address the crime situation. Members of Parliament from both sides of the House touched on the need for joint deliberation and joint action.
And why not? Why not signal to the community that the political leaders of Bermuda are joined in purpose for solutions to this perplexing challenge of gang-related violent crime.
To set the table, we are in favour of a Joint Select Committee from both the House and the Senate. We want it to be a forum to receive and consider all good ideas, including our own proposal for Operation Ceasefire, which brings to bear on gangs the strong arm of the police and the compelling and compassionate force of community support. We also would like consideration of a Peace Summit as proposed us and the Emperial Group where community-based organizations such as Rise Above and the churches can put forward their ideas and views.
This is an opportunity to break the partisan divide, to join hands, and show Bermuda that it’s political leaders can work together to solve big problems. It’s about putting country first, not party first, country first. We want to get Bermuda working again, and this is a good place to start.
May 30, 2010
