OBA’s Cannonier On Dealing With Gang Problem
[Written by Opposition Leader Craig Cannonier]
The Bermuda Police Service can rightfully claim progress against gang violence over the past year. They can point to the fact that total firearms incidents in 2011 were down 37%, with injuries and fatalities down 55%.
This is progress, but we must keep in mind that it stands against a two-year backdrop of the worst violence Bermuda has ever seen. We are now experiencing a relative lull in gang violence compared to preceding years.
We can speculate what this lull means – robust Police enforcement is surely one factor, gang members leaving Bermuda for their own safety is another and incarcerations still another.
But the truth is that no one can say what this quiet period means. What we can say is that the gang dynamic – the rivalries, the weaponry and the will to commit harm – remains.
Whatever actions have led to this quiet period, we believe Bermuda still has a window of opportunity to bring to bear the resources to improve the gang situation and diminish the conditions that feed it.
Police are doing their part, but all of us know the gang problem is not just a Police problem. It’s a Bermuda problem, with a significant social component that is Government’s responsibility.
The Police are simply dealing with what society sends their way. What we need now is quick, meaningful action to take advantage of this quiet period.
Bermuda is in reasonably good position to address our social problems. There are many excellent community groups and social agencies operating today. The problem is that there is no overall leadership, no single coordinating entity that can bring the work of these agencies and the Police together.
As things stand, their work is fragmented, and the fragmentation is reflected in the Cabinet itself, where there is no clear responsibility for social policy directed at gangs. There is lip service about “cross-ministry initiatives”, but for whatever reason – lack of will, lack of cash – they’re not happening.
The Government is not doing its part. There is no unifying effort to bring to bear the work of social agencies, community groups and Police in a coordinated fashion. We need to change this.
A One Bermuda Alliance Government would set up a Cabinet-level gang task force chaired by the Premier and including Ministers with social responsibilities. The mandate of the task force would be to mobilize, coordinate and direct a Bermuda-wide effort to diminish the conditions that feed and perpetuate gang life.
The task force would be supported operationally by a special executive officer, who could be drawn from the civil service or the private sector. The officer would be empowered to direct government resources wherever they can have the best effect. This can mean providing helping agencies and community groups with strategic guidance and financial, manpower and moral support.
It is essential that Bermuda starts working together with more cohesion and teamwork against this national challenge. The OBA understands this. The Police alone cannot do it. But Bermudians, working together, can.
- Craig Cannonier
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I certainly hope that the OBA Government will recognize that while gang violence has to continue to be a high priority, it is certainly not the only crime taking place on the Island. Obviously much of this is attributable to social issues facing the Island, but it is clear that a complete review and overhaul of the Bermuda Police Service is desperately needed.
We have virtual chaos on the roads with an alarming frequency of atrocious behaviour at all hours of the day and night, yet an almost total lack of police presence of on our roads.
This bad driving behaviour runs the gamit from speeding, reckless driving, running stop lights and stop signs ( I saw a guy on a bike yesterday lunch time speed down the entire length of Front Street without even slowing down for a stop sign, while hundreds of cruise ship visitors stared in horror!) to driving in the dark without lights on. And this behaviour is not just limited to young people or locals – it seems that it has now become common among road users of every persuasion, including businessmen, bus drivers, taxis and the like.
We also have an increasing frequency of hostile behaviour on the streets of Hamilton, with aggressive behaviour by vagrants and a growing number of little
“gangs” hanging around in places like Par La Ville Park, City Hall Park, etc displaying threatening behaviour, using foul language and leaving mounds of trash behind.
An overseas client of mine who has been a frequent visitor to Bermuda over the past five years made the comment to me this week that he had been here at least 20 times over the past 5 years and had been ” accosted” on a number of occassions walking back to his hotel after a dinner on Front Street, and has yet to see a policeman on any of his trips here.
Bottom line is that we have an increasing frequency of anti-social behaviour, and regardless what the root cause of it is, residents and visitors alike need better service and better protection than we are currently receiving from the BPS.
Well said
Craig the only thing that you need to do is turn West Gate hotel into a real prison. Right now it’s a summer retreat/vacation home, for some souls that were not given the stick like my daddy gave me. Wake up, people respect fear. These men need to know that if they commit a crime it will be HELL to PAY!!! People in Bermuda are afraid now, of the criminal element.
I never understood why people say that Westgate is a resort or hotel. Have you been there? Have you been incarcerated, visited or seen some documentary that is not available to anyone else? I am not saying that I think it is either at hotel or the worst prison in the world, because I have only been there once while in youth parliament and it didn’t seem that nice, but it was just a tour. I just want to know why you think that it is so peaches and cream…
To be honest, I used to say it was a hotel too, when I was young and just said what everybody else said, but in actuality, I really didn’t know what it was like there at all.
One would assume it is a hotel/retreat because of the level of recidivisms. Guyz seem to like it there, cause they keep signing up to go back
When you check it out plp are actually drawing the race card by accusing the oba of drawing it inna.
What?????
Yep, well put.
I do not find any substance in what Mr. Cannonier is saying. A Cabinet-level gang task force sounds good (great title) but to me just sounds like more meetings, more talking and no doing just like the PLP. WHAT ARE HIS IDEAS FOR REAL SOLUTIONS? I have yet to hear any of real substance from either party.
Craig, ever since you went up “up on the hill” we don’t see you any more. If you are serious about winning “our” vote lets here you talk about all the issues going on in Bermuda. You seem to cherry pick the issues you think are important, not saying this one is not. But “we” want to here you finally speak up on the labour issue, why are you silent. You won’t get “our” vote if you don’t speak to us. We are tired of seeing the “same old faces” speaking on the issues of the day. Can’t you see what’s really going on here! You just don’t get it. Pay attention man! There are people on this island that really want you to win. And the way things are going you have a serious chance.
Listen to your heart and stop listening so much to your old party advisers who are only speaking old party thoughts. You should listen to the people. Come off the hill for a while and speak to us again, listen to us. We wish you well.
Well said Finally!
A 13 paragraph essay and only one—two-paragraph—solution proposed (which is sort of already in the works). I want to believe that the OBA is the change Bermuda needs, and, no, I am not at all happy with the PLP, but come on… is this the best they can do?
There is a reduction in a lot of gang stuff it is a combination of police work and politics at work so give credit where its due
Their initiative, which the OBA would have you believe is ‘new,’ consists of a Cabinet level task force to deal with the gang problem. It seems the OBA might be completely unaware that the Inter Agency Gang Task Force (IAGTF) has been in effect for well over a year. In addition, the Premier, sits as the co-chair of the most senior level body devising strategies to counter the gang problem, the National Security Council. Gun crime is down. Convictions are up. Gun recoveries are up. Death and injuries from gun and gang violence are down. Witness cooperation is up. Community mobilisation is up.
The Government has been extremely pro-active in rolling out new legislation, additional funding for the Police and ramping up community mobilization on many levels – including gang mediation, intervention and prevention.
It was refreshing however, to see the OBA finally acknowledged the significant drop in gang related deaths and gun crime and praised the progress in crime reduction we are all working towards. This contrasted sharply with the OBA Leader’s “…we take no comfort whatsoever from the decline in crime” comment just last month.
The Government’s action in the Crime Reduction Strategy goes far beyond what the OBA proposed yesterday:
• We are already working at the most strategic level possible, the National Security Council – a group which includes the Premier, senior Ministers and the most senior persons responsible for law enforcement.
• The Government formed an Inter Agency Gang Task Force well over a year ago and the work is well underway.
• New legislation, passed by the Government (not mentioned by the OBA )has had a dramatic effect on the BPS’s ability to detain suspects and seize evidence.
• Additional funding, provided by the Government, has enabled the BPS to fast-track DNA and ballistics analysis and bring together specialist investigative assistance in a way we haven’t seen before.
• There are many strands of cross-Ministry, cross-Departmental and community mobilization work underway. These include, but are not limited to: Operation Nightlight, Streetsafe, the IAGTF, consultation with community groups, mediators and a host of other helping professionals and agencies.
As I have indicated before, this remains a work in progress but, we are already far past the point the OBA proposed yesterday. For the record, I’ll ask them again, why don’t they have the courage to debate their own Motion on Violent Crime, Gangs and Gun Crime which has been sitting on the Order Paper in the Senate since last year. I tend not to speculate, but perhaps you can. Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that considerable progress has been made? I’ll finish on this note. We are making a difference because people are now making a difference. Professionals at work are contributing to success. Policy makers are working to make things happen. Legislators are listening and acting. Last, and by no means least, the good citizens of our island have had enough and have the courage to step forward as witnesses and to cooperate. Kudos to you all. Things will get better and we all share the vision of a safer Bermuda.
Well in my opinion I feel that the police service isn’t doing enough to combat this problem. Criminals and crime is a 24/7 business and it seems that the BPS is only a 7am -10am and 4:30pm to 6pm traffic division. The average person on the street knows who is doing the crime when it happens, but the police dont do anything or they just sit and watch and do nothing. The reason is because they dont care. You have a government that talks the good talk and a Security Minister that is living in the past but riding high on the people that put him there, a Junior Minister of the same portfolio that did nothing to reduce crime in his tenure but stand infront of cameras and blow hot air up the publics backside just as he does now. What needs to happen and this is my opinion, you have new powers to go anywhere at anytime, make it uncomfortable for the criminals that you have been told about, knock on the doors of the people who house them and protect them 3 times a shift or as many times as it takes for them the give up the name.
Yes it means going and hurting peoples feeling and some hard work but you want to kill the problem do this.