Column: How Measuring Success Of Initiatives?

[Opinion column written by OBA Senator Robin Tucker]

National Security Minister Michael Weeks and Pastor Leroy Bean and the Gang Violence Reduction Team Coordinator were recently interviewed by Bernews to enlightening the public about the work that is being done to deal with gang violence in Bermuda.

Historically, we have not had regular press conferences or updates on the team’s progress so hopefully interviews like this is the beginning of more to come. After all, Bermuda taxpayers are paying over $300,000 a year for the three-person team that we do not know much about what we are getting for that money.

Pastor Bean’s interview left me with many questions, but mostly I wondered how are they measuring success of their initiatives? Pastor Bean spoke quite a bit about gaining trust and building relationships which is understandably difficult to measure, but surely there is more to their work that can be revealed without giving too much away.

Gang Violence Reduction Teams around the world produce annual reports that are easily found using a simple Google search. Have we seen an annual report highlighting the Bermuda Team’s work? Where is the data showing progress that the Team has made and are the initiatives put in place working and sustained? What type of trainings have been conducted in the community, and in our schools? How many people have been trained? How many community partners have been engaged, trained, and deployed to assist with the Team’s initiatives?

How is the Team’s success of the training provided being measured? Where are the regular reports and/or press conferences held with Pastor Bean and his team to highlight and inform the public about the work performed? We all see and hear the news reports when there are acts of gang violence in the community, but we do not hear directly from Pastor Bean or other members of his team to give us assurance that he is addressing the situations.

The Bermuda public receives statements from the Minister of National Security that offer little to no information on what is being done by the Team so how can we feel confident that that they are doing the job they are being paid to do? Shouldn’t the public have knowledge of what the Gang Violence Reduction Team has accomplished at least on an annual basis without the Team revealing information that will jeopardise its progress?

Addressing gang violence in Bermuda is as complex a subject as the root causes for participation in such activity. As Minister Weeks said in the interview, a collaborative approach is needed to help make inroads. It is interesting that such a tactic was taken via Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on the Causes of Violent Crime and Gun Violence in Bermuda headed by the Honorable K.H. Randolph Horton in 2010/11.

This initiative saw many entities that are working on the front lines such the Police, Corrections and Customs departments, education representatives, helping agencies and support groups and members of the public appear before the Committee and gave observations and suggestions on addressing gang violence.

In fact, this now 11-year-old, comprehensive 120-page report gives recommendations on what the country should do to combat not only gang violence, but also other types of violence in Bermuda. Pastor Bean and former Minister Caines and others were amongst those who addressed the Committee and there were many good suggestions made in the Committee’s report that are still relevant today but have yet to be implemented. Why?

We are in a crisis and need to have confidence that the Team is doing all it can to address the gang violence in Bermuda. Perhaps Pastor Bean and his team could take a fresh read of the report and find something that they can work on and report to us about what they are doing.

- Robin Tucker

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