Shadow Minister for National Security Dr. Andre Rollins said yesterday that before Minister of State for National Security Keith Bell can criticize Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade and talk about removing him, Greenslade must be given an opportunity to fight crime without political interference.

"If you want the commissioner to be held accountable, he must be given an opportunity to function without the interference of the political directorate before you can resort to blaming him for the failure to effectively deal with crime," Rollins told The Nassau Guardian.

"He has to constantly look over his shoulder to ensure that he's able to function in his role as commissioner of police."

Bell suggested on Thursday that Greenslade is failing to carry out all of the government's crime-fighting initiatives.

"If we are going to fail as a government, let us fail because our policies are flawed, but not because we cannot get them executed or implemented," said Bell in an interview with The Guardian.

Insisting that the government's policies are not flawed, Bell indicated that perhaps the leadership of the police force needs to be changed.

Rollins said if the commissioner fails in the absence of political interference, the government should explore making changes in the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF). He said until then it is not fair to talk about removing Greenslade.

Rollins also pointed out that Prime Minister Perry Christie announced this week that after consulting with Bell the government is considering implementing several new strategies to fight crime. This comes less than a year after Christie said the government was "going back to the drawing board" with the government's crime strategies.

Rollins said this is an admission by the government that its current crime strategies have not been effective.

"And so, these new ones that need to be implemented going forward are, in their estimation, what are needed to properly deal with the problem of violent crime," he said. "So, how can you, after having presented these new, new crime fighting strategies that you expect the commissioner and his force to implement, how can you now blame the commissioner for refusing to implement your crime strategy?

"He (Bell) is speaking out of both sides of his mouth. If it was a matter of the commissioner refusing to implement your crime strategies obviously you would not need to propose new measures to present to the commissioner of police."

Rollins said Bell and the Christie administration have been prone to assign blame elsewhere, when it is the government's job to keep citizens safe. He pointed out that Bell recently said the FNM administration failed to bring gang cases before the courts, resulting in the high levels of crime today. The FNM heavily criticized him for his statement, but Bell has challenged the FNM, or anyone else, to disprove his comments.

Yesterday, Rollins said Bell has consistently demonstrated what kind of minister he is.

"This is who the minister is, someone who refuses to, along with the government, accept responsibility for the governance of this country," Rollins said. "If this government refuses to be held responsible or accept responsibility for governing this country, it is clear what it needs to do.

"Ask for a new mandate, call a general election and let us go ahead and put a government in place that is willing to embrace responsibility for the governance of this country." He added, "You cannot assign blame for the failure to maintain public safety or law and order to the commissioner of police.

"Unfortunately, with this administration, there has been a chronic refusal to accept responsibility for its failures as a government. What I would say is, the minister of state for national security obviously believes that the Bahamian people are dumb."

Rollins noted that the government's only response to crime has been "more talk".

He added that the rhetoric must stop and viable solutions must be presented to reduce crime.

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