THE Royal Bahamas Police Force yesterday launched its 23rd annual Youth Summer Camp under the theme: “Children are gifts from God, so let’s guard our heritage.”

Acknowledging the need for the camp, National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage encouraged the students to take advantage of the programmes offered.

He spoke during yesterday’s opening ceremony at the Bethel Baptist Church.

The Bain and Grants Town MP implored both students and facilitators to be mindful of the roles they play within society, contending that those roles, if nurtured, can spark the transformation of The Bahamas.

The camp is designed to create positive environments in which youth are able to interact and foster positive relationships with police officers and youth leaders.

Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade, in his address, said the sweeping generalisation often put forward that youth are the main sources of crime is a fallacy.

“You look at the people that are murdering people in this country, people who are committing egregious crime and they are not these people assembled in this church,” said Mr. Greenslade. “They are not. So we have to be very careful when we are emotional, we start to just throw around this term young people.”

He suggested that society often took all young people and placed them in a generalised lot of troubled youth.

“Yes, young people throw stones, yes, young people break bottles in the streets, yes, we have issues in our schools; we are not discounting that. But I am telling you, the serious crimes that lead to loss of life and serious injury are not in this Commonwealth of the Bahamas, since I became commissioner, are not being committed by our young people.”

“They are being committed by adults. You may say young adults, male or female, but they are not youth,” insisted Mr. Greenslade.

“There are lots of young people involved in sporting activities, arts and drama, lots of them are doing things that are very positive across the sphere of this country,” he furthered. “It is unfair, and again I say emphatically, to continue to pigeon-hole them and them all in one box.”

The six-week camp is expected to accommodate thousands of children between the ages of eight and 17 daily from 9am to 1pm at various sites throughout New Providence, with youth facilitators guiding them through activities, including speech competitions, basketball, swimming, music and etiquette classes.

The camp has in recent years become one of the most sought after summer programmes for inner-city youth.

Commissioner Greenslade indicated that consideration is underway to extend the programme’s operation schedule beyond the six-week stretch.

The camp will end August 5.

By Ricardo Wells, Tribune Staff Reporter

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