The Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) pointed out yesterday that murders have doubled since 2006, its last full year in office.
"While there is broad consensus among citizens and experts that violent crime has skyrocketed under this Free National Movement (FNM) government, there were recently some questions about the dramatic rise in murders," the party said in a statement.
"According to official Royal Bahamas Police Force numbers, there were 61 recorded murders during 2006.  Official documents also confirm that 127 murders were recorded in 2011."
The PLP said the FNM has fundamentally failed to keep Bahamians safe.  The party left office in May 2007.  Seventy-eight murders were recorded that year, according to police statistics.
There were 74 murders in 2008; 87 in 2009; 94 in 2010 and 127 in 2011.
So far this year, 20 murders have been recorded.
"The prime minister has cared only about the politics of crime, not the victims of crime," the PLP said.
It accused the Ingraham administration of dismantling the Urban Renewal program, the Swift Justice initiative, Witness Protection, School Policing and Tourism Policing.
But the government has denied abandoning Urban Renewal, although it has reconfigured it.
Attorney General John Delaney also recently denied that the Witness Protection program has been dismantled.  In fact, he said it has been improved upon.
The government also claims it has placed renewed focus on improving the administration of the judicial system, and has assigned police officers to work with school officials to help decrease violence in and around campuses.
According to police officials, patrols have been beefed up in key tourist areas to fight crime.
But the PLP said, "Having undone his predecessor's work, the prime minister apparently lost interest in the issue, moving on without providing meaningful or effective replacements for those programs."
The PLP also accused the prime minister of half-heartedly addressing the issue of crime "with derivative policies that don't go nearly far enough".
"It's much too little, much too late," the party said.
"Last summer, after a month in which there were more murders than in any other month during the nation's recorded history, the prime minister went on vacation.
"Opposition Leader Perry Christie worked with law enforcement experts, clergy, concerned citizens, and talented new generation candidates to create an innovative and comprehensive plan to fight crime, Project Safe Bahamas.
"The plan envisions upgraded versions of prior PLP success stories, like Urban Renewal, as well as Operation Cease Fire, a set of initiatives which include a focus on repeat offenders, saturation patrols in crime hot spots, increased surveillance of those out on bail, and a number of initiatives intended to reduce the presence of illegal weapons."
 

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