The uniformed forces are set to create up to 400 new jobs within the next six months, according to Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage.
Nottage said the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF), the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) and Her Majesty's Prison (HMP) will all hire additional members by the middle of next year.
"We have started two new classes. They are going now and another one is about to start so we'll have more than 100 police recruits in training and as soon as they're finished we will repeat that," he said. "The defense force is about to train more marines and the prison is about to train about 100 new people, so that's going to be 300 to 400 new jobs over the course of the next six months or so."
As it relates to the police force, Nottage said the additional officers will help the organization sustain its crime plan, which was recently introduced. The plan introduced a 12-hour shift for officers and included greater police presence across the island.
Nottage also noted that the RBDF is set to receive additional patrol vessels.
"Right now we are constructing nine vessels and so there is going to be a lot of work for them to do in July of next year when we get the first vessel," Nottage said.
By that time, the marines who were deployed to assist the police force are expected to resume their old duties, Nottage said.
As it relates to HMP, additional officers will go into the prison system as the government seeks to transition it into a correctional facility and tighten up on inmates' privileges.The additional jobs come as the national unemployment rate is now the highest it has been in at least 10 years, according to figures from the Department of Statistics.
Those figures show that the jobless rate jumped to 16.2 percent from 14 percent.

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