The home invasion of Philip Brave Davis, who was acting prime minister at the time of the incident last Monday, was alarming and worrying on many levels.
We were of course relieved to learn that the ambulance we met in Davis' driveway about half an hour after the three armed bandits fled was empty when it pulled off with lights flashing.
The fact that those thugs could so easily enter the Davis compound, accost his driver and storm into his house reflects a level of slackness in our society that no one seems determined to address.
This represents firstly a failure on the part of the commissioner of police to keep Davis and his wife safe.
Even if he were not acting prime minister at the time, his position as deputy prime minister demands a level of security and attention to safety issues.
There were no armed aides on duty at the time of the robbery and to this day, no one has yet explained why.
In international circles, we must be a laughing stock. In a country where crime is at an alarmingly high rate, we had no security for our acting prime minister.
What we got from Davis the day after this most unfortunate incident is a statement that he was not afraid while he and his wife were being held in their bedroom at gunpoint.
Davis also declared, "They don't call me Brave for nothing"; a statement followed by a chuckle, seemingly making light of the situation.
We have no doubt that Davis will take security at his home more seriously and it is our hope that he and his family never have to face such an ordeal again.
While Davis has told us that he was brave, there can be no doubt that the incident was terrifying as it unfolded.
His wife, Anne Marie, confirmed this in a Facebook post on Friday, thanking her Facebook family and friends for their "prayers and comfort".
"After such a horrible, traumatic experience, I'm even more convinced that there is a God indeed," Mrs. Davis posted.
"Facing death was just God awful!!! Let's all keep praying for our own safety, that of our children, family and the nation. I'm always sorry when anyone is affected by crime and my prayers always include protection for ALL of us. "
She then urged everyone to be vigilant and assured, "I'm doing better as each day goes by".
We are happy to hear she is doing better, and regret that Mrs. Davis and her husband have become victims of crime.
The incident has underscored the grave state of affairs in our country.
But the response from Davis reflected a general state of denial on the part of the government.
Davis used his contribution to the debate on amendments to the Child Protection Act and Sexual Offenses Act to declare that things are getting better in The Bahamas as it relates to the war on crime.
He also denied that the party that erected murder billboards around New Providence, including in tourist areas, in 2012 had made crime political.
"We never made crime political," said Davis in the House of Assembly on Wednesday night.
"What we did is we said we could handle this scourge, this menace, better than them (the Ingraham administration)."
Winning the war?
On the campaign trail in the lead up to the 2012 general election, the PLP repeatedly accused the government of failing to keep Bahamians safe.
It said it had the answers to break the back of crime.
We are still awaiting those answers, and we are still gripped by fear, looking over our shoulders constantly, making a mad dash for the front door when we pull up to our houses at nights, and doing a walkabout through our homes before we settle in.
Many people try not to be out when night falls.
Some of us sleep with knives by our bedsides or take a knife with us when we empty the trash.
Others carry shotguns in their vehicles with no intention of hunting any animal.
We are terrified.
We are left to wonder now, if the acting prime minister and his family are not safe in their home then what reasonable expectation can the rest of us have that we are safe?
The answer is none.
We have no reasonable expectation that we are safe. We are no safer under this government than we were on May 6, 2012.
But this administration seems to be in denial about that fact.
It touts its public relations program -- Urban Renewal 2.0 -- as our saving grace. It is not. And we see no evidence that it will ever be.
But the Christie administration is standing firm in its position that Urban Renewal is a success.
"They keep bad talking Urban Renewal," said Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage, referring to the Free National Movement.
"What's wrong with you all? Anybody would tell you it's the best community policing program you can find in the region. That's a fact. Everybody in the region is mimicking it."
But we are not safe, minister.
Does anyone in The Bahamas other than the government believe The Bahamas is becoming a safer place under Perry Christie and his administration?
Despite the harrowing ordeal at his home, Davis pointed to progress in the war on crime.
"I think we are making inroads by a number of the efforts we have taken to date, and despite what they may say, there are improvements," Davis said in the House of Assembly.
"...The records are there to show that there are incremental improvements and the fact of the matter is it's not a matter to brag about because where crime is, it was and continues to be at an unacceptable level, and I don't want to compare how we met it and where it is now and I think people are feeling it. We are getting there and we will get there, Mr. Speaker."
Davis said the government will not be deterred from its crime-fighting programs.
"We will break this back of crime," he declared to parliamentary applause from colleagues.
"If there is anything to be taken out of this, we need to be reaching out more to our younger people. We need to let them know about the National Training Agency, which is set up to help us shape our attitudes, help us learn how to respect one another, how to respect other people's things."
Davis said the invasion of his home was a crime of opportunity.
He added that he has no elusions that the crime problem can be solved over night because "much of it is rooted in our mind set today".
WARNING
Two days after government ministers continued to claim success in the fight on crime without any empirical data to back it up, the U.S. Embassy in Nassau issued a holiday crime warning.
It pointed out on Friday that "within the past week, a high-ranking Bahamian government official became a victim of crime during an armed invasion of his home".
The embassy said it continues to receive reports of crime, particularly armed robberies and burglaries.
The embassy warned, "robbers and burglars will often conduct pre-attack surveillance by observing the intended property and/or victims".
It said, "This underscores the need for an increased awareness of common activities which can directly impact personal security."
This is of course not the first alert the Americans have issued to their country's citizens living in and visiting The Bahamas.
As acknowledged by Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe yesterday, this could be harmful to our country's image.
Prior to the release of the embassy's latest alert, Nottage had criticisms for cruise lines that warn on crime in The Bahamas.
"The Americans put out these warnings about coming to The Bahamas," the national security minister said in the House of Assembly.
"The FBI agent who was working with me while I was in Washington told me he [came] to The Bahamas earlier this year and he said that he came on the Carnival cruise and he couldn't understand why Carnival would give [the warning] when they reached The Bahamas telling them things like don't go in certain areas of the country, and don't do this and don't do the next thing.
"He said, 'Doc, I'm stationed here in Washington'. He said they just assaulted a congresswoman and took all her money and all her jewelry and everything, right in Washington. The heart of the [government of the] United States of America.
"He said that happens everywhere. All these people in Chicago and Detroit and these places, why are they telling people don't come here and they are coming from places that are suffering much worse than we are here?"
Nottage added, "We run in a little hole and hide ourselves instead of defending our country. They (the opposition) say they want to work with us, they're always saying that, but every chance they get to work with us on this matter [they do not].
"I'm talking about crime now. This is an ideal thing for us to have a single voice, protecting our country on. So why are we carrying on like this?"
Nottage's statement was the most laughable of all that emerged during the recent House debate.
That he would criticize the cruise lines for warning on crime is truly unbelievable.
While in opposition, Nottage and the Progressive Liberal Party had no concern for the image being projected to tourists and the possible harmful effects on our country when they erected those murder billboards.
We have spoken to the minister's hypocrisy on such matters before, and highlight it here again.
There is one view out of office, and one view while in. We suppose that is politics, as they say.
We await the release of new statistics to support the claims being made by the government. No statistics have been released since July.
But with little faith in the government and the police to release statistics to give us a true picture of the state of affairs, it is doubtful that we will find any comfort in these figures.
While they are at it, we hope -- for the sake of us all -- that they will finally be able to provide those answers on crime that they so loudly and persistently claim they had.
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