With another 100-plus murders recorded last year and already four on the books for 2014, Bahamians are growing increasingly frightened for themselves, their loved ones -- and our way of life.
This must be a sobering moment for the government. It should also be a sober moment for the opposition, as they too, were unable to arrest the rise in serious crime. The public is in no mood to tolerate inaction by the government or foolish and self-serving statements by the opposition.
This is not a moment for the government to lose its nerve or for the opposition to attempt to score political points on what is arguably the number one issue for most citizens. One area which most Bahamians feel some headway can be made in the fight against crime, is in regards to bail for serious criminals.
Bahamians do not understand why so many dangerous criminals are out on bail, mocking our system of justice and terrorizing us in our homes and in our businesses. Our murder rate would have been lower over the past several years if a number of the persons on bail were still in custody.
Rulings by the Privy Council on how long an individual can be held on remand before being released on bail were intended to protect the innocent and various civil liberties. The ruling has had unintended consequences, mostly arising from how unprepared our national leadership was to deal with such a momentous ruling.
Bahamians want to understand what is going on. And, they want action. So far, the political leadership of the country, PLP and FNM has failed to adequately explain and effectively communicate the details of the Privy Council ruling, which inadvertently helped to fuel the current crisis.
More urgently, Bahamians want to know more about what can be done legally and constitutionally to address the bail crisis.
The government is currently working on a bill to amend the Bail Act.
The attorney general is looking at ways the Bail Act could be amended without infringing on constitutional rights and judges' discretionary power to grant bail, according to Minister of State for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez. He said proposals are being drafted to amend the Bail Act so that "attempts to commit further offenses or cavorting with" others on bail would lead to bail being revoked.
Prime Minister Perry Christie told business leaders at the Bahamas Business Outlook conference on Monday that 462 men are out on bail for serious crimes. He also said that more needs to be done to get to the root of criminal behavior.
He said more restrictions have to be put in place to prevent those charged with serious crimes from getting bail.
"We are not going to have these people who are charged with murder being put out on bail because of the failure of the state to try them in what the court says is a reasonable period of time. You can take that to the bank. That is what that is going to be," said the prime minister.
So, what exactly are these restrictions and how might they actually affect our crime rate medium or long term? When will they be put in place? What are the constitutional changes that can be made in this area?
The aforementioned are questions for both major political parties, as crime knows no boundaries or person, property or politics. If there is an area for urgent bipartisan cooperation, it is in the area of crime.
Bahamians do not want finger-pointing and the casting of blame. There is plenty of blame to go around, including of those citizens who tolerate or turn a blind eye to certain crimes when it is convenient.
Bahamians want and deserve a better explanation in terms of the various issues surrounding the matter of bail. But, more importantly, they are demanding action, arising out of fear for their very life and livelihoods.
Along with the Bahamian people, we will be relentlessly pressing both parties to deal with the legislative and other measures related to the bail situation, as urgently as possible. It is not too strong to say that these are literally matters of life and death.

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