Free National Movement (FNM) Deputy Chairman Dr. Duane Sands said yesterday the fact that the United States Embassy in Nassau has once again made a crime public that was not reported by police "creates room for speculation" about the Royal Bahamas Police Force's policies.
Sands was contacted to respond to comments Assistant Commissioner Anthony Ferguson made to The Nassau Guardian on Sunday in defense of police policies on crime reports.
Ferguson responded to a previous Nassau Guardian article which pointed out that a new U.S. Embassy crime warning referenced an attempted armed robbery of an armored truck at Wendy's restaurant two weeks ago.
The matter was not included in police crime reports.
"What Bahamians ought to be asking ultimately is who is determining what ought to come to the attention of the Bahamian people," Sands said.
"If there is a discrepancy and the U.S. Embassy or one of its agents would report something that was not reported locally [by police] then we have to ask why or how did that happen.
"Was it an accident? Was it a typographical error, was it an omission or was it a deliberate instruction that came from somewhere. And if it came from somewhere was it the political directorate that sought to suppress that information or not?"
Sands said the minister of national security and minister of state for national security should be questioned over the matter.
"When a sovereign [country], the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, finds itself in the unbelievable internationally embarrassing situation of having a crime of this magnitude reported by our neighbor and we haven't reported it, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be made to give a public account, the Ministry of National Security should be made to give a public account and the prime minister should feel red-faced," he said.
On Sunday, Ferguson said police do not cover-up or downplay any crime in the country that "ought to come to the attention of the Bahamian people".
Ferguson confirmed the attempted armed robbery of the armored truck and said a firearm was recovered.
"I am telling you I am aware of the attempted armed robbery of the armored vehicle, and what could have very well happened in that case [is that] the information did not get to the press officer in time when he was sending out his release," he said.
He added, "Obviously, if the U.S. Embassy got it, they must have gotten it from a police source."
However, the incident was not included in other crime reports since March 14.
In February, there was widespread speculation about the consistency of crime reporting for 2013 after it was revealed that the Princess Margaret Hospital's records showed that more people were treated for injuries than the number of shootings and rapes listed in the police statistics.
When questioned about this, Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade said police statistics and hospital data will "never be the same".

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian