No tropical cyclones as of Wed, 01 Jun 2022 05:32:21 GMT

Founded in 1922, HG Christie Ltd. (HGC) celebrates 100 years of business in The Bahamas.

President and CEO, John Christie, hosted the first of many events to highlight the company’s centennial anniversary. In keeping with traditions from the past, he and sister, Cara Christie raised a glass and cut a cake as a nod to the company’s Founder, Sir Harold G. Christie. Sir Harold’s birthday is May 31st, and when he was alive, he chose to celebrate by cutting a cake at the office with his family and team.

2022 finds HGC celebrating its 100th year anniversary, as well as being The Bahamas’ exclusive affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate for 25 years. Team members gathered at the historic Millar’s Court office in Downtown Nassau to toast to the company’s continued success. HG Christie Ltd. prides itself on having a genuine care for the people being served, a company-wide enthusiasm entrenched in local knowledge and an honest love of The Bahamas. These core values combined drive, Founder Sir Harold’s legacy forward. And for these reasons, HG Christie Ltd. has become “ The Trusted Authority in Bahamas Real Estate” for 100 years.

POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle confirmed yesterday that he is demitting office on July 5, after months of speculation on the date.

Commissioner Rolle, speaking to reporters at the Caribbean Commissioner’s of Police Conference, finally revealed his intentions to fully retire after first having announced he was leaving the Royal Bahamas Police Force back in March.

The Prime Minister has to now select a new Police Commissioner to replace Rolle who was as appointed in March, 2020 and would have spent 40 years in the RBPF after having joined in May, 1983.

Deputy Commissioner, Clayton Fernander, has acted in the capacity of Police Commissioner when Mr Rolle was out of office.

Mr Rolle said about his departure that he was not forced out of office and it was his decision to leave on his own, saying, “Forced out by who?” He added: “Nobody could force the Commissioner out. I said when you’ll asked me in December that I will leave when I’m ready.”

Commissioner Rolle had at most times an amicable relationship with the media, despite some gaffes and abrupt statements on matters he was unable to address at certain times. These included when he said “weak men” were at fault for their own suicides, but apologized shortly thereafter for the comments after public uproar.

Commissioner Rolle also said: “The cabinet through the Prime Minister will announce who the next Commissioner will be and I would just ask the members of the press to wait for that and let it be done properly. As I indicated we serve and I don’t like when we get to the end of your tenure and people are making mischief.”

He added that if reporters wanted to be mischievous then “three could play this game and I enjoyed playing it.”

He was referring to the barrage of questions he received when first announcing his retirement and how he felt some reporters were making more out of the announcement of his departure than warranted. “Youngsters, who was just born yesterday, most of them aren’t even 30 yet and they are putting questions to me about when I’m leaving? That’s not appropriate and I took issue with that.”

Nonetheless Commissioner Rolle said he was “pleased” with his service over the years and is looking forward to his retirement.

He will leave behind a very different police force compared with when he first entered some 40 years ago, where officers now have increased options for training and re-training in all crime fronts.

Issues like cyber crime and illicit drugs are things he has made a hallmark of his tenure, with noticeable narcotics seizures along with increased surveillance on cyber crime.

He has also managed the political minefield of his position, having been the lead investigator on several high-profile fraud, corruption and abuse of power cases, two of which he is overseeing currently.

Commissioner Rolle said that he had to change tactics of the officers under his command after seeing the influence of US police brutality spilling over into The Bahamas.

“After the killing of a young man in the United States, his name escapes me, by the police officers, the world is now a small place and that we saw it spilling here and I had to pull out all the stops. Essentially change our tactics and message to try to get into community and re-sensitize our police officers of the need to work with persons in the community. I led the charge and went out to try to repair and to build the relationships with the communities.”

Acknowledging that the RBPF had some negative interactions with some members of the public he said there was a great need to change that image and reinforce into the minds of the public that police officers are also members of the same communities they serve.

One of the last initiatives before he leaves office is with organizing a “regional ballistics laboratory,” something Commissioner Rolle feels would assist with tracking firearms that move from one country in the Caribbean to another. “The thought is to have a central database or repository where all of this information can be deposited and we can do a cross country search,”

C&W Communications, operators of the Flow, Flow Business, C&W Business and BTC brands in the Caribbean, is confirming all systems are in place for the start of the 2022 Atlantic Hurricane Season which begins on June 1.

According to the National Hurricane Centre, the 2022 season is expected to be ‘above-normal’ with a 65 percent chance there will be between 14 and 21 named storms (winds of 39mph or higher), of which 6 to 10 could become hurricanes (winds of 74mph or higher), including 3 to 6 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5 with winds of 111mph or higher).

The increased activity anticipated this hurricane season is attributed to several climate factors including the ongoing La Niña that is likely to persist throughout the hurricane season, warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, weaker tropical Atlantic trade winds and an enhanced west African monsoon.

“We have a long and proud history of delivering reliable connections across the Caribbean and our teams have been conducting simulation exercises and strengthening the networks, so we are once again leaving nothing to chance,” said Inge Smidts, Chief Executive Officer, C&W Communications.

The company also operates a state-of-the-art subsea network, which is one of the most secure subsea cable systems in the Western Hemisphere, with increased redundancy added by incorporating alternative routes for data and mobile traffic in the event of an emergency.

“We continue to invest in the redundancy capabilities of our sub-sea network, and we have established data centres that are located outside of the hurricane belt, which provides an additional layer of protection for connectivity in the region,” added Smidts.

“We know that governments, schools, healthcare providers, businesses and individuals are relying on us to keep them connected and our commitment to the communities we serve has never been stronger. While we are hopeful that no customers will be impacted during this year’s hurricane season, we must also ensure that we are ready to face that reality and we are prepared to respond to any eventuality if it comes.