On January 1, Latore Mackey posted on his Facebook page: "Happy 2014! I love you all!"
The following day, he posted something more serious: "Recommendations and proposals in the fight against crime."
Mackey ended by asking: "If not us, who? If not now, when?"
He added, "We are the change we have been seeking. To accomplish things we haven't before we must begin to do things we haven't done before."
Tragically, before he or any of us could see a meaningful dent in crime in The Bahamas, Mackey was murdered last Monday around 4:30 a.m.
Mackey's New Year's Day post and the numerous responses to it signified that for the average citizen, crime is not too far from the mind.
"Violent crime has skyrocketed over the last few months, with murder records being recorded on an uphill climb," read the post on Mackey's page.
"The terrible truth is that Bahamians no longer feel safe and the fear of crime has gripped the hearts of all of us -- in our homes, on the streets, in our businesses, even in our schools.
"Our children are growing up in a country in which gun violence is deployed almost casually as a means to resolve disputes, gain immediate wealth through robberies, intimidation of others and self empowerment of criminals, in part because there appears to be no national direction."
Mackey, who was a proponent of a national youth service, also posted: "I am of the belief that a national youth service from our citizens diversifies our defense and removes a disproportionate amount of the burden from the poor and inner-city minorities.
"The result is a greater sense of national unity, community building and integration between economic classes."
The post also recommended that such a program be funded through citizen taxation, the legalization of web shop gaming, a commitment from foreign investment developments during the signing of heads of agreement and donations from the private sector as well as international organizations.
Other recommendations included increased penalties for gun/drug possession; increased law enforcement officers on the streets; installation of CCTV island-wide and a legislative amendment to address capital punishment.
"As it relates to the humane treaties or agreements we may have signed onto, we can revisit our constitution to include lethal injection for the death penalty to be imposed and accepted by the international organizations," the post said.
"Public opinion supports greatly the death penalty and many arguments are being waged that the lack thereof is what is fueling the seeming lack of fear in criminals.
"I have canvassed and spoken to many Bahamians of varying demographics that have all agreed, drastic measures must be taken to restore security and peace in our nation and in the world."
The post also recommends addressing illegal immigration and shantytowns and implementing a national ID system.
In the wake of his death, Mackey's post has been widely shared on Facebook.
The recommendations might be useful for a government paralyzed in the fight against crime.
It is clear that, despite the catchy campaign slogans, ill-conceived murder billboards and the Urban Renewal public relations exercises, the Christie administration is lost in the crime fight.
The murder of Mackey, Christie's press secretary and the deputy director of Bahamas Information Services, served as another reminder of the government's failure to "keep Bahamians safe".
At 85, murders are up over last year this time when the count stood at 76. At the end of 2013, the murder count was 120.
It has been many months now since police or national security officials provided the public with crime statistics.
Amid the mayhem, Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade has gone curiously silent, telling a reporter last week that he could not speak to ongoing crime concerns as the prime minister has already spoken.

Strategies
Following Mackey's shooting death and the murders of four other people in less than 48 hours last weekend, Prime Minister Perry Christie pledged to "go back to the drawing board" and review the government's crime-fighting strategies.
"When you see it now begin to stretch and extend itself to people who you least expect to be involved in any kind of underhand activity, who may have just been a victim of circumstance, then you know we have a lot of work to do," Christie told reporters last Monday.
He made a similar statement on the night Kurt McCartney, the brother of Democratic National Alliance Leader Branville McCartney, was murdered last October.
Christie said of that murder: "Very tragic in its implications, but a profound lesson to those of us who are responsible for public policy, and to all of our countrymen and women who oftentimes tend to believe that it is just those people over there who become perpetrators and victims and never us. But this now is another reminder that one of us has been killed."
In his most recent comments, Christie seemed to be admitting that his administration has failed on crime.
The tone of his message on crime has shifted since his days in opposition, when he laid the blame for the country's crime problem at the feet of then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.
On August 15, 2011, the then opposition leader made a nationally televised address on crime with a sense of urgency that highlighted "a major crisis facing The Bahamas".
Christie said, "An important reason for the escalation of crime in The Bahamas is poor governance."
He said, "This government has been paralyzed, unable to lead on this crucial issue and their determination to put politics first, not Bahamians, has made a terrible problem much worse."
The plans Christie outlined in 2011 made headlines. They were intended to convince the electorate that the Ingraham administration lacked the will to "break the back of crime" and had failed to keep Bahamians safe.
Christie said in that 2011 national address on crime that "people are afraid, and they are angry".
"They are afraid that the violence is going to continue to escalate, and they are angry that the government has offered no meaningful response," he said.
Months later, the PLP used its murder billboards to underscore the crisis and play on the emotions of voters.
It was a shameless act that now haunts the government as it scrambles to address the problem.
Christie's recent "back to the drawing board" pledge has been made several times over the last two years.
After the murders of four people in Fox Hill last December, the prime minister announced a new set of measures to address crime.
Christie said at the time there were plans to increase saturation patrols.
"If I have to put a policeman and a police car on every corner, as they do in some countries, we are going to communicate to the criminals in this country that we are going to root them out wherever they are," he said.
Christie also announced that the government was considering reinstating the 12-hour policing shift "possibly on new terms".
Christie said Operation Ceasefire will mount "aggressive" initiatives which include the expansion of the capabilities of the Royal Bahamas Police Force's Situation Room to collect and analyze data; outsourcing the repair and maintenance of police cars so the entire RBPF fleet is operational; improving the EMT program; appointing new judges and public defenders and improving intelligence gathering capabilities.
At the time, he said the government will also expand New Providence's CCTV coverage, expand the use of reserve officers, accelerate the training of police recruits, expand the use of plainclothes officers and adopt a "strike force" strategy.
While we have heard repeated claims from National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage that the initiatives implemented by the Christie administration to address crime have led to an overall reduction in crime, we do not feel safe.
When the government goes back to the drawing board, it will need to complete a full assessment of its crime-fighting strategies.
It now seems to recognize that crime should never be used as a political tool to win elections.

Politics
Both the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and the Free National Movement (FNM) have at some point blamed the escalation in violent crimes on bad governance.
Upon coming to office, they were reminded that the approach to crime fighting must be multi-faceted with all stakeholders taking responsibility for addressing the problem.
Recognizing this fact last week, former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of National Security Cynthia "Mother" Pratt said while both parties are guilty of politicizing crime, the FNM is guilty of throwing the first blow.
Pratt spoke of being "attacked" from the platform at an FNM rally.
"That's where it started," she asserted.
"Both were wrong. It doesn't make it right who did it. It was wrong from the beginning."
It is pointless, though, to get into an argument on who threw the first blow.
From as far back as 2002, the PLP has been talking about bad governance leading to a high crime rate.
At a rally at Clifford Park on April 4, 2002, Christie lashed out at Tommy Turnquest, the FNM leader designate, on the crime issue.
Christie said, "I see thousands of Bahamians living in barricaded homes, too fearful to go to sleep and too afraid to come out because of the terror and mayhem that engulfs their communities.
"...Tommy T. may not see it, but I see children who are afraid to go to school because of the violence that stalks their playgrounds or lies in wait for them on the way home."
More than a dozen years later, having lived through one Christie administration, a third Ingraham administration and two years of a second Christie administration, thousands of Bahamians are still barricaded in their homes.
We remain unsafe. We remain terrified.
We agree with Pratt that politicizing crime is a bad idea.
It is a shame that she remained silent as her own party erected murder billboards in tourist areas and other parts of New Providence in 2012.
She also should not get into pointing figures on who started it.
As the families of Latore Mackey and the others who were recently slaughtered prepare to bury them, we shudder as the answers continue to elude the current administration and many of us who pray and hope for safer communities.

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