As crime remains at stubbornly high levels, Minister of National Security Dr. Bernard Nottage has announced the introduction of previously used measures and those that are currently in place to curb the trend.
As he did in 2013, Nottage announced that the Royal Bahamas Defence Force would assist the Royal Bahamas Police Force with patrols.
Back then, Nottage said that 150 defense force personnel would carry out "sedentary and other duties carried out by the Royal Bahamas Police Force" to allow those officers to be deployed on the front lines of the crime fight.
Those measures also resulted in police complaining of burnout after working 12-hour shifts for months. The extended hours were phased out after the officers successfully filed a lawsuit seeking remuneration for the extra hours.
The government was ordered to pay those officers overtime or give them extra days off. To date, neither has happened.
This time, Nottage has suggested joint patrols between the police and the defense force.
Former Bahamas Bar Association President Elsworth Johnson said this is a worrying trend and if the move was not sanctioned by Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade, it could be unconstitutional.
He asked what deficiencies were present in the police force that required the military agency to become involved.
As he recalled a case where an elite squad of marines shot a Haitian during an independent immigration roundup, Johnson also noted that marines do not have the training to be on the streets.
Johnson said that the magistrate asked what the marines were doing on the streets.
Mexico, another country with a dangerously high crime rate, recruited the military to assist in the war on crime almost 10 years ago with little results.
In remarks published in The Guardian in 2016, Mexican Defense Secretary General Salvador Cienfuegos said that soldiers ought to return to their barracks.
He said, "We didn't ask to be there [in the streets]. We don't take any pleasure in it. None of us... were trained to pursue criminals."
Last week, while explaining that the carnage of 29 murders for the year was linked to criminal gangs, and holding up mug shots of alleged gang members, Nottage promised enforcement of anti-gang legislation.
"We will enforce the new anti-gang law that we passed in 2014. Persons convicted of an offense under this act are liable to a fine of $500,000 and to imprisonment for 20 years," he said.
Six alleged members of the One Order gang were charged under the act in 2015. However, the charges were later withdrawn after it was revealed that the men were accused of belonging to the gang before such conduct was criminalized.
The alleged leaders of One Order and Mad Ass were jailed before the anti-gang law came into effect.
Nottage announced that prosecutors would object to bail for people accused of firearms possession. However, this is already happening as magistrates lack the jurisdiction to consider bail for gun offenses, resulting in the automatic remand of suspects until they can get a date for a bail hearing before the Supreme Court.
However, a mere objection before a judge without demonstrating that an accused will not return for trial, is unlikely to result in refusal of bail for firearms offenses.
Nottage also announced that the courts would be asked to place greater restrictions on bailed suspects fitted with electronic monitoring devices, but the court already exercises its discretion to impose territorial restrictions and curfews when deemed necessary.
The current and former governments have both offered the same explanation for the violence: That for the most part the criminals are killing each other and law-abiding citizens have little to fear.
However, under both governments this has proven to be untrue.
In 2014, Latore Mackey, the press secretary of Prime Minister Perry Christie was found murdered and in 2009, under the Free National Movement, Tagia Soles-Armony was gunned down during an attempted car jacking outside her mother's home in Sea Breeze.
Johnson noted the commissioner has already spoken to the social programs that need to be put in place to address the scourge of crime.
He said the commissioner constantly addresses the need for parents to play a greater role in rearing their children by not condoning criminal activity.

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