Prime Minister Philip Davis said yesterday that more must be done to stop gangs from recruiting new members in schools and in prison.

Davis spoke during the Royal Bahamas Police Force's annual church service at Zion Baptist Church.

"As you know all too well, gangs are reaching into our schools to recruit - and this is happening in the younger grades as well as the older ones," he told officers.

"Your presence on campuses has strengthened security in our schools, for which we owe you our thanks.

"We also need to stop gangs from recruiting inside prison walls.

"All too often, young men are leaving prison with fewer options than they had previously, but more dangerous connections.

"Many of the obstacles we face in creating safer communities are home-grown. But they are amplified and worsened by the dangers that come from outside the country, too.

"We are implementing measures to strengthen the defense of our borders: from those who would come here illegally, and from those who smuggle in weapons, drugs and people.

"We have established a formal working arrangement with the American law enforcement agency ATF (the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives), and we will continue to work with American agencies to share intelligence to help stop the flow of arms across our borders."

Davis has previously said that there needs to be a crackdown on gun smuggling from the United States to the Caribbean, including The Bahamas.

Davis thanked police officers for their work on the front lines in the fight against crime and noted that violence in The Bahamas continues to wreck lives.

"Crime has been a very serious and chronic problem for too long - and then a succession of national crises poured gasoline on the fire," he said.

"Years of trauma, dislocation, lockdowns, despair have led to the tragedies we see unfolding around us."

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian