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The Facts About Crime in The Bahamas
What is Safe Bahamas?
The Birth of the Safe Bahamas Initiative.
The Role of Safe Bahamas in the Fight Against
Crime
The Management Structure
The Nuts & Bolts:
How Will it Work?
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The Price We Pay
Businesses, government, individuals
.no one can escape the high
psychological and economic toll which we all pay for crime and living
in an undisciplined society.
- Virtually every Bahamian family has been touched by crime, either
directly or in sympathy with friends and loved ones who have experienced
its impact.
- An estimated 85% of households have security bars, alarm systems or
some form of security.
- Businesses tack on an estimated 5% to their annual operating costs
for security, insurance, theft and pilferage.
- Bahamians pay higher taxes through increasing costs to maintain police,
prisons, courts, support services and huge healthcare costs associated
with crime and social decay.
- The fear of crime wears on our nation's citizens, impacting productivity,
health and general well-being.
- All too many children are shortchanged as they are reared on the streets
and by television.
Where Will It Lead?
Left unchecked, criminal activity could have the potential to destroy
The Bahamas as we know it. Heightened criminal activity would force more
innocent citizens to live in fear behind burglar bars. Higher levels of
theft and white collar crime would increase the cost of
living by raising the cost of doing business.
Increased incidence of crimes against persons could have a devastating
impact on tourism,
the mainstay of our economy, driving unem-ployment to unacceptable levels.
In such a frightening scenario, Government revenues would shrink, placing
an even
heavier burden on essential public services. Investment capital would
disappear and busi-nesses which invested heavily in better days would
be left scrambling to meet substantial obligations.
It is a scenario that could occur over a period of time or virtually
overnight.
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"Any [person ]could walk in any
part of the island alone
Doors and windows were not locked
at night. When a hurricane came,people nailed their doors shut because
they couldn t remember where they had put the keys."
Reminiscing from a 1960 Bahamas
Handbook,the first edition
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