Mr. Speaker,
My Government’s Swift Justice initiative is
bearing fruit. Conviction rates have more
than doubled -- from 31% in 2012 to 63%
in 2015. One hundred and ten more cases were tried in 2015 compared to 2012.
Seven murder cases were tried within one
year of charge. And the backlog continues
to steadily decrease. 21st century technology is being used to link witnesses from the
Family Islands and internationally by video,
saving time and money, and new witness
anonymity protections allow for witnesses
to testify by disguising their voices and obscuring their faces over video link.
[14]
2016/2017
DRAFT
ESTIMATES
OF REVENUE &
EXPENDITURE
As well, the Office of the Attorney-General had a most productive year in 2015.
Tracking and monitoring improvements
and inadequacies have enabled strategic response and planning. In addition to
providing for the 10 criminal courts to sit
concurrently, resources have been provided for a revamped court reporting unit to
improve the timely provision of transcripts
as well as to establish an Office of the Public Defender.
The public can expect continued improvement in outcomes as we all work together
to eliminate inefficiencies in the system.
The Government of The Bahamas has also
expended significant sums of money to acquire and install cutting edge technologies
in our fight against crime. These investments were made in Ballistics, Digital Biometrics, Long Term Evolution Communication Technologies, Collaborative Enterprise
Solutions, Integrated Justice Solutions, Electronic Monitoring Solutions, and Closed
Circuit Television Solutions (CCTV), and
other cutting edge technology.
To date, the new technology includes a
state-of-the-art, multi-agency Smart-Net
Integrated Trunking Communication System, which is designed for Public Safety.
The system is shared among eighteen (18)
government agencies and also serves as an
emergency communication system for the
National Emergency Management Agency
(NEMA).
In 2014, the ASTRO Digital Trunking System was further upgraded at a cost of
$6.1 million. This allowed for a significant
decrease in power consumption as well as
the proper tracking and updating of one of
our most important crime fighting tools,
the patrol cars.
With all the upgrades and enhancements,
further investments to maintain safety and
security were necessary. There is now the
ability to text to 919, and send videos directly to the Police Control Room. Currently, the systems are segmented and are
standalones. The new system will integrate
the Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL), Dispatch and 919 platforms for use and operation from a single point.
There has been much success thus far with
the CCTV system. The Government is
currently in discussions to expand the system to over one thousand cameras, which
is expected to cover essentially all the exit/
entry points in Nassau.
To further protect the borders of The Bahamas and enhance national security, the
Government is actively pursuing the use
of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) with
high-resolution imagery. This technology is
intended to improve upon the interdiction
of drug traffickers, poachers, smugglers,
human traffickers and il legal migrants. It
will also improve upon the search and rescue missions.
As well, a state of the art Police and Fire
Station is well on its way to completion
in Freeport, Grand Bahama. Expanded
and newly refurbished facilities are being
made available for a Police Station in Lower Deadman’s Cay, Long Island.
The Government has also invested $4.5
million to install two hundred and forty-three (243) cameras, mainly in the downtown area and hot crime spots of New
Providence. All video feeds are sent either
wirelessly or via fiber optics to a secure
server located at the Police Headquarters.
The camera feeds are integrated with other
incoming data sources, such as behavioral
analytics systems and computer-aided dispatch (CAD), creating a common real-time
operational dashboard.
An Agreement has also been reached
with the New Providence Development
Company Limited for the purchase, by the
Government, of properties at a cost of
$2.1million to establish a Police Station in
southwestern New Providence.
In addition, the number of Police Reservist
Officers has been increased by 200. And
the maximum number of hours worked by
Police Reserve Officers, for which they are
paid, has been increased from 150 to 200
hours per month.
This offers the ability to easily integrate with
third-party data and camera systems (public or private). These additional systems can
enhance law enforcement’s visibility into
key areas of the city without large investments in additional assets. The base platform can be expanded and has the ability to
add multiple smart function items, including
Facial Recognition, Gun Shot Detection/location and License Plate Recognition.
We expect that the additions of the expanded use of technology by our law
enforcement officers will significantly improve their crime fighting capacity as well
as prove to a determent to crime.
As for the Royal Bahamas Defence Force,
the Government, in 2013, earmarked
some $232 million under the Sandy Bottom Project towards equipping and de-