Bringing People Together to Make Our Island Safer
There they go again. Michael Dunkley is so desperate to win this election that he's trying to scare voters into supporting his party. But, when you look at the crime stats, Michael Dunkley's fear-mongering alarmism is not warranted. The truth is, across the board, crime is down since the last time the UBP government was in power.
- Violent Crime is Down. In 1996, there were 350 total crimes of violence. In 1997, there were 309 total crimes of violence In 2006, there were 305 incidents.
- Theft is Down. In 1996, there were 324 incidents of theft. In 1997, there were 429 thefts. In 2006, there were 263 thefts.
- Burglary is Constant. In 1996, 982 breaking offenses. In 1997, there were 1,241 breaking offenses. In 2006, there were 1,142 breaking offenses.
- Total Crime Incidents is Down. In 1996, there were 2,864 total incidents. In 1997, there were 3,205. In 2006, there were 2,637 total incidents.
Now that we've debunked Mr. Dunkley's fear-mongering, let's focus on the PLP's comprehensive plan to fight crime. Our approach focuses on both strengthening our communities and providing targeted enforcement. The UBP plan is one note. They believe that more police on the ground is all our community needs to fight crime. We disagree. We believe in a comprehensive approach that includes building healthier communities.
Minister Dale Butler notes, "They want to put young Bermudians in prison and eventually release hardened criminals. We want to rehabilitate them with the Mirrors Program to turn them into become productive members of society. That's a fundamental difference between their far right wing plan and our progressive approach."
The Progressive Labour Party believes that prevention programmes like Mirrors, on the front end, and the Alternative to Incarceration programme, at the backend, is the comprehensive strategy Bermuda needs – working in concert with other initiatives to achieve long term substantial results in terms of crime reduction. We embrace the concept of prevention, along with a strong presence of traditional law enforcement to make a forceful overall crime fighting approach.
The Progressive Labour Party believes that the same old tired policies done the same old way -- as the UBP proposes -- will not be effective, but will undo the work that has been made in this regard over the last few years. It would be a decided step backward – back to the UBP's 1996 reign of record levels of crime and the antiquated punishment methods of the 1950's.
Our philosophy is that it is not only less expensive to develop human potential outside of prison but it is the right thing to do. This points the way to a sustainable reduction in crime and highlights a clear and decisive choice between ourselves and our opponents.
Finally, short on well thought policies, our opponents are apparently reduced to devising quick, ill conceived, and dangerous proposals such as, "preventative detention" that will take us backwards instead of forwards on crime and a myriad of other critical issues.
