“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”

No folks, not some fantasy of mine, and yes, sometimes this is easier said than done but these are the types of tactics we need to develop. Whereas I am quite aware of the need to fight in necessary, but certainly it would be easier to engage our young men and women before we see them doing the ‘Bank Lane Shuffle’, before we hear the cries of 'not my good child'. With this in mind, I challenge everyone to reach out via a youth group or in your neighborhood to our young men and women, and let them know there is hope... 

Admittedly I would be the first to advocate for changes in laws and how the courts are administrated. It is an obvious overwhelming situation at the courts for all those concerned. Daily I see the torrent of participants from police, to attorneys, witnesses, defendants, and of course, the ever-present spectators who flood the Bank Lane and Nassau Street area. It appears that only persons benefiting from this are the local eateries that thrive off of the reliable traffic of persons.

Never the less, this is not where the problem lies with crime in our country, as the appearance of these various players is the end result of a crime that has already been committed. Thus in my opinion it is not best place to begin to effectively remedy and change our crime situation. I venture to say that the courts are not even a short term solution to crime prevention as they have nothing to do with the latter...

Have you ever wondered why some stores are selected and others are not when it comes to robbery and stealing? Maybe it is random selection,? I think not. You and your business have been targeted and for the most part, your actions or in-actions create on a daily basis opportunity for criminals to steal and commit robbery. It may be a harsh pill to swallow but really the blame for your business being targeted and robbed is partially your fault.

On numerous occasion we here the police giving tips on how to set up your store or business, where to place the cash register, limiting the amount of cash that is on site or reducing the amount of advertisement covering the windows. Unfortunately this advice goes in one ear and out the other for the sake of increasing the potential for a sale and making the shopping experience more convenient...

When entering many businesses today the first and last person we see is the security officer, thus like it or not, the security person is the first and last impression of your organization.

In the Bahamas, like other places in the world, the security guard is usually not the first option of a career for the individual filling that role. The career of security guard is rarely seen at the top of the list when teenagers are asked what they aspire to be.   This last resort thus makes the selection pool shallow to say the least. On the other end of the spectrum you find that many of these roles are filled with retired or former police officers.   These persons are usually, for the most part, very reactive in their approach to security, resulting from years of training as police officers.   They are usually a grim reminder that policing and security are similar professions but very different in their attempt to reduce loss. In fact policing is concerned more with recovery of loss or the discovery of causation factors whereas security focus is on retention and prevention of loss...

For fraud to be successful, you need two co-operating parties, the fraudster and the willing victim. This was brought to my attention recently when we were called regarding money stolen from an investment group. The amount lost was quite substantial, even though the amount to be invested was small. It may appear to be impossible to lose a lot of money with conservative investments; it is not necessarily the case.

The manager of the investment said he was outraged at the loss, and insisted that he would oversee recovering the missing funds. Not a very good idea considering that it is inappropriate to have someone who might reasonably be suspected of causing the loss to be allowed to conduct the investigation. If the potential suspect is a bad guy it gives him a better chance of covering his tracks and getting away with it. If he is innocent and the money is not recovered, it unnecessarily leaves a suspicion that he might have been involved...

During a self defense training session this morning I had to deal with a recruit who we will call Jeff. Now Jeff was stronger and more aggressive than his partner who we will call Peter. As the various drills were given out I observed how Jeff would throw and toss Peter around the floor as if he was a rag doll. On the other hand the when the rolls were switched unexpectedly the rough and aggressive response was not given. Jeff’s action became more aggressive to the point where I had to step in and admonish him, about his action, which in my opinion equated to abuse.

However in Jeff’s opinion he was not doing anything wrong, as he felt that he was in control and stressed the fact that Peter was doing the same thing. Jeff’s perspective is what he operated on, thus he made a decision to act accordingly...

Just as 9/11 created a quantum leap for the physical and access control components of security, so too have recent hurricanes like, Katrina, Rita, and Ike. These have caused a jump forward with regard to emergency, crisis, and disaster management elements of loss prevention. So now out of this chaos we must first and foremost review our plan. What elements have now become obsolete and irrelevant to preparedness, response, and recovery effort?

Additionally, a critical element which is sometimes overlooked is the awareness / education phase of the plan.  This is especially important to professions like health care, where the workplace must be manned regardless of what happens. Persons working in similar industries cannot just close up shop until the storm passes. Education and awareness of what you may ask..?

Is crime out of control or are we as citizenry able to manage this problem? The first few weeks of 2008 as it pertains to crime may lead us to believe otherwise. As mentioned a few weeks ago we have seen a major upheaval in the amount of criminal activity. The police really have there hands full.

But really, is crime a police problem? Take for example the repair man be he a plumber or mechanic, does the fact that your septic tank has backed up or your car being unable to start really the problem of the fix-it-guy. When we consider it the issue may have been transferred to the police but crime is really our problem...

If you recall I stated in previous writings that our approach to community policing was a failure, now based on the numbers released yesterday it is as I said, 'painfully obvious'. The 5 years of the Urban Renewal has demonstrated and proven that Community Policing as we have chosen to implement it cannot and will not work. So what if the initiative received international acclaim, it is not working. I recall the announced visiting of the health department of a restaurant I worked at, the entire day and night before was dedicated to cleaning of the kitchen and eating area. We passed the inspection.

In my opinion we have taken pieces and parts of a puzzle and run off with them, without not fully understanding how they work in the first instance and secondly how they work in our environment and culture. The Community Policing concept has its contemporary roots with the New York City Police Department in 1994 and is from this management concept where many policing strategies including COMPS TAT, came from...