NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Following a slew of alleged child abductions over the past few weeks, and weekend reports of a child that had been abandoned in an old building on Market Street, Bishop Simeon Hall on Monday urged the government to mo
In an interview with Eyewitness News, Hall said that he understands that the implementation of Marco Alert requires appropriate consultation before being implemented, but he noted that the government has fast-forwarded other matters.
Following the first abduction of Shavard Bain Jr. on Feb. 16, 2019, Minister of National Security Marvin Dames said his ministry has concluded its testing of the Marco Alert System, to ensure that they address issues with the system itself.
The government, he said, was also preparing a proposal to present to Cabinet.
He also noted in a recent interview that it would take more than a Marco Alert mobile app to address the issues that the country is presently facing.
But yesterday, Bishop Hall said the Marco Alert implementation should be a national priority.
“I don’t think we should waffle and get bogged down in the paralysis and analysis to do this before another child is abducted or hurt,” Hall said.
“You can put what kind of value a country has by how it treats its children and its elders. That tells you how a country is. How do we treat our children?
“If a mother leaves her child at 2 o’clock in the morning and goes dancing, you can tell something is wrong about that.
“If you were born cheaply, who are conceived cheaply are arrayed cheaply.
“Parents must be responsible for their children regardless of the circumstances of their birth,” Bishop Hall said.
The MARCO alert system was launched last July 2018, to streamline the activation of urgent bulletins in serious child abduction cases.
The pilot program was expected to send mass notifications among authorities, social media groups, as well as neighbourhood watch groups relating to missing children.
It was expected to mimic the AMBER alert system in the United States. However, in order to receive these alerts, members of the public had to sign up.
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This article was written by Matthew Moxey – Eyewitness News Online Intern
