The Bahamas

Sheer and Associates has been doing a considerable amount of work in The Bahamas in 2009.  Since the beginning of the year we’ve worked on a number of projects there with Senior Consultant Jerry Forrester.  Jerry, a former FBI Special Agent, served for more than twenty years as Supervisor of the Bureau's Caribbean Liaison Office.  Since retiring from the FBI, he has spent more than a decade in private security and risk management, operating out of The Bahamas and Miami.  Jerry has developed a unique understanding of how different Caribbean governments operate, especially concerning judiciaries and law enforcement.  We look forward to doing more work with Jerry in the region.  Please contact us if you have any investigative, security or government relations consulting needs in The Bahamas or the Caribbean Basin at large.

According to the State Department:  “The Bahamas is a developed, English-speaking Caribbean nation composed of hundreds of islands covering a territory approximately the size of California.  Tourism and financial services comprise the two largest sectors of the economy.  Independent from the United Kingdom since 1973, The Bahamas is a Commonwealth nation with more than a century-old democratic tradition.  The capital, Nassau, is located on New Providence Island.”

The Bahamas is very close, geographically, to the US.  The distance from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Nassau is a little more than 180 miles.  However there are many islands that lie much closer to the US.  For example, the Bahamian island of Bimini is only 61 miles from Fort Lauderdale.

The State Department has issued no recent travel advisories or travel warnings for The Bahamas.  Though the department does caution visitors about the nation’s high crime rate.  Jerry Forrester agrees with the State Department’s assessment, saying that street crime in The Bahamas is at an all time high.  

For more information about The Bahamas visit the US Embassy website.  The State Department Inspector General conducted a limited scope audit of the Embassy in 2007 and published its report in 2008.

Finally, The Bahamas’ tourism site also has a good deal of useful information for anyone planning on visiting.