The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

IMMIGRATION officials in the capital commissioned a new cohort of officers on Thursday during a ceremony at the Police Training College on Thompson Boulevard, where Immigration Minister Fred Mitchell implored the department’s newest class to do their best to protect the country’s sovereignty.

Thursday’s ceremony comes just a few weeks after the Department of Immigration installed ten new officers in Grand Bahama.

The two classes are viewed as the initial groups in the series of installments planned by the department, as it looks to strengthen its ranks.

Thursday’s ceremony saw more than 35 recruits installed as officers; with the cohorts having completed a four-month training programme last month.

Mr Mitchell cheered the installation as a step in the right direction.

Speaking at length on the country’s history of colonisation and struggle to Majority Rule throughout his keynote address last evening, Mr Mitchell urged the new officers to always be mindful of the separation between their new posts as officers and their uniqueness as individuals; maintaining that many will attempt coerce them to put aside their morals and principles.

The Fox Hill MP stressed that in an ever-changing world where the value of the Bahamas and its citizenship is known and sought, those that protect its borders have to do all within themselves to hold to their values, principles and mandates or fear the loss of the nation.

To applause from those in attendance, Mr Mitchell stated: “The point is to recognise that there is a difference between you and your job. You may think that people are giving you things or offering you things and saying you are such great people and that they love you and all the rest of it because of you; but always remember, they are looking at that uniform and they are trying to curry some kind of favour.”

He added: “Your life is your life, don’t mix up your lives with their lives. You may be sitting in Cat Cay in the middle of luxury boats, and yachts and big houses and people popping champagne, but that is their life and not your life, remember to keep the two separate.”

Both Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Cleola Hamilton and William Pratt, acting director of immigration, were on hand to express confidence in the newly installed officers.

Special awards were presented to Shandazzar Rolle (excellence award), Reshanti Murray (director’s award) and Tristan Ferguson (instructor’s award).