The Tribune

“EVERY time I open my mouth I lose my civil liberties in this country,” commented a woman who has lived in the Bahamas for many years, but still has a distinct Jamaican accent.

She was commenting on the efforts of psychologist Dr David Allen to include police officers in a programme of group therapy to help them reduce their anger and acts of violence. She thinks that such a programme is badly needed in the force.

Of course, persons like her who have had a few bad experiences with some of our uncouth officers see all officers through the same jaundiced eye. “They just ain’t no good!”

We don’t agree with her comment. We know many fine officers who are doing a commendable job in the force, but who are being daily undermined by the unacceptable behaviour of some of their colleagues.

Deputy Commissioner Quinn MCartney, while confirming that Royal Bahamas Police Force officers do not receive routine psychological evaluation, said that members of the public have filed 1,484 complaints against officers in a four-year period — 2009 to 2013.

Police officers have a difficult job. Their hours are long, many of their beats are dangerous, they are under great pressure, and yet they soldier on. There are outstanding officers in their ranks. However, they are human and some of them break under the strain.

This is not a criticism of the force as a whole. However, there are those in their ranks who, while others are trying to win the confidence of the people in the various communities, undermine their work because they just do not know how to deal with people — they lack the common touch. They are the ones who give the force a bad name. These are the officers who are badly in need of Dr Allen’s help. They are the ones who every time a fellow officer makes headway in winning the heart of a community, their attitude destroys all the ground that has been gained.

What these officers have to be taught is that everybody should be assumed to be innocent until they are proven guilty. If an officer approaches an unknown person on the assumption that he is guilty — as they did in the embarrassing case of the UBS banker — then the approach will be rough. Already the officer has set off the fight mode in the stranger, there is a verbal clash, often followed by a struggle and arrest, ending in a fast drive to the lock up in a police car.

It’s all in the way of the approach, said British Police Officer Sir Ranulph Bacon, who in 1967 headed the Commission of Inquiry into Casino Gambling in the Bahamas. Under questioning that day was a shadowy figure in the underworld of gambling. The little man was under blistering questioning by lawyer Robin Auld — today Professor Sir Robin Auld. Auld was a ruthless prosecutor, who was getting nowhere with the wily little man. Eventually Sir Ranulph crossed his arms, leaned forward, and took over. In no time Sir Ranulph and the witness were like two elderly gentlemen enjoying a pint of Lager in the village pub. The witness was pouring his heart out to the “guv”. All the questions were being answered. The transformation was incredible. The witness was like putty in the hands of the experienced old policeman.

After the session was over, we asked Sir Ranulph for his secret. It’s all in the approach, he replied, “Remember the saying, ‘you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.’” Obviously, he carried his honey pot wherever he went. This is the secret that some of our police officers have to learn.

Of course, there are some bad apples in the force who are using their uniform for their own gain. We could tell several stories about this, but we will illustrate what is going on by at least one.

Several years ago – a Sunday afternoon — a mother and son had just returned from a visit to Jamaica. The family was in the house eating oranges when the son, a young man in his twenties, walked out to the gate to drop the orange peel in the garbage bin. He was leaning against the gatepost to his home with his peeling knife still in his hand when a police car drove up. “What you got in your hand?” the officer shouted. “I don’t have anything, only my knife that I was peeling my orange with,” the young man replied.

The knife was described as a small Swiss army knife with knife, spoon and can opener attached. An officer jumped out of the car, grabbed him, searched him and marched him back into his home. Looking at the mother, the officer barked: “What can you do for him, because he’s got a knife?” “What do you mean can I do for him?” the frightened woman asked.

“If you’ll give me $1,500, we’ll let him go!” the officer replied.

“But we have no money, we have just come back from Jamaica,” the mother stammered. “$1,500! Lock me up then!” her angry son shouted.

They handcuffed the young man, threw him in the patrol car, and with sirens screaming took him for a harrowing ride all through Bain Town. When they felt he was sufficiently terrorised, they drove him to the station and wrote him up for having a knife. They told him that he had to sit on the bench until 6pm before anyone could bail him out. Eventually his mother arrived with the $100 for the bail. He was taken to court, from where he was sent to a six-month anger management programme. At the end of the programme, he had to return to pay $50 into court. All for peeling an orange with a knife at his own front gate.

On another occasion, we heard of the story of a Haitian gardener who asked his employer if he could go to work before 8am and leave at about 3pm. “Why?” the employer asked.

The answer was simple. Certain policemen knew the hours of menial labour going to and from work. The Haitian was trying to avoid those hours because those officers were lying in wait for Haitians to steal their money.

Yes, there are some very bad apples within the force. It would be embarrassing if we were to continue with the stories that we have been told.

However, those officers who have poor attitudes in handling people need the help of Dr Allen’s course, the others should be handcuffed and taken to face the magistrate. These are the officers who are undermining the force and compromising the efforts of many of their colleagues.