The Tribune

By SIMON

Like many Bahamians, this writer recalls with esteem and happy memories a beloved relative who served as an officer of the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF).  He was one of the first black sergeants prior to majority rule. 

It is easy to romanticise the men and women who served. Still, the starched white tunic, immaculately polished shoes and well-pressed uniform is iconic. The dress and discipline of an officer is a matter of pride for the officer and citizens, an emblem of order, decency and high standards. 

Over the decades, many thousands of Bahamians have served with distinction, dignity, decorum on one of the nation’s leading and storied institutions, representing civility and chivalry. The RBPF was always one of the more orderly of our public institutions. 

The force was one of the few institutions that kept proper records. In times of emergency it was critical to the proverbial law and order of the Commonwealth. The commissioner enjoys an important and essential independent constitutional standing, and power.

Many fondly remember commissioners like Salathiel Thompson, Gerald Bartlett, Bernard K Bonamy and Paul Farquharson, among other officers of senior and junior ranks. A cadre of female officers have also served with “courage, integrity and loyalty”.

After leaving active duty, men like Mr Farquharson continued to serve. At the time of his death, he was working tirelessly to help expunge the records of certain offenders, including some convicted of the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

One repentant, a man in his 50s enthused with gratitude that the late former commissioner and his team afforded him a new lease on life. This is an example of the spirit and service of RBPF at their finest.

Like every institution, the force and forces around the world, are imperfect, in need of ongoing reform. Still, the onset and aftermath of the dark and pernicious drug era of the 1970s and 80s critically wounded the RBPF, like a dagger penetrating, though not terminally killing a vital organ.

That era was a bleak period for the country and the RBPF. It had a corrosive effect on the force, besmirching its reputation and corrupting many officers. Neither the country nor the force have fully recovered.

In the fourth unpublished volume of former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham’s collected speeches, his former chief policy advisor, M Teresa Butler, offered an introductory commentary to chapter five, entitled, “Campaign to Reduce Crime”. 

She observed: “By the mid-1980s, Ingraham had become convinced that not only was the government of the day failing to achieve its basic social responsibilities to Bahamians, but also that a laissez faire attitude toward law enforcement and a tolerance of corrupt practices in high places, had created a dangerous environment that challenged traditional Bahamian social mores and threatened the survival of its communities.

“Ingraham was especially concerned with the impact the drug trade was having on such Family Island communities as Abaco and its cays, Bimini, Cat Island, Exuma and Eleuthera and with good reason.

“Increasing numbers of Bahamians became engaged in the trade, first as facilitators and, subsequently, as organisers of a mushrooming and ever increasing profitable illicit enterprise. This already great concern was compounded by the realisation that the drug trade involved other spheres.

“The new prime minister believed that the Royal Bahamas Police Force was the primary agency of the government meant to ensure an orderly, safe society, hence, his anti-crime policies began with the RBPF.”

Some 40 years later, the force is being rocked by a series of explosive allegations of corruption in the senior ranks, even as the murder rate continues to climb. There is increasing concern that our high level of killing and violence is in various ways connected to corruption on the force. 

The public now believes that neither the political directorate nor the force is taking the necessary and comprehensive measures to address the allegations of corruption.

Most Bahamians want an independent investigation, and wonder why the leadership of the Force appeared to be in the dark about the alleged level of corruption. Why did US authorities seem to sideline the government and the RBPF prior to its recent indictment related to a conspiracy to import drugs and guns into the US?

In response to the allegations, Commissioner Clayton Fernander decided to give a national address. Was this his idea? Was he asked to do it by the government? 

If he was pressed into the address he was at minimum poorly advised or worse made to be the face of a public relations exercise that backfired, with unintended consequences.

Before he spoke, a dear friend suggested to this writer that it was likely to go horribly wrong on multiple levels. 

The head of the Metropolitan Police in the UK would likely never give a national address. Indeed, in the UK, the British prime minister rarely gives such an address.  The heads of cabinet departments in the US and most countries do not address the nation as did the commissioner.

The breaching of that standard by Commissioner Fernander was ill advised, poorly judged, and a mistake that led to a backlash to the nature, substance and tone of his remarks.

The more standards and norms are breached the more things atrophy. No commissioner should repeat this mistake. A press conference or speech by a commissioner is in order.  However, a national address makes a commissioner a political figure.

As the commissioner knows, great power requires great restraint and discipline. He is clearly under enormous pressure. He should have restrained himself from giving such an address, which has made matters worse for him. This is not good for him, for the force, nor for the country.

He has now become a political target and has harmed the necessary constitutional independence required for his office. For every leader, upholding the authority of his or her office is more important than one’s personal circumstance.

Moreover, leaders should remember what is oft forgotten: power is temporary and once out of office one will need the goodwill of the public and the new occupants of the office from which one has demitted. The office is bigger than any man or woman.

In her commentary on Mr Ingraham’s response to the crisis of confidence and trust in the RBPF in a previous era, Ms. Butler noted: “Early in his first term, Ingraham availed himself of the advice of police and law enforcement consultants engaged by the Government, notably Michael Pike and Jack Cusack. Among some of the earliest initiatives impacting the Police Force was the Ingraham government’s decision to reverse actions it believed had weakened the quality of training for new police recruits….

“Later during Ingraham’s second term in office, CDR International, a British law enforcement consultant firm was retained to review and make recommendations on the organisational structure and manpower strength of the RBPF.  That advice would influence the drafting of the new Police Force Act in 2009.”

Ingraham understood the necessity of utilizing international expertise and advice to rebuild the Force. But before reforming and rebuilding we need to know what is broken and in disrepair. 

We need widespread reform of the RBPF, which may come in a number of reforms. But the prelude is an independent Commission of Inquiry with the proper terms of reference and resources to investigate and make recommendations for renewal.

The great danger before us is not about a few bad apples. It is about the state of one of our more critical public institutions. Bahamians are angry, frightened, suspicious, and alarmed about the degree of possible corruption on the RBPF.

There are many good men and women on the Force, who protect us every day of the year.  We owe them our respect and gratitude. 

The Bahamian people hunger for the restoration of the integrity and honor of the Force for the sake of these men and women, for the sake of our good name and reputation at home and abroad, and for the sake of a less crime-ridden and more peaceful society.