The Tribune

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS

Tribune Staff Reporter

lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

COMMISSIONER of Police Shanta Knowles yesterday rebuked claims by an American attorney that corruption runs through Bahamian institutions, calling the remarks offensive and a far cry from the reality of police work in The Bahamas.

Ms Knowles was responding at a police press conference to comments made last week during the sentencing of former RBDF chief petty officer Darrin Roker in a US federal court. Defence lawyer Martin Roth had painted a picture of a country riddled with corruption, a characterisation the police commissioner said unfairly smeared officers who serve with integrity.

“I am offended by his remarks,” said Ms Knowles.

“To believe that because he has represented one person who is accused of crimes against his country that he would want to cast such aspersions on my officers in our country; if you look at the work we’ve done over the past year, you will see that that statement certainly is not true. We have decent police officers and other law enforcement agencies have decent officers who give their best to their community. One bad apple does not spoil the entire bunch.”

However, Roker did not act alone, neither is he simply accused of crimes. He pleaded guilty to his role in a sprawling corruption case that also involves several police officers and a high-ranking Bahamian politician. As investigations continue, he is the first of 13 defendants to be sentenced. Among those charged is Elvis Nathaniel Curtis, 51, a former Royal Bahamas Police Force chief superintendent who once headed the police station at Lynden Pindling International Airport. The case has embarrassed Bahamian authorities and renewed scrutiny of the country’s long-running struggle with drug trafficking.

Roker, 56, was jailed for four years by US District Judge Gregory Woods after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States. Prosecutors said the scheme involved about 1,000 kilograms of cocaine.

During the Manhattan hearing, Mr Roth told the court: “The entire system in The Bahamas — the police, defence officials, government personnel — is corrupted.”

In Court, Mr Roth also argued that Roker had joined the conspiracy late, attended only two meetings and exercised what he described as uncharacteristic bad judgement.

US prosecutors took a different view, telling the court that drug traffickers depend on corrupt officials to move narcotics across borders and that Roker’s conduct was part of a wider pattern. Roker admitted accepting a $20,000 bribe in October 2024 in exchange for providing information that helped traffickers avoid detection.

The defence pointed to Roker’s terminal prostate cancer as a mitigating factor. Addressing the court, Roker said his illness had stripped away his normal life and pleaded for mercy.

Prosecutors described the offence as extremely serious and said they believed Roker had been involved in drug trafficking for many years before the conduct for which he was convicted. In sentencing, Judge Woods said Roker had abused a position of trust, noting that the crime would normally have attracted a much longer prison term. He treated Roker’s terminal illness as a powerful mitigating factor.

In addition to the prison sentence, Roker was ordered to serve three years of supervised release and to forfeit the $20,000 he received.