The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL


Tribune Staff Reporter


jrussell@tribunemedia.net

HUMAN Rights Bahamas has decried how the Royal Bahamas Police Force describes fatal police-involved shootings in the immediate aftermath, saying early accounts tend to favour the officer involved, undermining confidence in investigations.

The group said recent police accounts of deadly encounters — all of which involved off-duty officers — have followed a pattern in which the officer’s version of events is quickly accepted and communicated to the public.

“The police must not present the account of a shooter, any shooter, as established fact in the early stages of an investigation,” HRB said in a statement. “That is not their role, and it risks prejudicing both the process and public perception.”

HRB pointed to Saturday’s fatal shooting of an American worker by a senior off-duty officer outside Da Plantation Bar & Grill, saying the case reflects broader concerns about both the use of force and how such incidents are described.

Police said the officer fired after a man drove a vehicle in a threatening manner, fearing for his life. However, HRB noted that the official account has been widely challenged by people who claim to have witnessed the events, and said some of those witnesses have not yet been contacted by investigators.

“This raises serious concerns not only about the investigation itself, but about the appearance of impartiality from the outset,” HRB said.

The organisation said the issue is compounded by what it described as a recurring approach in which police statements assert that officers acted in fear for their lives, presented as fact rather than as claims to be tested.

“In at least one instance, subsequent information has contradicted elements of the initial account,” HRB said, likely referring to an incident in February where 28-year-old Makavali Tinker was shot and killed by an off-duty officer on Kemp Road. Police Press Liaison Chief Superintendent Sheria King said at the time that a plain-clothes officer arrived at his Margaret Street residence and confronted an “unknown” male on the premises, but not inside the home.

However, residents told The Tribune the deceased was known to the officer, and those close to Tinker said the two men had argued days earlier.

“This underscores the importance of restraint, neutrality, and rigorous fact-checking before conclusions are communicated to the public,” HRB said. “If the standard approach is to accept the officer’s version of events at face value, then the question must be asked: can there be true independence in these investigations?”

HRB said the use of lethal force by police — whether on duty or off — must be a last resort and warned that any perception officers are too quick to resort to firearms is a serious public concern.

“The public must have confidence that force is used only when absolutely necessary - not as a default response, and never without full and independent scrutiny when it occurs,” HRB said.

The group also said police must remain neutral and be seen to remain neutral, particularly in cases involving their own officers, adding that on-scene statements risk compromising active investigations.

It called for transparent investigations into recent incidents, independent oversight of all police-involved shootings, a review of protocols governing off-duty officers carrying firearms, and more disciplined public communication based on evidence.

The statement comes amid a series of recent fatal police-involved shootings.

On Monday, a second fatal police-involved shooting involving an off-duty officer in two days left a 48-year-old man dead. The incident followed Saturday’s fatal shooting involving an off-duty senior officer and an American worker outside Da Plantation Bar and Grill.

The latest case marks the third fatal police-involved shooting this year involving an off-duty officer.