The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Myles LaRoda warned 56 new police officers on Friday that their power to enforce the law gives them no right to disregard people’s dignity, urging them to measure their success by more than arrests, assignments and promotions.

Speaking at the Royal Bahamas Police Force’s A and B Squads graduation and passing out parade at the Police Training College, Mr LaRoda told the graduates their authority carried a responsibility to protect citizens’ rights and maintain public confidence.

“The true strength of a police officer is demonstrated not only in the ability to exercise authority, but also in the wisdom to exercise it responsibly,” he said.

Instead of counting arrests and promotions, he said, officers should consider what they had done to resolve disputes peacefully, protect vulnerable people and build confidence in their communities.

Commissioner of Police Shanta Knowles delivered the same message more bluntly.

“Do not become so consumed with enforcing the law that you forget how to treat people,” she told the graduates.

She also warned them against growing impatient for promotion, recognition or position.

“Those things have their place, but they must never become more important than the quality of service that you are expected to give,” she said.

Commissioner Knowles encouraged the new officers to build reputations based on fairness and character, and challenged them to consider how the public, their colleagues and their families would remember them at the end of their careers.

Commissioner Knowles is the force’s first female commissioner, and she once trained as a recruit on the same grounds. She said the force had changed considerably over the decades, but officers still had a responsibility to preserve the principles established by earlier generations.

Mr LaRoda said increasingly sophisticated criminal networks and advances in technology had created new challenges for law enforcement. Those challenges required continued government investment in training, infrastructure and equipment, he said, but that investment had its limits.

“No investment in technology, vehicles, or equipment can substitute for the sound judgement, integrity, and professionalism of the individual officers,” he said.

The graduating class of 30 men and 26 women began training on April 24. Mr LaRoda said their training included applied police sciences, physical fitness, defensive tactics and swimming. It also included exposure to forensic evidence at Princess Margaret Hospital, visits to the Supreme Court and Magistrate’s Court, and attachments at police stations across New Providence.

The ceremony came two days after 36 officers from C-Squad 2026 graduated at the Police Training College in Grand Bahama.

“The real examination begins when you leave this parade ground and report for duty,” Mr LaRoda told the graduates.