THE NEW COMMISSSIONER OF POLICE
It’s a rags-to-riches story. It is a story of a little girl who dared to dream big when there was a glass ceiling. Sixty years, on 3 January 2025, after the first woman was entered into the Royal Bahamas Police Force in 1964, a woman took command of the Force.
It is not a new proposition elsewhere in the world. New York City has a woman commissioner. Interestingly enough in the same circumstances as the one that presently obtains in The Bahamas.
Both the Force in New York and the one here in The Bahamas are in deep trouble with their respective publics and with the governments and in The Bahamas’ case, with its international partners. There is a feeling of mistrust and a pall of corruption.
The former Commissioner of Police Clayton Fernander tried his best but was not able to deal with the avalanche of complaints. He was sunk by an audio recording which appeared to show that the head of the Criminal Investigation Unit, the main detective unit had been colluding with criminals to change the outcome of cases corruptly.
Michael Johnson the officer has since resigned from the Force and his friends gave alternative explanations for what happened. They say that in order to get success in crime fighting the police have to talk to the criminals.
Then there was the body blow of the Americans in what many perceive as a treacherous act of disloyalty on their part, issued an indictment and arrested the senior officer in charge of security at the airport in Nassau and charged him with conspiracy to import cocaine in the United States.
The government was forced to act. Mr. Fernander resigned and they looked for the best man for the job, who happened to be a woman.
We do not believe that any one person, let alone the Commissioner of Police, can solve the crime problem. It is a society wide issue. Let’s hope the society is serious this time about seeking to solve these issues. We very much doubt it but let’s give her an opportunity to succeed by allowing her to try.
Number of hits for the week ending Saturday 4 January 2025 up to midnight: 419,266;
Number of hits for the month of December up to Tuesday 31 December 2024 up to midnight: 72,036;
Number of hits for the year 2024 up to Tuesday 31st December 2024 up to midnight: 72,036;