POLICE Commissioner Clayton Fernander’s defence of the recent promotion exercise that has left the Royal Bahamas Police Force with 14 assistant commissioners is a curious one.
In 2018, an audit of the force recommended that it only needed six assistant commissioners, and found that the force was top-heavy.
There was something of a public debate when the Minnis administration brought the number of assistant commissioners to eight, despite being the ones who set the audit in motion.
Now we have 14.
By comparison, the United Kingdom’s largest police force is the Metropolitan Police, covering London and surrounding areas. It has no less than 47,000 police officers – and seven assistant commissioners, half the number Commissioner Fernander feels he needs to get the job done.
So what is his justification? He points to a lack of leadership. The leader citing a lack of leadership is an odd thing in itself, but here we are.
He noted an incident from a viral video that involved two young officers arguing in a police station and said there was a “lack of supervision” in that incident.
Then he noted a case where the former head boy of Westminster College was awarded $60,000 in damages and costs for unlawful arrest and false imprisonment and again, while not going too far with his comments as he said his legal team is still investigating, despite the ruling, he said “we are talking about leadership at those divisions”.
It would seem that he feels that in order for police officers to do the right thing, or behave correctly, he needs more people to tell them when behaviour is unacceptable.
It is hard to imagine how the officers in the incident of the viral video which saw two officers arguing before one was wheeled out of the station on an office chair could have felt that was appropriate behaviour no matter how many officers are above them, but that seems to play into his thinking as to why he needs 14 assistants.
Good officers do not need to be told when behaviour such as that is inappropriate, without saddling the public purse with bigger salaries for officers to tell them.
If they do not, they should not have gotten past training. That’s where good behaviour ought to be drummed in to candidates.
The same with the false arrest – and perhaps also by a proper disciplinary process. The talk of a legal team investigating was in response to a question of whether the officers who detained the head boy will be disciplined. The matter has been before the court, the compensation has been ordered – by now the force should long have known whether the officers involved behaved appropriately or not. What does the legal team still have to look into there?
And then there is the elephant in the room – the number of murders our nation continues to have.
In yesterday’s editorial, we highlighted that the commissioner had set a target of fewer than 100 murders twice, and missed that target twice.
Now he says that “we now need to go back to the table and see where we could strategise and do some things differently”.
With 14 assistants, he might need a bigger table.
Find a solution to the murder conundrum and it might well prove worth the extra investment. Fail to do so, and more questions will be asked.
Comments
sheeprunner12 4 months, 3 weeks ago
This is the New Day pick for COP ....... He reflects the hapless, corrupt leadership of his bosses (Davis & Munroe).
Bahamas, we are in deep shit with this poor quality of political & policing leadership. Don't expect any improvement in 2024. Trust in God, not these men.
bahamianson 4 months, 3 weeks ago
How much wood, would a woodchuck chop, if a woodchuck could chop wood? I guess 14.
Porcupine 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Wow. Scathing. But, how many will read, or understand this article and its implications? That is exactly what they are counting on. Only a mere handful.
stillwaters 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Exactly how many D+ people have to work together to get a C result? I'm guessing 14........far too many intellectually -challenged people are in positions of power in this country.
sheeprunner12 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Not always true. But there is a lot of stifling of competent persons in order to make them tow the party or agency line. The PLP Cabinet is the classic case. With no backbenchers, Davis has created a bunch of "yes men". Same thing in PF, where the COP & Munroe can quiet dissent by giving out worthless promotions. The ACPs will just sit there with nothing to do and rot from malaise.
stillwaters 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Even if they are stifled from speaking, shouldn't their actual work results show some type of intelligence behind it?
concernedcitizen 4 months, 3 weeks ago
More ACOP is just another way to pay off , family ,friends and political allies .
ExposedU2C 4 months, 3 weeks ago
And our country only needs at most 18 MPs and 6 Senators.
As for Fernander, we all know he is about as incompetent and useless as they come. He epitomizes nothing more than a heavily sucking leech on the taxpayers of our small nation.
bobby2 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Same old story, every taxpayer service/Department must be overstaffed. Just like a MP calls Gov't Service Department to change a light bulb in the MP's Office. Service Department sends three workers, one to take the bulb out of the box & hand it to installer, installer screws in bulb, third worker fills out work sheet stating, "job complete".
sheeprunner12 4 months, 3 weeks ago
😂😂😂
stillwaters 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Or eight men from Ministry of Works standing around a hole in the road while one single man is actually in the hole working.
concernedcitizen 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Our birthrate outpaces private sector jobs .We have been absorbing it with public services jobs for 40 years .We have to keep taxing and borrowing to afford it . Sooner or later the B dollar will be devalued . The politicians and they,re cronies don,t care they have looted enough U S dollars . Plus if you have 10 million B stashed and its only worth 7 million U S your still well off .
ExposedU2C 4 months, 3 weeks ago
The birth rate of Bahamians has been at an economically sustainable level since the 1960s. It's the extraordinarily high birth rate of the many thousands of illegal aliens who have invaded our country over the past five decades that has caused most of our social and economic ills.
DiverBelow 4 months, 3 weeks ago
You sound like Mr. Trump-ateer. "Immigration is poisoning our blood". So how many Lucayans are ready to work?
ExposedU2C 4 months, 2 weeks ago
Uncontrolled ILLEGAL immigration on a massive scale is a terrible scourge on a small nation like ours. You seem to think not wanting to pay a Bahamian a decent day's pay for a day of hard work justifies a greedy employer, no doubt like yourself, promoting illegal immigration. I'm not at all surprised you choose to play the tired old Trumpism and racism cards to support your unwillingness to pay a Bahamian a decent day's pay for an honest day's work. You sound sound like an Abaconian.
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