EDITOR, The Tribune.
The Engineering Department workshop of the Trinidad Government Railways was our first meeting place. We were both apprentices. He in the Boilermaking and Fitting Unit and I in the machine shop. Our relationship got closer as he joined the Railways cricket team, of which I was the captain. Our team reached the final against the former national champions Havard Cricket Club.
Arthur gave up his place on the team for the final by recommending that another young player, who he felt was better suited for the match. We won the championship in a big upset.
The player replacing Arthur excelled. The Railways apprenticeship programme, which was for a period of five years groomed many of us for manhood.
Many excelled beyond expectation.
Randolph Burroughs left for the Trinidad Police and in a short time was Commissioner of Police.
Arthur, Frank Ellis and I came to The Bahamas in the Police Force. Both of them reached the rank of Superintendent of Police and Arthur obtained his law degree.
Arthur and I were together again in the mid 60’s when I was sent to Freeport to organise and head the C.I.D. Unit there. Arthur, Ormond Briggs and Godfrey Knowles were on the team. There was a flourishing international prostitution business, which The Bahamas government wanted eliminated. We were able to organise and train a team of officers to attack and eliminate the problem.
Many overseas prostitutes were arrested by undercover personnel.
Through them we were able to trace the purchasers of their tickets and those persons, who paid their hotel expenses. With the assistance of the Courts and the Immigration we were successful in getting the prostitutes and their sponsors deported and placed on the Stop List. The place became unpopular for the foreign prostitutes.
The new C.I.D. team was also instrumental in arresting a group of U.S. citizens, who were involved in importing high priced stolen vehicles into Freeport. Our efforts were coordinated with the FBI Miami office and several stolen vehicles were recovered.
The group arrested were deported to the U.S.A. where they were convicted and received long sentences of imprisonment.
Briggs, Arthur and the team were commended for the success in exposing that international racket. Arthur Yearwood worked many years with me in the C.I.D. in Nassau.
I recognized his talents and used them effectively to improve the performance of the C.I.D. team, which included detectives such as Louis Hemmings, Milan Gittans, Ormand Briggs, Fletcher Johnson and the Bullards, to name a few.
Arthur, mentored, supervised, disciplined and trained the new additions in the skills of investigations. Many of those officers, who made it up the ranks of the Force were exposed to his teachings; Basil Dean, Douglas Hanna, Stephen Seymour, Sheila Armbrister, Alardyce Strachan and the very capable Garth Johnson, who led teams investigating murders and other serious violent crimes. Arthur was an asset to the CID. He knew the criminal law more than most of us, and was very often consulted for advice on charges.
He was frequently used to prepare the charge sheets as he was well versed in the legal language.
He was used to prepare most Search Warrants to ensure secrecy. He was a one-man fraud squad, as he investigated most complaints of fraud made to our department.
Our Police Force over the decades has always been able to provide efficient personnel as replacements in any of the positions from Commissioner downwards. Officers such as, Salathiel Thompson, Wenzel Granger, Augustus Roberts, Sir Albert Miller, Stanley Moir and Arthur Yearwood ensured that Bahamians were trained to continue the command of the Police Force.
Finally, as a leader he was able to bring out the best in people, motivate officers to perform at the highest level and to contain two seemingly contradictory qualities simultaneously, “power” and “humility”. May he rest in peace.
PAUL THOMPSON Sr.,
Nassau,
August 5, 2014.
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