The Tribune

THE protests in the United States have rightly drawn support from Bahamians – joining in the stand against racism and police brutality.

But why does our activism end when it comes to our own shores? Khandi Gibson has long been on the front lines of activism when it comes to violence in our own society – as the head of Families of All Murder Victims, she has reached out to the loved ones of victim after victim in The Bahamas to offer support.

She is in a good place then to point out our lack of response to issues here at home. Those issues have been detailed in The Tribune extensively over the years, and sadly we fear we will continue to detail more in years to come.

Her focus at present is in the failure of the police to tackle brutality here in The Bahamas. How many of you have heard of instances of police brutality? We would imagine all of you, whether it’s reading about such cases here in The Tribune or talking about instances with friends down at the bar – or worse, being a witness or a victim to such.

Suspects in court frequently claim they have been beaten by police – some may be lying of course, but if even one in 20 is telling the truth, it makes police beatings commonplace.

And yet, what have we done to prevent brutality?

The long-promised body cameras for police are still not here – the latest delay being blamed on COVID-19. As Ms Gibson points out, “From Marvin Dames been talking about this, you trying to tell me COVID-19 stop all that?”

This shouldn’t be terribly complicated – body cameras are used around the world, this isn’t rocket science. The contract was signed in January – but frankly it could have been signed much earlier if the government had made it a priority.

Even then, we must be clear on the rules for use of body cameras. In the US protests, officers involved in a fatal shooting in West Louisville, killing David McAtee, did not have their body cameras activated at the time. As a result, the mayor fired the chief of police. Simply having the body cameras is not enough – there must be strict rules making sure they are turned on and the footage is available as evidence. Turning off a body camera during an incident that leads to a death or a claim of brutality ought to be a firing offence.

As for inside police stations, how are beatings still possible there? Why is every room where a prisoner might be located not covered with cameras, with the footage also easily available as evidence? Not only does that protect a prisoner, it also means if a false claim of being beaten in the station is made at court, officers can quickly provide the video to disprove it.

The Police Complaints Unit also needs an overhaul – and an active independent civilian oversight group able to carry out spot inspections would be a positive thing.

What we will say is that the new Commissioner of Police, Paul Rolle, is saying the right things.

Yesterday, he talked of a “more proactive approach to dealing with breaches of discipline” and promised “You’re gonna see some things” when asked about complaints of unfair treatment by police.

He also talked of tackling dress code and social media policy – which when unlawful killings remain undealt with might raise questions of priorities. However, Commissioner Rolle has to be given a chance to create change at all levels within the force.

Simply put, we need to do all we can to prevent all crimes – because offences committed by police officers are crimes just the same as any other. Good officers want to stop crimes. Only the bad ones need to fear appropriate monitoring.

As for the rest of us? As the Bible says, before we try to cast out the mote in our brother’s eye, we have to cast out the beam in our own.

It’s time to channel some of the outrage we have focused elsewhere on the problems we have here at home.