The Tribune

SO where would we be if a suspect taken into police custody hadn’t managed to press record on his mobile phone?

We’d know nothing of the beating he reportedly suffered at the hands of a senior officer now on administrative leave after the recording went public.

It says something of the intelligence of some of our police officers that they don’t even search a suspect when they are taken into custody, removing any personal items. What if the suspect had been carrying a weapon instead of his phone?

We’ve written here many times about the rotten apples in the Royal Bahamas Police Force and have applauded Commissioner Paul Rolle for his statements promising to weed out those rogue officers who continue to think they are above the law.

What we heard on the recording over the last few days is just one example of what has happened to many people taken into custody.

We all know it has been going on but rarely do any voices call out for change. Why? Probably because we have little sympathy for those being arrested thinking they are exactly the sort of people the police should be taking off the streets. What happens behind closed doors, what business is that of ours?

Our courts have also shown little interest in helping improve police behaviour. How many times have you read in The Tribune how a suspect when first appearing in court alleges he has been beaten during questioning. More often than not the court merely acknowledges the allegation and delivers an instruction that the suspect be seen by a doctor on arrival at Fox Hill prison. That’s the end of the matter. Even when it comes up in trial allegations of police brutality seldom seem to cast more than the briefest shadow over a prosecution case.

When the police see the allegations raised in an open forum and nothing is done what incentive is there for them to change?

Thankfully the Commissioner says he is trying to improve matters but the idea that incidents such as the one which has just occurred will be investigated by the force’s own complaints unit doesn’t give us a great deal of confidence.

If the officer involved in the recent allegation turns out to have acted unlawfully will we see him charged, paraded in handcuffs to court in front of the media? Now, that really would make officers quick to take their anger out on suspects think twice.

We believe it would be far better – and give the public much greater confidence – that an Independent Police Complaints Authority was established. Let the police get on with the job of policing – that’s what we pay them for, not holding investigations into themselves.

An independent body whose findings are sent directly to the Commissioner, Security Minister and Director of Public Prosecutions – and made public – would remove the suspicion that complaints are quietly swept under the carpet, rules of procedure quoted to explain why matters won’t be looked into.

As an independent nation we are nearly 50 years old – we should be mature enough to accept scrutiny and, where there has been wrongdoing, for those responsible to face the consequences.