Dear BP,
I grew up around policemen. I recall the care and attention my father and uncles took when “ dressing” their uniforms, the gleaming buttons, the immaculate boots and belts, the gleaming whites of their tunics and helmets, and the enormous pride they took in being members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Officers assigned to Central Police Station were in a class of their own; well-presented, courteous to all, and a magnet for tourists who rushed to take souvenir photographs with them.
These officers had come through the Royal Bahamas Police Training College, Commandant Keith Mason and drill instructors, including Akel Clarke, Basil Dean, Patrick Johnson, Julian Butler, Dopey Taylor, Goose Whymns, and many other instructors across numerous squads, mentored and moulded recruits, ensuring they were worthy of wearing the RBPF uniform. Police recruits looked like future policemen; you could pick them out from a crowd. They were happy to comply with the training regimes because it was very easy to be dismissed during training for any act against discipline.
The notion that once you were in, you stayed in was quickly dispelled. At East Street Barracks, there was an armed sentry in full parade dress who turned away anyone who had no business to be there. Those days are well and truly gone, and it is disheartening to see the low standards now pervasive in the RBPF. It is always easier to destroy an efficient police force than to build one, and it will be interesting to see whether the government has the political will to make the necessary changes to save this once great institution.
Sincerely,
Michael J. Brown
