NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – Prime Minister Phillip Davis is backing the appointment of Shanta Knowles as the primary feminine Commissioner of Police within the Bahamas, saying she is a frontrunner dedicated to guiding and reforming the Royal Bahamas Police Drive (RBPF) “in order that we will make urgently wanted progress in public security.
“She is stepping as much as lead at a time of nice problem and has articulated a transparent and robust imaginative and prescient for change.
“I’m assured that the Bahamian persons are rooting for the RBPF’s new management staff and praying that they’ll discover solely success of their efforts to vary and reform the drive, to combat gangs, violence, and dysfunction, and to revive belief in our communities, he added.
Knowles took over the place from Clayton Fernander final weekend, changing into the primary girl to carry it within the RBPF’s 184-year historical past.
“I’ve fought the great combat. I’ve completed the race. I’ve stored the religion,” Fernander mentioned on his departure.
Knowles has already pledged to weed out rogue officers and to revive the picture of the RBPF amid the controversy over the arrest of a senior police officer and a senior Royal Bahamas Defence Drive (RBDF) officer in the USA final November and charged with conspiracy to import cocaine, possession, and use of firearms and firearms conspiracy.
Chief Superintendent Elvis Curtis and Chief Petty Officer Darren Roker are dealing with costs in federal court docket in New York. On the identical time, a 3rd officer was named within the indictment and suspended from obligation instantly.
The police mentioned different Bahamians have additionally been named within the indictment.
“Make no mistake, we’ll weed out the minority of officers who abuse their authority in an unprofessional method and have interaction in criminality,” she mentioned.
“Each officer shall be held accountable for his or her motion, and we’ll take agency, honest, and decisive measures the place there are grounds for disciplinary and authorized recourse. We’re a nation of legal guidelines, and none of us are above the regulation.
“Inside the first 90 days of my official duties as commissioner, I’ll direct that every one cops and police reserves at each stage will full necessary coaching periods centered on ethics, code of conduct, justifiable drive and hurt, and the abuse of energy,” Knowles mentioned.
“Additional, I’ll stipulate that every one cops working the frontline put on and activate their body-worn cameras as a compulsory requirement to doc all interactions with members of the general public as outlined within the coverage.”
As well as, she mentioned, “We’ll evaluation our coaching modules and transition the drive right into a studying group the place fixed coaching alternatives are supplied within the disciplines of management administration, oral and public communication, skilled etiquette, expertise, legal intelligence, legal investigation, crime evaluation, and finest police practices.
“This course will be sure that the police drive will stay on the slicing fringe of the ever-changing crime panorama.
“To that finish, I’m happy to announce the Shanta Knowles Scholarship Fund that can be obtainable to all officers desirous of continuous their schooling in disciplines of regulation enforcement companies.”
Knowles mentioned the drive will rework recruitment, including extra neighborhood involvement and rigorous background checks.
