The Bahamas, already under fire for abuse of foreign detainees at the Carmichael Road Detention Center, is continuing to receive negative international press over the allegation of police abuse made by Jamaican reggae star Richie Spice.
The claim has attracted the attention of an online magazine said to be a news source for radio stations across the United States.
An article outlining the allegation appeared on the Electronic Urban Report (EUR) website yesterday. It follows radio reports of the alleged incident being aired in Jamaica and the Bahamas.
The article said that Spice referred to the incident as a “terrible experience” and that he is thinking of taking legal action.
A full investigation is being launched into the allegations that a police officer assaulted Mr. Spice at Nassau International Airport.
Acting Commissioner of Police John Rolle said that his officers are taking the allegation that the internationally famous reggae artist was attacked by a Drug Enforcement Unit (DEU) officer very seriously.
“We are launching a full scale investigation,” he said. “We are very concerned.”
Mr Rolle said that the officer in charge of the Police Complaints Unit had been informed of the allegation and stressed that if the inquiry reveals any wrong doing on the part of officers at NIA, “we will deal with it”.
Numerous other police investigations are also underway but they seem to always end up the same, with police officers being exonerated despite the severity of their misconduct.
This has prompted calls for an independent citizen’s review of police misconduct cases, as everybody but the government understands that the police can not be counted on to investigate complaints against themselves in a fair and impartial manner.
