According to reports of what transpired, the Grand Bahama Police responded to a disturbance in the front of a nightclub on East Mall Drive. While dealing with the dispute, the Grand Bahama CDU officers heard gunshots in the club’s parking lot, and then saw a man running, with a gun in his hand. One of the officers followed the man. A New Providence CDU officer mistook the running and armed Grand Bahama officer for a suspect and shot at him. Another Grand Bahama officer saw his partner being shot at and he began shooting, hitting the New Providence officer.
Mr Ferguson is quoted in news reports as saying: “The officers were simply responding to the situation. They are trained to operate in such a way, and that is what happened.”
However, this conveys the message that the police are not expected to be rational, to understand the situation before they act, but to shoot first and access the situation later. That is not a good message to give to the public, a public that is being encouraged to and should have faith in the police to continue with their effective handling of the country’s crime situation.
He is quoted further: “The officers entered a situation that involved gunfire and they responded to it. That’s what happened. In a situation such as that, there really isn’t much time for formal communications”
Surely, that cannot be right. The police must always have a plan and they must plan never to lose control of a situation, regardless to what is happening. They must know where they are and who they are after, and should not mistakenly be shooting at their own people.
These are dangerous times and the criminal elements in the society are well armed, with dangerous weapons. This dictates that the police training should be thorough, that they should be trained to act in these very situations when there “really isn’t much time for formal communications.”
The days are long gone when the only weapon carried by the police officer was the baton, which was accompanied by a whistle to call for help if he was in trouble and could not handle a situation by himself. The police are now more than just the men on the beat, breaking up gambling games, warning people against the use of obscene language, and making arrests for vagrancy or disorderly behaviour.
As we said once before, the police are the protection for the whole population – the crooks who will use every means to get what they want, and also those who are innocent and will never knowingly take a step outside of the law. ﾠSo if the police want to work undercover, to blend in and seem a part of the every day population – or the night scene crowd – then the least that should happen is they be recognisable to each other in the field, regardless to whether they are in New Providence, Grand Bahama, Andros or any Family Island.
Editorial from The Nassau Guardian
