 |
| Foreword |
| PRIORITY ONE Tackling Crime |
| PRIORITY TWO Improving Community Safety |
| PRIORITY THREE Positive Youth Engagement |
| PRIORITY FOUR Enforcing the Rules of the Road |
| PRIORITY FIVE Protecting Our Borders |
| PRIORITY SIX Professionalizing the Service |
| Delivering The Plan |
| Appendix |
| Commissioner's Corner |
| Archives |
I am pleased to present the policing plan of the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) for the calendar year 2012. This plan is very similar to our policing plan for 2011 as we have retained many of the excellent initiatives which paid good dividends for us in 2011. Further, we have listened carefully to what members of our communities have said and we have likewise given attention to the sentiments expressed by members of the Force.
I believe that this is a plan which will deliver good results in 2012 and I am happy to note that it reflects the wishes of the people we are sworn to serve – the people of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas. I feel very confident that with the full support and involvement of our citizens and residents, we can effectively stem the tide of adverse behavior and criminality which continues to afflict us and which has cast a dark shadow over our national landscape. I therefore invite all of our people to join hands and hearts with us as we, together, make our best contributions to restoring peace, safety and security to our communities. We need everyone to play an effective role and to make a positive difference in the lives of our people and in the life of our country.
The men and women of the Royal Bahamas police Force remain committed to their sworn mandate to maintain law and order, preserve the peace, prevent and detect crime, apprehend offenders and to enforce all Laws with which they are charged within The Commonwealth of The Bahamas. They will not relent in performing their duties and we will spare no effort in interdicting and arresting those among us who seek to destroy our peaceful way of life and the good reputation of our country.
We launched many effective initiatives in 2011 beginning with “Operation Rapid Strike.” This signature operation galvanized officers all across the Force and, together, we took five hundred and forty one (541) illegal weapons out of the hands of criminals in The Bahamas along with 11, 880 rounds of illegal ammunition! In my Commissioner’s Report for the year ended 2011, I will further extol the benefits of initiatives such as Rapid Strike and many more which have assisted us in maintaining national security despite the many challenges we faced.
In the face of very difficult challenges and threats, I have asked our officers to be respectful of the rights of all citizens and residents of the Bahamas but to also be firm, resolute, focused, and committed to the task at hand. The task of which I speak is to restore peace and civility to our communities. Our officers are highly trained, well equipped, and they are constantly reminded of their mandate, which is to enforce all laws of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.
As Commissioner, I want to repeat the appeal which I made when we launched “Rapid Strike” in January of 2011. I again ask all persons that are involved in the unlawful possession of firearms, vehicular thefts, stabbings, armed robberies, breakings, drug peddling and all other acts of criminality to cease and desist. To parents, family members, and acquaintance of persons involved in the underworld of crime; do all in your power to encourage these individuals to make an about turn and join all law abiding citizens in building a better Bahamas, where we can all live without the occurrence of crime and the fear of crime.
I wish to offer my thanks and appreciation to the dedicated, loyal, courageous, honest and industrious men and women of the Royal Bahamas Police Force who I believe will embrace 2012 with optimism and a firm desire to make our country a safer place to live, visit, work, and play.