Foreword by Commissioner of Police

I am pleased to present the policing plan of the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) for the Calendar year 2011. This plan incorporates inputs from our communities and from the men and women of the Royal Bahamas Police Force who are on the sharp end of policing daily. Of equal importance is the fact that it includes the views and inputs of members of my Executive Management Team and Senior Officers force wide, who are expected to deliver this plan in 2011. I am satisfied that we have a meaningful plan which will produce good results in 2011. It must be noted that Operation Rapid Strike, Operation Restore, Operation Invader, and similar initiatives, which have already been launched, are offsprings of this 2011 policing plan. In the weeks and months ahead, many new and exciting programs will be launched by The Royal Bahamas Police Force.

2010 was a year filled with crime challenges. We saw a proliferation of murders in our country and received far too many reports of shootings, stabbings, breakings, stealing, disturbances and a wide variety of other complaints. Despite the high volume of crime complaints, our officers performed admirably. Not only did they respond to criminal complaints but also calls for services which were not directly related to crime at all.

Despite the challenges of 2010, we will continue to be firm and resolute in our actions to pursue and arrest prolific offenders and persons found in possession of illegal firearms, ammunition, and drugs. We will launch policing and crime prevention initiatives to target all categories of crimes. We will continue to build capacity in our Selective Enforcement Teams and on policing divisions and we will continue to direct the efforts of the Firearms Tracing and Investigations Unit (FTIU) at CDU in an effort to enhance its efficiency and effectiveness.

We launched many operations in 2010 and we executed thousands of search warrants. These efforts paid good dividends therefore; we will continue similar efforts in 2011 as we focus on persons who commit crimes and cause fear in society. I believe that it is appropriate here for me to renew my call for our people to put down illegal weapons and to desist from a life of crime. I therefore, call upon all well-meaning citizens to stand with us as we recommit to making our communities safe places to live, work, visit and play.

I wish to recognize the outstanding contributions of the employees of the RBPF in 2010 and I want to again publicly offer our thanks and appreciations for the sacrifices that they have made. We firmly believe that the majority of our officers are decent, upstanding, honest, and industrious Bahamians who are committed in the service of the citizens of this country. We will, therefore, encourage them to maintain their commitment to deliver Care, Respect, and Trust to all of our people. However, while I pay homage to our people (all employees of the Force), I must also note that we have among us some persons who have not remained true to their oath of office and who brought the good name of the RBPF into disrepute in 2010. Where we identified such persons, our actions were firm and decisive. In 2011, we will redouble our efforts to curb unprofessional police behavior and we will be more proactive in dealing with this very important aspect of policing which has the potential to undermine public confidence in the Police.

This document, like the plan last year, represents an Integrated Crime Prevention, Intervention, and Response Strategy (ICPIRS) which is the vehicle that will guide our work over the next twelve months of 2011. It will be the standard by which we will judge our successes in early 2012. We maintain this integrated approach because we need all of our people working in tandem to deliver the best results for our country.

This Integrated Crime Prevention, Intervention, and Response Strategy embody our strategic priorities of:

We will work together to ensure that all members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force embrace this Policing Plan and make their best contributions to "making The Bahamas a Safer Place to Live, Work, Visit, and Play." We remain confident that once this plan is communicated, the people of The Bahamas will make their best contributions to "making The Bahamas a safer place to Live, Work, Visit, and Play." We are optimistic that, in 2011, we will continue to move much closer to achieving our mission of “working together for a safer Bahamas"

Ellison E. Greenslade, QPM, MBA
Commissioner of Police
Royal Bahamas Police Force