The main opposition Free National Movement (FNM) has questioned the decision to send officers from the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) even as Police Commissioner Clayton Fernander defended the position.
Opposition Leader Michael Pintard said the government has an obligation to explain its rationale for sending the 20 officers to the British Overseas Territory that has reported an increase in criminal activities over the past few weeks.
Pintard said The Bahamas has long cooperated with its neighbors in efforts geared toward mutual security, but that “Bahamian police officers being seconded to the TCI Constabulary is, however, something distinctly different.
“We are sensitive of the fact that the British government is responsible for the maintenance of law and order in its territory, but it is also of concern that we are currently going through a crime crisis in The Bahamas,” he added,
However, Fernander said the RBPF members were sent to the TCI as part of a national security exercise that will assist The Bahamas in the future.
“If everyone is paying attention you could see the same trend (crime situation) occurring in Turks island. We believe, based on our intel, it could be some nexus. So, there is a reason for that. It will assist in the long run.”
National Security Wayne Munroe also brushed aside the concerns being raised saying that people who are unaware of the purpose of the operation need not question it.
“Hypothetically, let’s say they are there to capture Bahamian criminals, do they think that is something they should do?” he asked.
“So, the bottom line to it is we’ve made the statement we have [and] we are not going to entertain responses to things that aren’t fact or evidence based. The reality is that I’ve not heard any reasoned criticism because nobody is responding to what they are there to do. Unless you know what they are there to do, you are really just talking in the blind, Monroe said.
The national security minister said the authorities are not divulging details of the operation, for national security reasons of the two countries.
TCI Governor, Nigel John Dakin, said last week that the security situation on the island is related to Jamaican gangs and serious transnational crime rather than international terrorism.
Last weekend, Kingston said while it had taken note of the recent developments in the TCI, it is disappointed that despite the fact many nationalities had been identified with the crime situation there “Jamaicans were singled out,” adding that “such statements are distinctly unhelpful”.
Pintard said the Davis administration is struggling to address the bloodshed in “our own country” and “are similarly slow and weak in explaining their overall plan for crime prevention, enforcement, interdiction, and rehabilitation.
“Furthermore, their coordination of other stakeholders is lacking. Therefore, it is disturbing that some of the very officers they claim are pivotal (indispensable) to their crime-fighting strategy have been shipped to our sister country to fight a similar crime war there.
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