|
|
|
| NEWS > 20 January 2009 |
Other related articles:
Milwaukee Chief Asks for 'Inte
Milwaukee's police chief is pitching a plan to allow police officers to set up sting operations on each other, and she said the so-called "integrity unit" is the final piece in the monitoring of officers.
In her tenure as chief, Nannette Hegerty has faced the challenge of rebuilding the credibility of her department in the eyes of the community. She's taken several steps to improve the quality of the force and said citizen complaints against officers have dropped significantly while she's been chief. As she faces retirement next month, Hegerty is asking Milwaukee Common Council mem... Read more
|
 Article sourced from
|
|
The Freeport News - Bahamas
20 January 2009
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
|
Ethics in Policing
|
Bahamas: Police corruption all
Rev. Glenroy Bethel, head of an activist group called Families for Justice, has called for an investigation of alleged corruption on the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
Such a charge against the country's principal law enforcement agency is a serious matter that deserves to be fully investigated no matter how miniscule the evidence may be in support of what is being alleged.
In this particular case, however, legitimate questions have been raised about the motive behind the allegations. These questions centre around the fact that Rev. Bethel's allegations were made at a press conference held in support of two police officers, one of whom is his son, who were recently charged with a number of firearms-related offences.
Was he acting as a concerned parent who sincerely believes that his son was unjustly accused or as the head of an organization that gained considerable credibility championing the rights of the victims of crime? Certainly, by using the Families for Justice organization to make his allegations public, Rev. Bethel ran the risk of putting to a severe test the integrity of that organization.
Indeed, Acting Police Commissioner Reginald Ferguson, with whom Rev. Bethel met last week and shared his concerns, concluded that there was no credence to support his claims.
Families for Justice became a well-known advocacy group as a result of an unrelenting campaign waged by Rev. Bethel and other persons with close relatives who had been murdered. Their criticism centred around the considerable amount of time it took for the cases of the persons charged to be tried in the Supreme Court.
The badly decomposed body of Rev. Bethel's 16-year-old son Rishawn was found in bushes in a vacant lot in a subdivision off East Sunrise Highway in Freeport in January of 2006, and the trial of the three young men who were charged with that murder eventually took place in May of 2008. All three were found not guilty under circumstances that Rev. Bethel claimed were "unfair" and he vowed to continue fighting for justice. Since then, he and his organization have done just that.
It is difficult, however, to correlate his allegations of corruption on the police force with his determination to continue to fight for justice. If he were acting as a concerned parent at that press conference, surely justice most certainly would best be served if the court were allowed to hear the evidence and determine whether the charges against his son are true or false.
We have always contended that The Bahamas has one of the finest police forces in the region. This is not to suggest that there are not some police officers that are susceptible to engaging in corrupt practices. Indeed, it would be surprising if there were not a few "bad apples" among those who are selected for training as police officers, given the fact that some new recruits grew up in communities where the lure to become involved in criminal activities is pretty powerful. The fact that some of them may have managed to keep a "clean record" certainly may not be indicative of them having not being involved in behaviour that was criminal by nature. It is just that they were never caught and hauled before the courts for their malfeasance.
Once on the force, however, they should have the good sense to put their past behind them and commit to becoming good police officers. Because of the zero-tolerance policy the police have in place, those that don't make this commitment, eventually discover that there is no room for them on the excellent law enforcement agency that they are privileged to be a part of.
|
| |
 EiP Comments:
|
|---|
|
| |
* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 |
Ethics in Policing, based in the UK, provide information and advice about the following:
Policing Research | Police News articles | Police Corruption | International Policing | Police Web Sites | Police Forum | Policing Ethics | Police Journals | Police Publications |
|
| |
|
