By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Staff Association (PSA) executive chairman Dwight Smith yesterday called on the government to allow off-duty Royal Bahamas Police Force officers to be armed.

Mr Smith’s comments came a day after a comrade, Sgt Wayne Rolle, was shot in the head and killed as he sat in his jeep with a female friend while off-duty on Thursday night. At the time of his death, Sgt Rolle was attached to the Mobile Division, according to police.

Insp Smith called for the government to ensure that “every police officer trained for six months to be an officer, would be in a position, or would have all of the resources available to him or her, whether on duty or off duty” to tackle incidents of crime. He also charged the government to “look at our laws in terms of punishment” and offer “stiffer penalties” to “put fear in those individuals who commit crime”.

“There are things that we want to change if we want that to come to fruition, and that is to remove that of an unarmed force,” he said. “We just need to come out of the box per se. We have to understand as we develop as a country, we’re going to be faced with various crimes. As the country moves forward, its law enforcement must also move forward to combat any sort of crime in turns of our resources, training, persons that we select to come into these organisations. Law enforcement must be capable, must be fully resourced in terms of what it is has to deal with the various levels of crime.

“We can look back in this year of numerous matters that happened with police officers. If you notice the trend now the majority of them happened when police officers were off duty. In all of the shootings, the police officers were off duty. In almost all of the instances where officers arrested persons, he or she was off duty. We just need to take a different look at those policies that deem us as an unarmed force.”

According to PSA Treasurer Corporal Kirk Bastian, the RBPF has always been considered to be an unarmed force, meaning all officers cannot carry state-issued firearms at all times. He said that police can only brandish police-issued firearms and ammunition within their hours of duty.

Mr Bastian explained that after an officer has completed his shift, he or she must turn in their guns from “wherever they got them from” for another officer to use for the next shift. 

However, he said officers in certain specialised units within the RBPF, such as the Central Detective Unit, Drug Enforcement Unit and detective areas, are allowed to carry weapons at all times. 

Another police source told The Big T yesterday that rank also plays a part in which officers are allowed to carry state-issued firearms while off duty. He said an officer of a certain rank, generally inspector and above, whether he or she works in specialised areas, may have access to specialised weapons. However, the source said having access does not mean the officers have their own issued firearm.

Although he could not say whether Sgt Rolle could have prevented his death by being armed, Insp Smith yesterday said the PSA believes that “a lot” more criminals could be caught by police officers who are off duty.”

He also said the government needs to “revisit” the penalties for persons who commit violent crimes and put them in “fear of the consequences that would follow”.

“I feel that the punishment should be severe enough to put fear in those individuals who might want to act that same crime out again,” Insp Smith said. “So if it means the death penalty to put that fear then so be it. We need to find a way to put fear and change the whole table around. 

“It cannot be where the majority of people are afraid. The majority of people, just to go to the food store, must think about how they’re going to get to the food store, and they’re in fear just to go to the food store.

“Something is wrong with that. We have to change that. The criminal needs to fear that if he or she goes out there and harms an individual or takes away property or takes away life that the consequences are so severe, that it causes him or her to think twice before they commit that act.”

The RBPF, on their website royalbahamaspolice.org, yesterday offered a brief tribute to Sgt Rolle. Insp Smith said learning of Sgt Rolle’s death “really hit home” as he “knew him very well”.

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