By RASHAD ROLLE 

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

AN audit of manpower in the Royal Bahamas Police Force reveals the institution is top-heavy with recent promotional exercises placing a burden on the performance of the force, National Security Minister Marvin Dames (pictured) said in the House of Assembly yesterday.

It’s not clear who is conducting the audit, but Mr Dames said: “Preliminary findings…indicate that the police force is top-heavy and that the organisation’s equilibrium command structure and performance are being impacted. It was found that the recent massive promotion exercise resulted in an oversubscription of gazetted officers especially at the superintendent and assistant commissioners level. In fact, five of the current ten assistant commissioners are performing the same duties they performed prior to being promoted. Simply put, there were not enough vacancies for these officers to fill.”

In an act many considered to be politically motivated as the general election neared, 851 officers were promoted in May under the Christie administration, including two to the chief superintendent’s rank, 76 to the superintendent’s rank and 90 to the assistant superintendent’s rank.

Prior to that, ten officers were promoted to the assistant commissioner of police’s position. One officer was promoted to senior assistant commissioner of police.

Mr Dames said yesterday: “A manpower audit of the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) is currently on the way to determine the human resources required to effectively provide policing services throughout our nation. This audit, which takes into account population density, land mass and crime trends, will speak to the appropriate structure and deployment of officers for the police force. Preliminary findings have revealed a number of structural issues within the force that currently affect its efficiency.

“Firstly, even though the Bahamas falls well below the global officer-to-citizen ratio, police stations across the capital are understaffed, which negatively impacts the delivery of critical policing services at individual levels. Secondly, the audit also found that nearly 400 officers are currently engaged in non-traditional policing duties and areas such as accounts and human resources and maintenance to name a few.”

A final report on the audit of the force’s manpower will be released by the second week of November, Mr Dames said, adding: “We have already begun the process of correcting a lot of these issues that have negatively impacted the delivery of policing services to the community and the synergy of the organisation itself.”

Mr Dames’ discussion of the audit was met with criticism from South Andros MP Picewell Forbes, who, from his seat, suggested Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade was responsible for the recent promotional exercises and that Mr Dames was overstepping his role in making his criticism.

Mr Dames grew irate.

“Keep your mouth shut,” he shouted at one point. “You never sat as a Cabinet minister so you would not know. . . Sit down and relax yourself…I have the floor.”

Mr Dames, not unlike his predecessor Dr Bernard Nottage, discussed statistics as he sought to prove police are working hard to disrupt criminal activity despite high levels of violent crime.

“Between May and September 2017 police have arrested in excess of 269 persons for an array of serious offences ranging from murder to robbery,” he said.

“They have seized over 125 illegal weapons and 5,316 rounds of ammunition. In addition, 9,381 fixed penalties were issued to drivers in violation of traffic laws. The police have also ramped up their drug interdiction efforts by executing more than 140 anti-drug operations since May of this year. During this time, over 10,332.15 pounds of marijuana and 1,428 pounds of cocaine have been seized. Drug enforcement officers have executed over 120 warrants on suspected drug houses throughout New Providence and Grand Bahama and have also searched over 1,180 persons. A total of 627 persons have been arrested for drug related offences, 528 of whom were subsequently placed before the courts. This clampdown has resulted in many well-known drug houses, which were operating in our communities, being shut down.”

Nonetheless, he said: “There remains work to be done.”