By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said the leading seaman police killed on Monday had mental challenges that were known to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force and had been addressed by the agency.

Mr Munroe, who defended the decision not to publicly release body cam footage of the incident, said the video is consistent with officers’ description of what they say happened when they encountered Leading Seaman Rodney Adderley in Chippingham shortly before 4am.

“He had mental challenges that were addressed by the Defence Force,” Mr Munroe said.

“He may have been at that point mentally challenged, we don’t know, the inquest would tell, but I want to stress that the Defence Force did engage aggressively with his situation, did provide him help and support and if he was in fact suffering from mental issues that caused him to charge an armed policeman who was trying to holster his weapon, then that’s what it is, but if it is the case... I want to stress that that does not denigrate from the good service he gave his country and the Bahamian people must never forget that. Heroes are human as well.”

 Mr Munroe confirmed that Adderley was not armed. Police officers’ lack of non-lethal weapons has been raised during Coroner’s Court inquests into killings before. However, Mr Munroe said he does not believe that is pertinent to the current case given the circumstances.

 “The issues surround this, when you deal with specific incidents, I do not believe that a police officer going to a report of a suspicious vehicle that fits the description of what wanted persons use to do nefarious things and notorious killings, is going to leave his police car armed with a taser,” he said. “... I would have wholly expect the officer to leave the car armed with a handgun because we’ve had a number of murders, 119, not all of them of a particular character, but certainly too many of this character.

 “The police need non-lethals more to protect themselves because I’ve learned surprisingly that a lot of policemen get beat up by members of the public and are injured so, in that regard, yes. But the public cannot expect policemen who receive information that indicates that they may be confronted with an armed person from the profile of what is happening in the country, to come out armed with a non-lethal weapon. That would put the police at a disadvantage and certainly it would not be something that I would be advocating.”

Mr Munroe urged people to come forward with footage of incidents, saying he does not have high regard for those who complain that they do not come forward because they fear for their lives.

 “As I’ve said to members of the public that if they have security footage, if they have cell phone footage of any activity of the police, they are encouraged to provide it to the police who are investigating any matter because it will be objective evidence,” he said.

 “All of that material gathered is sent on to the coroner and at the inquest which is a public hearing, open to the public, open to the press, it will be seen.”

 Mr Munroe said people should have more trust and faith in the police.

 “After a law enforcement officer discharges his duty or purported to do so, if he does so wrongly, the public has had demonstrated to it that the officers end up charged with homicide,” he said.

 “There was a shooting in Exuma where the officer ended up charged with homicide so why the public would have any doubt about that is beyond me. It disrespects the police when you say to people, who you say they must put their lives on the line for you, that you’re not prepared to extend to them the same thing you extend to people who are charged with crimes before the court.

 “The police will investigate. You give them all the material, if wrongdoing is found, regardless of who is the wrongdoer, they end up before the courts. And it’s about time that you have that respect. When I was on the other side, my job basically was to get material and when I got it I provided it in a circumstance like this to the police and if it’s cogent and persuasive it makes your point. Sometimes if you don’t have objective material then the job of the law is to cross-examine to put facts out, but we have to move from a circumstance where we do not extend to people who are charged with risking their lives to protect us the same standard that we extend to persons charged with crimes.”

 Mr Munroe also spoke of speculation he heard about the incident.

 “I heard all sorts of nonsense over the event. The report is there was a report of a suspicious male in a car in an area where we’ve been experiencing a lot of shootings and so one would think that the police would go with a view that you have the car, a car of the type that’s been used in a lot of shootings, mysteriously parked early in the morning so they must investigate. So, if it were one of you who were going to that scene after all that you have reported, mightn’t you think that something in there might be looking to kill somebody? It turned out not to be the case, but that is what will inform somebody when they’re putting their lives on the line early in the morning.”

 Mr Munroe, explaining why the body camera footage will not be released to the public, said the people must learn to trust the police.

 He said: “The main reason that you do not release it is you need to weed out people who will lie, who will give false statements to say they saw something that they did not see. I expect that people will find out that once they’ve committed their lie to a statement and they find themselves before the court. We need people to cooperate with the police in telling the truth and don’t give fiction.”

 As for body cameras, he said there is a pressing need for more of them.

 He said: “In meetings with the technical section of the ministry, we’ve been looking at expanding the acquisition of the body cams that we have and there’s a body cam too that was demoed for me that permits the commander to view the body cam footage live in the field. Now that is a bit more expensive than the body cam that just records, but it’s a resource matter so the officers with mobile patrol they are fitted with them. Ideally, as we expand the inventory we will fit more and more officers with them.”