Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson said the Royal Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Police Forces need police officers who subscribe to the core values of Integrity, Professionalism, Compassion, Respect and Accountability.
Speaking at the recent Graduation Ceremony of E and F Squads at the Police College, Commissioner Ferguson said the Forces also need “those intangibles which may serve the officers well like “Courage, Integrity and Loyalty”.
“To the graduating squads, courage means believing in yourself and that is something no one can teach you,” Commissioner Ferguson said. “Some of you may be called upon to enforce the law in the very neighbourhoods from which you came and to which you came and to which you must return after duty hours.
“This prospect will pose for you a daunting challenge. Graduates, courage requires that you meet and subjugate this challenge fearlessly.”
He also explained that integrity requires that the graduates always be true to and guided by their oath of office.
“Integrity requires that you will enforce the law equally, without fear or favour, malice or ill will,” Commissioner Ferguson said.
“Integrity requires that, even when out of uniform, the life you lead will always bear powerful witness to the wider community of the high standard of conduct which your office requires.”
He said as new police officers, gathered from the widest reach of our archipelagic nation and the colony of the Turks of Caicos Islands, each of them brought with them their individual and peculiar values, attitudes and loyalties.
The Commissioner added that as police officers their loyalties are expected to be bound to your respective country and Force.
“That loyalty requires that you will not compromise that success of police operations you are engaged in, even through that may be directed towards friends, acquaintances, or even family members.
He said whenever other affiliations hinder the ability to be loyal to the police operations, it erodes integrity, sullies and endangers the lives and good names of colleagues and potentially rocks the very foundation of the organisation.
Commissioner Ferguson said as the graduates embarked upon their policing career, the nation’s call for service above self is more than urgent before. “You come at a time when the choice has to be made whether policing is your first or last resort.
“Certainly the forces represented here today are not entities for a last resort but a blessed opportunity to serve our countries and indeed to serve humanity.
The Commissioner also said, “Last resort decisions often breeds corruption within an organisation and sacrifices the level of quality service that is offered to a society and I, my brother Commissioner and the communities you have sworn to serve and protect will not endure corrupt police officers.”