Retired Assistant Police Commissioner and Consultant to the Police College Paul Thompson criticized senior police officials as ‘talking too much.’
Speaking on Love 97’s midday talk show “Issues of The Day”, Mr. Thompson said that he thought the police gave too much information in the initial stage of their investigations.
That is why it took so long to find the adult male suspect now in police custody, he said.
Grand Bahama police on Monday revealed that skeletal remains had been discovered on a beach in Freeport, believed to be those of at least some of the five missing boys who disappeared over the past five months.
Callers to the show were divided about the extent to which the police should be responsive to the public’s right to know while at the same time maintaining the integrity of their investigations.
In a tacit agreement with Mr. Thompson, President of the Bahamas Bar Association Wayne Munroe told the Bahama Journal late Monday that it was improper for the police to be sharing information with the public about an investigation that may eventually result in a court trial, especially since that same public essentially forms the pool of potential jurors for such a case.
Police told the nation Monday that a male suspect had been arrested in the case of the five missing Grand Bahama boys, raising hopes that a breakthrough had finally been achieved.
While refusing to identify the suspect, officials did confirm that he was being implicated in the disappearances of all of the boys.
This raised concerns among the public since four juveniles were arrested and arraigned earlier on manslaughter charges in connection with the disappearance of the first missing boy, Jake Grant, 12.
The concerns escalated to ponderous confusion when Assistant Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade commented that the case involving the juveniles was a separate matter.
“We are not second guessing ourselves on anything we have done,” Mr. Greenslade said. “That [case] is a totally separate matter that is before the courts that we are not going to be able to elaborate on.”
Assistant Commissioner of Police Reginald Ferguson told the Bahama Journal though that, “Every matter is a separate incident…They are separate issues, but it can all be related in that the same person or persons responsible can be charged.”
While expressing his faith in the members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, Mr. Thompson said that police officials like Mr. Greenslade may have surrendered information to “appease the wrath of the public.”
Even though police officials have assured the public that they can finally “breathe a collective sigh of relief”, some Bahamians were not so swift to be assured.
The case of the five missing boys has gripped the nation, most urgently the members of the Grand Bahama community.
Callers to the radio show, meanwhile, were divided about the extent to which the police should be responsive to the public’s right to know while at the same time maintaining the integrity of their investigations.
Some felt that an anxious community like Grand Bahama deserves to be updated periodically so that their confidence in public safety could be maintained.
The pressures of the intensive investigations involving the five missing boys have exposed an underlying tension among senior officers of the force.
With an incessant demand for information from an impatient and sometimes anxious public, police officials handling Grand Bahama investigations appeared confused, reticent, and unavailable at times.
Attempts by journalists to secure timely information from police officers were sometimes met with abrupt dismissals. However, yesterday, members of the foreign media – like the Associated Press – were able to get more information out of police officials.
The investigation into the five missing Grand Bahama boys is being conducted in a somewhat unique Bahamian environment where the expansion of coverage of independent media houses and the proliferation of talk shows have created a more discerning Bahamian public.
One senior police official, in a moment of unguarded exasperation, was heard to criticize another for the manner of his presentation to the public.
At the start of the investigation five months ago, the public was provided timely updates as to the extent of the investigation. Two weeks ago, those updates were summarily discontinued without explanation.
The Bahama Journal learnt that some senior officials of the police force concluded that the frequency of press conferences compromised the integrity of the investigations and may have at times misled the public.
Mr. Ferguson said yesterday that he did not know when the police will call another press conference in relation to the missing boys’ matter.
The Bahama Journal
