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Stop playing politics with the Police. Work the system.
Monday, December 07, 2009
By H. Kim Swan, JP, MP, United Bermuda Party Leader
On Friday we learned that Premier Brown would travel to London today to press the UK to hand over operational control of the Police to the Bermuda Government.
The United Bermuda Party disagrees with this venture for the following reasons.
The Premier has said repeatedly he wants his government to have direct control of the Police, but he has never asked the people of Bermuda for their views on the issue nor, specifically, their elected representatives.
In addition, the Premier has never articulated convincing reasons for his government to have command of Police operations, nor has he provided an explanation why Bermuda should break the sacrosanct rule followed by virtually all developed countries to keep Police operations out of the hands of politicians.
This is a major issue, one that would require the rewriting of Bermuda’s Constitution if the Premier’s gambit is to succeed.
Given its importance, we call on the Premier to schedule a House of Assembly debate on the issue.
Before he goes overseas to speak for Bermuda on this issue he should make sure he really is speaking for Bermuda.
It is our view that the people of Bermuda do not support the Brown Government taking over operational control of the Police, not just because it runs against democratic best practices but also for reasons of basic trust and the government’s poor record in managing its existing responsibilities.
The reality of the current arrangements is that the Governor has constitutional responsibility for the Police Service with the Police Commissioner exercising operational control of the Police.
The Bermuda Government has budgetary control of the Police Service, giving it huge leverage over the scope and intensity of Police operations. In addition, the Government has a seat at regularly scheduled meetings with the Governor and the Police Commissioner to devise strategies and plans to better manage and direct crime-fighting resources.
But in mid-October, we learned from the Governor that the Bermuda Government “have declined” to participate in “regular discussions which would seek to reach agreement between Government House, Government and the Police.”
In our view, this reflects gross irresponsibility on the part of the government and one more example of Dr. Brown putting his politics ahead of the interests of the island.
In addition, we know that the rhetoric of certain government ministers has damaged the morale of Police and undermined community support for Police – the very support the government is now urging the community to provide in the wake of shootings.
This last point shows to us the danger of playing politics with policing. We again urge the government to work the system as it is. There is plenty of scope to effect any changes it deems necessary. The seat is there at the table. The power to influence is there, as it is in its control of the Police budget.
Finally, we are not convinced the Bermuda Government can say anything about operational control of the Police that it can’t already say in the current set-up with the Governor and the Police Commissioner.
As we said in our Reply to the Throne Speech: “People don’t want finger-pointing and blame games in law enforcement. They want focused, cooperative work between all the agencies of government.”
Dr. Brown should stop playing politics with the Police and start doing the work he was elected to do.
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