THE WAY THE YOUNG TALK TO ONE ANOTHER

During the past week, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration issued a statement with regard to allegations of abuse of detainees at the detention centre in New Providence.  The Ministry undertook to investigate the matters and to ensure that this is not a routine with regard to immigration interdiction in The Bahamas. The allegations are being taken seriously.

If you mine the social media feeds of Bahamians, you will see that routinely there are confrontations of an angry and possibly violent nature between the officials of the police force or the immigration department and the public. The language is harsh and often there is cursing and the police have to warn the people using the language and who are recording the interchanges that they are in danger of being arrested.

We recall some years ago there was a video taken during Junkanoo of the police beating some young men and clearly the beatings were excessive. The then Commissioner of Police Anthony Ferguson responded to the criticism of the police by the  public by saying that he as Commissioner could not be expected to train the violence and ill discipline out of the recruits to the Force in the six months that they come to the Force for training.

This then points to a wider a problem, that of our culture and as Pat Rahming says “the way we live”.  It is an infection from America no doubt: the incivility, the harsh language the cursing.  The interesting thing is that these mainly young men and women don’t think of it as incivility at all. That is simply the way they talk to one another.

This is the class of people that are being recruited into the Police Force and the Immigration Department. The requirement is two BGCSES for the Immigration Department and all you have to do to get on the Force is pass an exam that is at best a simple math and comprehension test.

This cannot continue because the glare of public scrutiny demands that there be a level of civility in the conduct of the public’s business.  It may require more training but it may also require more discipline of the officers on the Force and in the Immigration Department. Whatever it takes, the Government must be sure that this is stamped out and that the officers know that humane is the way to treat people who are in custody.

Number of hits for the week needing Saturday 25 July 2026 up to midnight: 1,696,697;

Number of hits for the month of July up to Saturday 25 July 2026 up to midnight: 4,033,184;

Number of hits for the year 2025 up to Saturday 25 July 2026 up to midnight: 28,118,661;