Nassau, Bahamas -
This
week a photo of Commander Crawford drilling the local police force
inspired me
to research and write a little piece about the Bahamas police force.
In Nassau, the
Bahamas
Argus of June 1832 carried a letter claiming that
:
:
"The
deplorable state into which our police has fallen is the ever day
discussion of
almost every inhabitants of the town……Rarely does a day pass, but
maybe seen from many of the houses on the bay, persons of all ages and
all
colours, not only bathing but positively parading the wharves as naked
as when
they were born..the spaces around the Vendue House are now daily
occupied by
men and boys playing different games – gambling, swearing, and fighting.
Every seat inside of the building is commonly filled by basket women, as
they
are called; attended on whom are a number of idle vagabonds, whose
conduct and
conversation are a most intolerable nuisance to those respectable
inhabitants
who reside in the neighbourhood [along with] a certain class of
notorious
females, who, at all hours of the day, parade the most public part of
the the
town, and outrage all decency.
The English seaports were
no different and the
industrial
towns were experiencing similar growths of population. The situation
needed a
new way to bring law and order to the rising mass of people many from
other
locations.
The modern police force
was developed in Britain
by Sir
Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, founder of the Conservative Party, and Prime
Minister
from 1834-35 and 1841-1846. He was considered incorruptible, and was
well known
for his great capacity for work. Peel had already established the Royal
Irish
Constabulary in 1812, and it had proved to be a great success. It became
obvious that something similar to the Irish force was needed in London.
In 1829
he brought about the Metropolitan Police Act and with it the first
disciplined
police force for Greater London. They soon became known as
“Peelers”, “Bobby's boys” or "bobbies".
In the Bahamas it was felt that the consolidation
of various magistrates, watchmen and parochial constables was outdated and Robert
Peel’s
idea of a central police force crossed the Atlantic resulting in the
Police Act
of 1833 to appoint salaried constables responsible to the Police
Magistrate.
Six ‘able bodied men’ were appointed for New Providence and JPs in
the Out Islands could appoint up to a further dozen.
By
1845 the Police Force consisted of the Inspector General, two sergeants,
two
corporals and twenty six constables. The 1860 Act “To Consolidate the
Stipiendary Police Force of the Colony” raised the force to an
inspector,
two corporals, twenty eight first, six second and thirty three third
class
constables.
The
withdrawal of the troops in 1888 removed their support and the need to
double
the Police Force. This was done by recruiting Barbadian blacks because
of their
reliability during the Ashanti war. The Police Act of July 1891
stipulated that
the additional police unit was to consist of a commandant, inspector,
sub-inspector,
sergeant, two corporals and forty constables (later increased to seventy
five).
In that same year the new police force consisted almost entirely of West
Indians under white European officers – a custom that remained in effect
until the Bahamianisation policy of the late 1960s. "
For
further reading:
Islanders in the Stream
Vol 2 by Michael Craton and
Gail
Saunders page 20ff
The Harbour Island Story
by Anne and Jim Lawlor page
195ff
The Bahamas Historical Society (BHS)
is a non-profit organization dedicated to stimulating interest in
Bahamian History and to the collection and preservation of material
relating thereto. Its Headquarters, the former IODE Hall, was a gift
from the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (IODE). BHS is
on Shirley Street and Elizabeth Avenue in Nassau.
www.bahamashistoricalsociety.
com
All past Journals sell at $5 ($3 for students)
The 2009 Jubilee Journal sells at $10 ($7 for students)
Full set of 31 Journals: $110
