TSH Blog

Presenting Colton Harris-Moore, the “Barefoot Bandit”, is not the purpose of this blog post. Those of you who did not hear from him yet have probably been travelling far away from any media and a quick “Barefoot Bandit” search on Google or Facebook will give you a pretty good idea of the character everybody is talking about.

No, the purpose of this post is to ask a fundamental question: why is the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF) so motivated and determined to catch this criminal when on the other hand, it is doing such a lazy job in fighting crimes including homicides, rapes, violent armed burglaries and home invasions on a day-to-day basis.

Well, I guess the public relation result is not the same.

Could you imagine RBPF officers on television and in front of international reporters and paparazzi having this 19-year old bandit in custody? Who in the PR business would not seize such opportunity to attempt to raise the public image of the police force?

By looking at the comments of readers on the local press websites such as The Tribune, reading tweets on twitter and listening to what is being said in the street in Nassau, RBPF soldiers in camouflage uniforms, armed police officers and K9 units in Abaco could actually backfire no matter what the outcome with Colton Harris-Moore is.

Everybody recognizes the importance of arresting high-profile criminals such as the “Barefoot Bandit” but let me give you one piece of free advice RBPF; protecting and serving the people of the Bahamas shall always come prior to protect and serve your ego!

Put as much determination and means in fighting crimes in the country every day and the police public image will be reinforced well beyond your current expectations.