NASSAU, The Bahamas — Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr. Stephen Seymour, Wednesday encouraged the winners and runners-up of the Royal Bahamas Police Force Band’s 120th Anniversary Essay Competition, to use the competition as a catapult to future academic success.
Mr. Seymour also took the time to perform some recruiting duties, telling the youngsters that the Force is “always on the lookout” for talented, dedicated and qualified persons to join its ranks in any number of professional careers.
Forty entries from schools throughout New Providence and the Family Islands were adjudicated in Primary, Junior and Senior High School divisions. Mr. Seymour applauded the youngsters for the “dedication and hard work” in delivering “a quality product” to the judges.
“First of all let me thank you on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ellison Greenslade, for all of the outstanding work you did in making the competition a success from a competitive standpoint, and secondly, let me encourage you to continue to work hard towards obtaining the best academic results you can,” Mr. Seymour said.
“The Royal Bahamas Police Force is always on the look-out for talented, dedicated, professional and qualified persons to join our ranks in any number of professional categories and so I want you to keep that in mind as you continue to study and work hard in school that a great career in policing awaits you if you do all of the things you need to do academically now, to qualify yourselves for the workforce later.
“That means you have to follow the directives of your teachers and parents with regards to putting in all of the extra work necessary to reach your full academic potential,” Mr. Seymour added.
Mr. Seymour said the Essay Competition, held as part of the ongoing activities commemorating the 120th anniversary of the Band, was in keeping with Priority Three of the Commissioner of Police’s 2013 Policing Plan as it relates to positively engaging the country’s youth.
The 2013 Plan, Mr. Seymour continued, represents an Integrated Crime Prevention, Intervention, and Response Strategy (ICPIRS), that is the vehicle that will guide the Force’s work over the remaining six months of 2013. The Plan was implemented at the beginning of the new-year.
“This Integrated Crime Prevention, Intervention, and Response Strategy embodies our strategic priorities of tackling crime, reducing violence and driving down the fear of crime, positively engaging young people, enforcing the rules of the road, protecting our borders, professionalising the Service and better fiscal management,” Mr. Seymour said.
“We understand the need to provide opportunities for young people to positively express themselves. We also understand that many of our young people are searching for ways to demonstrate their talents and to expose their creative abilities. This being said, we will continue to work with Government, non Governmental Organisations (NGO’s), and the wider community to facilitate programmes which will engage our young people and allow them to contribute nation building in positive ways,” Mr. Seymour added.
