NASSAU, The Bahamas – Minister of Social Services and Urban Development, the Hon. Frankie A. Campbell, applauded those members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force -- past and present -- who are/were attached to the Urban Renewal Programme for “never shrinking in the face of their responsibility.”

Minister Campbell was addressing the Urban Renewal Commission’s First Police Awards Ceremony hosted (Friday, March 19) at Salem Union Baptist Church Hall. The Awards Ceremony was held as the Royal Bahamas Police Force celebrates 181 years as a Force and during the celebrations of Police Month, commemorated annually in March.

The honourees included former Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retired), Mr. Stephen Dean, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Retired) Mrs. Carolyn Bowe, Superintendents of Police Philip Rolle and Ricardo Richardson, and Assistant Superintendents of Police Frankiemae Mather, Deborah McClure, Princess Scavella, Yvonne Albury and Sergeant Anthony Capron. In all, 28 Police Officers from across the ranks received awards.

Minister Campbell said the “true essence” of the Urban Renewal programme is “people helping people, particularly the less fortunate and the most vulnerable.”

“That is the essence, the spirit, of the Urban Renewal Programme and that is what the Royal Bahamas Police Force brings to the Programme,” Minister Campbell said. “Truth be told, as we are now thanking you for your participation, we should also acknowledge you for blazing the trail, for having actually launched the Urban Renewal Programme; we should be commending you for the many international awards that you would have won as a result of your contribution to the Urban Renewal Programme; we should be thanking you for the personal sacrifices that you have made and make on a daily basis. I know that you put your hands in your pockets and you buy lunch for those less fortunate persons; I know that you put your hands in your pockets and you give money to the elderly, but I also know that you never shrink in the face of your responsibility.

“I congratulate you as a Police Force as you celebrate 181 years, as you celebrate Police Month, but I am here more specifically to thank you as a group for being a part of a movement, a movement of people helping people; a movement of restoring the confidence of our various communities in the organization called the Royal Bahamas Police Force. I want to thank you for showing that you are human beings, that you do have compassion, that you do empathize, and that you do show love.”

Minister Campbell told attendees that the success attached to preventative measures such as Urban Renewal and other programmes: “is one of the hardest things in the world to measure,” except when it comes to the numbers of persons who have been positively impacted by their participation in the programme, or those who have benefitted from the programme.

“Whenever we are in a position to say there goes a young man who, but for his participation in the Urban Renewal Programme, could have been elsewhere; that there goes a young lady who, but for her participation in the Urban Renewal Programme, could have been elsewhere, that is when we realize the full measure of the success of our interventions, our preventative measures,” Minister Campbell said.

“I often remind persons of having heard DeAndre Ayton, the now superstar basketball player, recount that it was the Urban Renewal Programme that provided a hot meal for him on a daily basis that kept him going. I remind you of that story today so that you will remember that your work in this programme does not go unnoticed, that is not in vain, and that it has changed, is changing, and will continue to change lives.”

Minister Campbell challenged the officers to: “strive to reach even greater heights.”

“I challenge you to take it one family at a time, one household at a time, one neighbourhood at a time, one community at a time. People are looking for something good to believe in and the Urban Renewal Programme is that something good in which they can believe. I thank the Royal Bahamas Police Force for loaning you to this ministry which I have the good fortune to lead at this time. I thank you, and commend you for the work you have done, are doing and will continue to do to ensure that our communities are better places within which to live,” Minister Campbell added.