Asst. Commissioner: “This Will Be a Litmus Test for Us for the General Elections”

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – A heavy police presence kept chaos from erupting at Monday’s Golden Isles by-election.

It was an orderly scene as ballot boxes left the Anatol Rodgers High School on Faith Avenue South — a stark difference from the previous week’s advanced poll at Remnant Tabernacle Church.

Part of the reason for the orderly departure was the overwhelming presence of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. That team was led by Assistant Commissioner of Police Mareno Hinds, who summed up by-election day this way:

ACP Mareno Hinds – Officer-in-Charge, Anatol Rodgers Polling Stations
“Some people got overzealous and possibly acted out of character, but that is why we were here, and we were able to remedy and correct those flaws very quickly. Overall, I think it went very well, particularly because of some things that may have happened in our recent past. I think we rebounded and had a very fair and organized election overall.”

Hinds said managing large crowds came with challenges.

ACP Mareno Hinds – Officer-in-Charge, Anatol Rodgers Polling Stations
“Whenever you have a whole lot of people — thousands of persons — you’re going to have some emotions injected into the proceedings, and we saw that. We saw some of the parties playing music. Always for me, the traffic was a concern, particularly vehicles with pedestrians. This road runs from north to south, so there weren’t a lot of escape routes, so once you were on it, you were on it. Those were a few of the challenges.”

Hinds called the by-election a litmus test for the Royal Bahamas Police Force ahead of next year’s general election.

ACP Mareno Hinds – Officer-in-Charge, Anatol Rodgers Polling Stations
“No one rests on their laurels. We have a whole lot of work to do, and we will certainly go to the table as early as tomorrow and see how quickly we could correct our flaws. To answer your question precisely, yes — this is a litmus test for our readiness, and I believe we passed it, but with some corrections needed.”