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Sinclair White
Another dangerous man, not quite in the snide
league of Carlton Adams, but certainly worth watching. This man will also
step on anyone to gain recognition and status (rank).
Sinclair is however, dense. This makes
his efforts at back-stabbing less than effective. In truth, there is something
quite likeable about the man'; his naive approach and inability to be effective create
an almost cartoon character.
But, Sinclair is not to be trusted.
Watch your back.
In 1986 Sinclair found himself acting sergeant
at the training school; he 'taught' us Bermuda law. In truth, he was
taught much, often making embarrassing mistakes highlighted by those in the
class - former working UK officers with far greater knowledge and experience.
If you feel the above is unwarranted or unkind
- please ask Sinclair how many times he sat (and failed) his sergeants
exam. I would be surprised if anyone could match his record for the number
of attempts. Did he ever pass, or was the promotion out of sympathy?
Aside of this - the malice ...
During my uniform service, a hectic night
duty, with three separate incidents resulting in arrests, saw a fellow officer
and I pretty exhausted. Our sergeant that night was Sinclair White - a
'fellow' officer, working 'with' us. However, on more than one occasion
during the evening, Sinclair expressed his displeasure at our activities.
It had been a night of two car chases and
crashes, fights and drug seizures. There was paper work and exhibits to
consider. We had put two prisoners in hospital (defending ourselves), and
had two cars in the operations yard - seized in a buckled condition following
chases. I could not recall policing the streets of London presenting such
a constant flow of work.
By 8am, at the conclusion of our tour of duty,
we headed by to our accommodation to catch an hour of sleep before presenting
the drug exhibits to the narcotics department. On the way back, we stopped
off at the operations department. Why? Because so backward was the
approach to police work on the island that we were fearful a police photographer
would not take pictures of the prisoner's vehicles that were damaged - seriously
damaged. We were used to dotting i's and crossing t's, mindful that
complaints could arise from the prisoners - evidence of the damage to their cars
could prove useful in demonstrating just how intent these suspects were in getting
away from us.
We took some photographs of the cars, headed
back to our accommodation and later booked in the drugs.
The prisoners subsequently all entered pleas
of guilty to a variety of offences - traffic / drugs / assault on police.
Give Bermudians their due - they are generally peaceable, relaxed, easy going
people who are inherently honest. Even many of the lower end of the drugs
user / supply chain will admit their guilt and acknowledge that their actions
warranted our attention / methods.
The complaint that evening came from an
unexpected source; Sinclair White. By the way Sinclair - we know it was
you - the investigating officer was so appalled that he named you as the
'informant'.
The allegation was pathetic; we (the fellow
officer and I) were taking photographs of the vehicle's we had seized - 'posing
and climbing on the vehicles'. Apparently, Sinclair had witnessed these
actions, considered them inappropriate and submitted a formal complaint to the
Commissioner of Police against the other officer and I.
Amazing. His 'anonymous' complaint
failed to take into account the fact that the operations area is a hive of
activity, with officers coming and going - there were no other witnesses.
The compound is the subject of video cameras - these recorded no such activity.
The investigating officer went through the
motions of interviewing us stating that he was not even going to ask for the
camera we had used - it was offered to him. No statement were taken from
us. We were warned to be wary of Sinclair.
Possibly Sinclair's abilities have improved
with time, surely he cannot have remained incompetent?. I doubt his
attitude has changed. A case of being promoted out of trouble?
Sinclair - a complaint requires a similar
amount of evidence to that which would be presented to a Court at trial.
Your inability to determine what is 'wrong' and lax approach to evidence does
not bode well for the island. |