Review exposes ‘culture of fear’ among police
An external review of the Bermuda Police Service has found “low morale” and a “less-than-positive culture” across the organisation, with “fear and distrust” surrounding the professional standards department.
The British officers from Hertfordshire Constabulary who conducted the review last year at the request of Rena Lalgie, the Governor, also discovered a “breakdown of trust” among employees that began when Stephen Corbishley was Commissioner of Police, and perceptions that remnants of his administration were still present.
A 21-page report released on Wednesday collated a service-wide survey, with a 46 per cent response rate from 196 participants, which included a question asking for a description of the culture at the BPS.
According to the report: “The positives from the responses highlighted that there is a good sense of community; by far the word used the most, people are proud of the public service they provide and of their diverse workforce.
“The negative words that were used most frequently were toxic, racist and fear. Toxic was used in relation to PSD matters and from the sense that there was unfairness in parts of the organisation.
“Fear was used in context to repercussions of speaking out and not being listened to. Racist was also used.”
The Acting Governor, Tom Oppenheim, said last night it was important that the BPS reflect “on the findings, including those of concern, and direct their efforts accordingly”. He also noted that there was a “lot to celebrate” in the report.
The newly released external report on the Bermuda Police Service details various “subcultures” within the organisation, based on race, age, gender and rank, and staff perceptions about how they are treated.
It said survey participants saw the “interracial and multi-ethnic make-up” of the organisation as a strength and were proud to be able to draw on varied cultures and experiences in their policing, but when asked to describe the culture of the BPS, some said it was racist.
The report described challenges created by the diverse ethnic make-up, noting that it “creates a complex working environment, with differing ethnic groups feeling differentiation in how they are treated and therefore how they fit into the wider organisation.
“For example, there were narratives shared that highlighted the following: Caribbean officers expressed feeling disadvantaged because of a perceived lack of experience compared to their counterparts; a perception from Bermudian officers that they are disadvantaged in terms of career progression and opportunities; White officers feeling as [if] they are treated differently; and the perception that race and nationality play a large role in the organisation’s current culture.”
As of 2020, the racial make-up of the BPS was 73 per cent Black, 26 per cent White and 1 per cent Asian.
Women officers were found to be in a minority by the external review team, particularly in senior leadership roles, though the reviewers found a positive shift towards providing them with better opportunities.
“The service is moving forwards in terms [of] empowering women in the organisation,” they wrote. “Only in the last 12 to 18 months has this gained traction and the women in the organisation feel supported as they continue to set up a women’s network.”
The report said there were three different generations working together — Gen X, millennials and Gen Z — with different values and ways of communicating and that understanding that was crucial to creating a “more cohesive culture”.
Some survey respondents spoke of a gap between management and the rest of the service, with the leaders of the organisation described as “less visible and less present”.
The findings were made public a day after Ms Lalgie left the island, following a tenure marked by controversy involving the BPS and, in particular, Mr Corbishley.
The former commissioner, who quit abruptly in October 2021 with two years left to run on his contract, is described in the report as prioritising professional standards after joining in 2018, with mixed results.
The reviewers wrote: “Although being a leading force among Overseas Territories, implementation and the embedding of PSD has been challenging.
“The benefits of having improper conduct challenged is a positive for the service.
“However, there is the sentiment that the policy is being overused and being applied to matters that should instead be dealt with as performance. This has led to a culture of fear.”
Mr Corbishley, while in charge, was vocal about his determination to improve standards of conduct and brought in specialist officer Gillian Murray, from Britain, to head the professional standards department after advertising the $135,000-a-year role.
The Royal Gazette reported in December 2021 that almost half the island’s police officers had been investigated for alleged wrongdoing in the previous three years, though the majority of complaints were resolved or dismissed.
Some felt that the British police commissioner took a sledgehammer approach. When details about his personal life were circulated on social media, Mr Corbishley blamed a “small minority of officers within the BPS who are aggrieved at being rightly addressed for their standards of unprofessional behaviour”.
In October 2020, the Gazetterevealed that a review of decisions about officer conduct made by Ms Murray was under way by Darrin Simons, then the deputy police commissioner, after it was found she did not have the authority to make them because of a legal technicality.
The officer who flagged up the legal issue was Sergeant Mark Monk.
Two months later, his home and that of another officer, Pc Robert Butterfield, who had supported him during a disciplinary process, were raided by police, using a warrant obtained from a magistrate, because of suspicions they had leaked an affidavit about the breakdown of Mr Corbishley’s marriage.
The repercussions of that warrant have affected the BPS ever since.
It was eventually found to have been unlawfully obtained and Sergeant Monk and Pc Butterfield were awarded out-of-court settlements worth hundreds of thousands of dollars from the BPS, an organisation depicted as under-resourced in the Hertfordshire Constabulary report.
Mr Corbishley was investigated for gross misconduct after Pc Butterfield made complaints to Ms Lalgie. He denied any wrongdoing and resigned before any findings were made. Government House opted not to make public the details of Mr Corbishley’s final employment settlement, a decision upheld by the Information Commissioner.
Detective Superintendent Nicholas Pedro faced disciplinary proceedings for his involvement in the obtaining of the warrant and was fired in December, after a 30-year career, for inappropriate conduct.
His mistake was that he did not tell senior magistrate Juan Wolffe in December 2020 that the application for the warrant contained information about him.
The panel concluded that it was an “honest omission”, according to a statement by Mr Pedro. Mr Simons, who is now the Commissioner of Police, said the behaviour was deemed “incompatible with the high standards of integrity required for continued service within the BPS”.
The Acting Governor, Tom Oppenheim, gave his verdict last night on the Hertfordshire Constabulary review of the Bermuda Police Service.
He said: “The culture review was conceived as a method to support the BPS reflecting on their internal culture and how they might go about addressing areas of weakness and concern, while celebrating and developing areas of existing strength.
“There is a lot to celebrate here. The BPS do a very difficult job, and the review supports the assertion that, by and large, they do it well.
“They deserve our support and gratitude.”
Mr Oppenheim added that the police were charged with significant responsibilities so it was right to encourage regular, critical review.
"I am delighted that this has now occurred,“ he said. “It is important that the organisation reflects on the findings, including those of concern, and directs its efforts accordingly.
“It is for the police commissioner and his senior team to set out the actions that the BPS intend to take as a consequence of the report.
“It will be for a new government, in consultation with the BPS, to agree the right approach to questions about resources.”
The Hertfordshire Constabulary report, while highlighting many positive aspects of the BPS, such as diversity and officers’ pride in their work, found that there were “challenges around capability”.
“There is a gulf between the officers who have 25-plus years’ service and those with ten or less,” it said. “The front line is young in both service and experience and in most cases are being supervised by those who are also young in service.”
It also highlighted perceptions of unfairness, a “them and us” culture between the wider workforce and senior leadership, and differential treatment according to rank.
On professional standards, the reviewers wrote: “PSD in its current form has led to a culture of fear and distrust in the organisation.
“Interviewees reported a lack of consistency in following policies, the use of PSD as a threat, untenable timescales for investigations, and often conflicts of interest in investigations.
“Some more high-profile cases have also had media involvement, compounding that sense of fear further. Often people that we spoke with suggested that trust had been broken.”
Conflicts of interest were also referred to in relation to BPS leadership, with the report’s authors recommending: “Management structures and force alignment should be assessed for any conflicts of interest.”
There were a raft of other recommendations, including five specifically for improving the PSD: a review of existing processes and policies to ensure consistency; better managing of conflicts of interest or outsourcing; education on what constitutes a PSD issue and what requires performance management; faster resolution of conduct matters; and better training for those investigating PSD matters.
The reviewers wrote that Mr Corbishley’s “sudden departure” had had an impact on the BPS, adding: “There are perceptions that remnants from the previous Corbishley administration are still present. The breakdown of trust from that point in time needs to be rebuilt.”
Ms Lalgie said last week that she had been working with the BPS for the past 2½ years “to get to the point of agreeing terms of reference for a review of this nature”.
Mr Simons said on Wednesday that an action plan would be developed to implement the recommendations, focusing on areas such as resource allocation, internal communication and professional development.
The professional standards department of the BPS was led by Chief Inspector Arthur Glasford from May 2021, after Ms Murray returned to Britain. More recently, Superintendent Jerome Laws has been in charge.
A workplace culture review of the Bermuda Police Service has flagged up concerns about favouritism when it comes to promotions — a complaint that has come up before.
According to the report released on Wednesday: “There is a perception of cliques and camps within the senior leadership team and aligned to that there is favouritism at play when it comes to promotions, allocation of training, resources, etc.
“This cannot be addressed unless there are documented policies and strategies to demonstrate that this is not the case.”
The same issue reared its head in March 2023 in relation to a lawsuit brought by Detective Inspector David Greenidge, who had been deemed ineligible for promotion from inspector to chief inspector.
Mr Greenidge ultimately lost his civil case but his evidence included WhatsApp messages between Assistant Commissioner Martin Weekes and a lower-ranking officer that included a reference by Mr Weekes to Mr Greenidge being “difficult” and an uncomplimentary reference to Inspector Robert Cardwell, who had also applied to be promoted.
The lower-ranking officer claimed in an affidavit that the WhatsApp messages revealed unfairness and that “decisions about who to promote were not based on the competence or performance, but rather corrupt practices”.
The Court of Appeal condemned the texts, finding them “not in keeping with the high standards to be expected of the BPS”. Police commissioner Darrin Simons vowed to bring established procedure to bear to prevent it from happening again.
Mr Weekes was placed on restricted duties for more than a year, after which a panel found there was no case to answer for gross misconduct but directed that he receive “management advice”.
The Royal Gazette reported in late 2023 on a new promotions process within the BPS that two sources feared could be open to abuse.
The culture review by Hertfordshire Constabulary found that promotions processes had recently changed in the BPS “under the premise to make them fairer and use a wide range of views to identify candidates eligible for promotion”.
The authors of the report wrote: “The consensus is that this process is not clearly understood, with a lack of detailed information around the policy. Without this information available, it is difficult for the workforce to see the merits of the new way …”
They recommended a fair and transparent process for promotions, as well as for recruitment, training allocation, career progression, professional standards, and dealing with bullying and harassment.
They said the process in each case should be audited and leaders should be held accountable.
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