Superintendent Teddy McDonald

By JIMENITA SWAIN,Guardian Staff Reporter

Supt. Teddy McDonald, who for many years has worked behind the scenes with Interpol and other international police organizations in sharing international crime information, now concentrates on crime on the home front, in the Carmichael Road area.

He hails from Bennet's Harbour, Cat Island, leaving there in 1968. After gaining his Bahamas Junior Certificate (BJC), McDonald says he wanted to become a teacher. Looking at him, one would agree that he would have been perfect for the job - he has the look of a scholarly teacher.

"After teaching I would have gone on to become a Family Island Commissioner," he says. In those days, I noticed that there was a tremendous amount of respect for teachers and commissioners and that is what I really wanted to be."

Call to the Force

In 1968 he planned on attending San Salvador's Teacher's College, but ended up in New Providence and in June 18, 1969, he joined the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF). "I graduated from the training school at police headquarters on East Street and I went to Grand Bahama. At that time, the Port Authority had its own police force and the government disbanded that group in late 1968 or early 1969. As replacements, 30 of us went from New Providence to Grand Bahama.

"We had the regular police force in Grand Bahama, but the Force had a number of officers to supplement the regular officers. I am told that all of them except one, were Jamaicans. There was one Bahamian in the whole lot and the Bahamian people did not take too kindly to them. Hence the break-up. it was the best interest to separate that lot," he says. He remained in Grand Bahama until 1977.

Work in Grand Bahama

Reminiscing about the past, he says, "It was quite a challenge, you're a young man and other than New Providence, and Cat Island, Grand Bahama would have been the third place that I had visited. At first, I really didn't like it, but after a while, I grew to like it."

In Grand Bahama, he was attached to the Central Investigation Department (CID) and then to the Fingerprint Department and to the Statistics Department which was responsible for gathering information from New Providence, Grand Bahama and the other Family Islands.

He says, "I actually set up the system, there wasn't anything. We had to start from scratch. In Abaco, Eleuthera, Exuma and Bimini, we had to go to those islands at certain times of the year to collect those statistics. Other islands, we devised forms and sent to the islands for them to complete." The forms were completed on a monthly basis. "From that we compiled a master list or an overall picture for the Family Islands, so we could have kept tabs on how crime was going in the Family Islands. And then we had Grand Bahama and New Providence, and then we had the overall picture for the entire Bahamas."

This data was supplied to the chief of CID, "and sometimes as apolitical football, as soon as something is raised on criminal activities, then you find yourself inundated with requests to prepare statistics or to show etc." Statistics were prepared also for the Government, the Commissioner of Police and International agencies like Interpol and the United Nations.

"From there I went to the Police College and at that time I was an inspector. I enjoyed that very much, given my love for teaching." However, his stint was short lived as he was moved to Central Police Station for a while before going to Cat Island in January 1992 for two years. "From Cat Island, I returned to New Providence where I worked in Corruption Investigation Unit," he says for about 10 months before heading the Interpol Unit.

Interpol Stint

Describing his new post, he says it is a very interesting area that can at times be very demanding causing you to adhere to the service standards of the international community.

"There are various police forces that are members of Interpol, making certain requests and you have to ensure you reply to their requests and that you reply in a timely manner. Or if there is going to be some delay you have to make sure that they are notified and let them know that you are working on their request."

He says many people have a wrong impression about Interpol. "If for example, there is a fugitive from The Bahamas in another country, the Interpol Unit here would liaise with the Interpol Unit in whichever country, we would contact the General Secretariat in France who would send a circulars in all of the countries asking them to look out for this particular person," he states. McDonald says The Bahamas became an Interpol member in 1973. "If they need some inquires done they would ask us to go on and do the inquiries. Or they would ask us to arrange for their officers to come over. We would have accommodated several countries when their officers came over and we would have worked along with them in getting the necessary information that they wanted."

A high point for his career while at Interpol was aiding in dismantling a car stealing ring connected to Europe. "In Europe at that time there was a big problem of motor vehicle theft. There were three people who moved to The Bahamas of Indian descent, they were stealing high value motor cars in the United Kingdom and bringing them to The Bahamas. We were able to penetrate that ring and recover 20 Mercedes- Benz, BMW, Jaguars and the likes. We notified Scotland Yard and they came over and we worked together," the superintendent states.

The three suspects were arrested and put before the court. "They waived their right for extradition and returned to the United Kingdom where they were charged." The Carmichael chief says that their British counterparts thanked them profusely for their work, as they had no leads in the case. "The cars were just being stolen and shipped, some to the United States and some to The Bahamas," he recalls.

The challenges, he dealt with was trying to meet all the requests put on the unit from other Interpol member countries, despite having a small staff complement. "All in all we did well," he says.

Mr. McDonald says that he remained at that post for five years, before returning to the Complaints and Corruption Branch. . "We launched new polices for dealing with corruption and unethical behaviour. We had to put measures in place to deal with officers and we had to sensitize the public to the purpose of the branch," he notes.

His colleagues, he said had to be informed that the CCU was not there to hurt anyone, "we must see ourselves as law enforcement officers and not as a law unto ourselves. So when the public makes complaints we had to go and investigate them." In June 2002, he says, that he left that area to assume the commanding position at the Carmichael Police Station. Superintendent McDonald says that the position was challenging at first, but he has adapted to having responsibility for the second largest division in the western district. He is dedicated to ensuring that everyone is satisfied.

To up coming, junior officers like a good teacher, Superintendent McDonald says to "remain focused and always pursue knowledge."