Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Leader Philip Brave Davis yesterday described Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle’s assertion that some of last year’s suicide victims were weak men as “insensitive”.
“It’s an unfortunate description of persons who may have committed suicide,” Davis said when called for a comment.
“I think for a person to take his life, it takes a lot of courage. More importantly, I don’t know whether the police would’ve done an in-depth analysis with respect to someone who would’ve committed suicide. For example, would they have interviewed close friends and relatives or employees to determine the circumstances leading up to the incident?
“Or would they have engaged a psychoanalyst to determine, as a result of those interviews and assessments, what may have led to that person committing suicide?”
There was a 38 percent increase in suicides in The Bahamas in 2020, with 11 suicides in 2020 compared to eight in 2019, according to statistics from the Royal Bahamas Police Force (RBPF).
Of the total suicide victims, 10 were men and one was a woman.
On Monday, while noting that more research is needed to determine the reasons behind the figures, the commissioner claimed that a number of incidents were domestic-related.
“What I can tell you is we had a few of those that we know were domestic-related, where fellows are weak and they kill themselves because they were having issues with their females,” Rolle said.
“I can leave that right there because to go further than that would require more research.”
Davis said, “It is an insensitive comment.”
He declined to say whether he believes Rolle should apologize for the comment.
“I think he ought to reflect on what he said,” Davis said.
Davis added the public often relegates suicide in a way that “demonizes the life and character of these persons”.
“We really don’t know what is going on in people’s lives and particularly now with the suffering that people are undergoing and the despair and desperation that people are now feeling and the inability to look after their families, the inability to pay their rent and put food on the table,” he said.
“To be deprived of the basic pursuit of happiness, it does play on a man’s life.”
Davis added, “When a person has been impacted by certain circumstances that may feel beyond their control, that doesn’t mean that they’re weak.”
Commissioner of Police Paul Rolle apologized yesterday for describing some of last year’s suicide victims as “weak”.
The post Commissioner’s comments about some suicide victims ‘insensitive,’ Davis says appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/commissioners-comments-about-some-suicide-victims-insensitive-davis-says/
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