to quote former Police
Inspector Coggy Gibbons:
At last, an admission - here was a Bermuda
police officer, subsequently a police inspector (an a man with a genius I.Q.)
admitting that I was 'subverted and betrayed' by officers with whom I served!
After years of attempting to have my complaint
investigated, a complaint which revolved about my having been disposed of to protect a
senior officer and the 'unlawful' means adopted to effect my departure, I received the
following letter from a a serving Bermuda police Inspector. Despite investigations
allegedly uncovering nothing to support my complaint, here was an Officer (promoted from
sergeant to inspector since my departure) who suddenly admitted that which I had been
protesting all along; I was subverted, I was betrayed.
To date, the Commissioner of Police (Bermuda) has ignored
this new evidence. Despite the COP advising that the case was open pending new
evidence, the matter has not been re-opened.
The following letter was brought to the attention of the
C.O.P. last year. Nothing changed, my letter detailing the Officer's revelations
remains, to this day, the subject of contemptuous silence.
This is the letter I received from Police Inspector Edward
Coglin Gibbons, a former narcotics sergeant with whom I had worked, at the time of
writing, this Officer was the Inspector in the Force Intelligence Bureau:
Dear Phil,
7th October, 1996
Just a follow on to our telephone chat, and
your fax. The first page of that did make it through - and without dissemination as far as
I'm aware. It was good to
talk with you, and your call was a nice surprise. I'm sorry that I had to dash out on you
- so's British Telecom, I suspect!
I'm happy that you're now at a point of
sufficient success that you can afford some respite. I often wonder if you tax yourself
excessively. Are you bent on self-destruction through overwork? Never make a Bermudian
that way!
It's good that you're content with the
business and have enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing your endeavours come to fruition. You
always did like to put pieces together -the puzzle solver. You always were good at that.
The Deputy Commissioner has now departed and
his place is being filled by Harold Moniz on an acting basis to year's end. Vic Richmond
is acting in Harold's place, and Norrell Hull in Vic's. Sound like musical chairs?
I get the feeling, strongly, of political
forces at confused work in this. They are advertising in Canada and the U.K. for a new
Deputy, but recognise that a Bermudian is more palatable to the vocal segment of the
populace. The future of the officer ranks also looks to me to be uncertain. When I hear
rumors, and I stress rumors, of an intention to hire overseas Chief Inspectors on
secondment I wonder what is happening. Are we all that incompetent, or is this another
colonial aspersion of the locals? I hope neither. Suffice it to say that I remain aloof
from the speculation and intrigue.
Phil, my counsel
with respect to your feelings towards the ancien regime in charge, if not command, of the
Force is that you let them go. The ones who
subverted and betrayed
you
are gone. The evident bitterness in you is a slow poison to your mind
and soul. I hear and understand what you're saying; I accept your sense of grievance -it
is not without merit; but, what does it gain you to hold these harsh determinations?
Nothing. Vengeance is ultimately a vanity - a soap bubble.
The letter was signed, at the end of page
two; Coggie.
It is armed with this letter that I am pursuing my complaint
vigorously. The above is a
serving officer. Do the police service not believe that there may be some
merit in ascertaining, from this officer just who subverted and betrayed me,
more to the point, why?
My
only contradiction of the letter is that not all of those who subverted and
betrayed me have gone.
The
current Commissioner of Police, whilst stating that the case remains open, has
done nothing yet more than a year has passed since this site was created.
Evidently he intends to do nothing, other than bury his head in the sand.
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