Thousands of Haitians continue to flee their strife torn, poverty-stricken country every year, headed for The Bahamas, the United States of America and other countries. No one can blame them for escaping from their pitiful situations to seek economic relief and a better way of life than they left behind. But in that mix can be found ordinary peasants, educated people, professionals and some who belong to criminal enterprises.

The news that The Bahamas has agreed to train Haitian police officers at The Royal Bahamas Police Force College starting in January next year sounds good at the outset. It could be a tremendous feat for this small Bahamian nation with a population of a mere 300,000 people to train members of Haiti's police force, a country of more than eight million people.

The words of Minister of National Security Cynthia Pratt and Police Commissioner Paul Farquharson also sound good: A more stable Haiti will result in a more stable Bahamas. We believe that if there is a safe Haiti, there will be a safe Bahamas. If we are able to assist them in training, they will be better able to police their country, giving us an opportunity to curtail some of the problems that we are faced with.

Also cited as reasons for initiating the training program is the concern about the criminal element that comes to The Bahamas from Haiti and that training Haitian officers in The Bahamas will make The Bahamas safer.

There is no denying that it may be very historic in that no Bahamian police commissioner in the past has ever traveled to Haiti to discuss national security with the Haitian police commissioner. That alone can be commendable and it should be applauded. But there has to be rationality in committing the country to that training regime. It cannot be taken for granted that The Bahamas will also accrue some benefit simply because the transaction will be beneficial to Haiti.

Where is the guarantee that the Bahamas training will make them better able to curtail some of the problems with which this country is faced, because of the huge number of Haitians that are coming here?

It could be good for the Haitian police officers to get the kind of training that the RBPF has to offer as they could be introduced to an aspect of policing that may not be readily available at home and which they would otherwise not get. That being the case The Bahamas should gladly be of this kind of service to a neighbou ring country. However, Bahamian officials should not dupe themselves into believing that it will help The Bahamas in the halt from Haiti of criminal elements.

Because of the large number of illegal Haitian nationals residing in The Bahamas, and because of the many backgrounds from which they come, the RBPF has to be doubly sure of every officer that comes for training to ensure that none of them is being used to communicate with and to facilitate the Haitian underground here.

The Bahamians should not be naive to believe that training the Haitian police officers in The Bahamas would put an end to the criminals in that country migrating to The Bahamas. That is unlikely to happen. The Bahamas must go in with eyes wide open and knowing the score at the outset.