Thu, 2009-05-28

Commissioner of Police George Jackson - Once again the peace and quiet we have come to know and expect has been disturbed by criminals who are determined to upset the quality of life on our island. The series of incidents over the 22nd and 23rd May are a grim reminder of the realities we face as we combat an unprecedented level of criminality. Let me extend the Bermuda Police Service's condolences to the family of Kenwandee Robinson who died as a result of the incident on St. Monica’s Road on Friday 22nd May.

This death is a grim reminder of the challenges with criminal behaviour that we face on the island. The Bermuda Police Service is aware of the impact of such crimes and is committed to the preservation of law & order; we are very determined that we will not surrender our island to a small but persistent group of individuals, who are determined to promote a way of life that is foreign to our culture.

This is a new era of policing and the Bermuda Police Service is acutely aware of the fears and the apprehension that exists in our community. When these acts of violence take place, it shakes the very core of our existence here in Bermuda. We would like to reassure the public that the Bermuda Police Service is capable of and very committed to dealing with the challenges at hand and is committed to using all of the legal options available to us to achieve our goals. Our officers have responded well to the challenges of dealing with criminals who have resorted to using firearms and have been very courageous and diligent in responding to these incidents.

We have made some progress in relation to the recent shootings and a further press conference will be held by the investigators to provide an update.

After the recent meeting with the Governor H.E. Sir Richard Gozney, the Premier the Hon. Dr. Ewart Brown, Minster of Finance and Deputy Premier, The Hon. Paula Cox and the Minister of Labour, Public Affairs & Housing Senator the Hon. Lt. Col. David Burch, the Bermuda Police Service is well aware of the expectations of the Governor, Government and the public. We have had to take a very serious look at our resources and the way we deploy them to ensure that we meet our objectives.

You may ask, what are these objectives? We have always been committed to maintaining peace and safety in these islands. However, with this unprecedented challenge, we are aware that there is a high feeling of fear and uncertainty and we recognize that we the BPS have a major part to play in reducing that fear and uncertainty. We also recognize that it is very important for us to urgently address the mindset of these criminals who are brazen enough to commit such acts in broad daylight.

Our objectives are therefore simple, to reassure the public and improve the public’s confidence; and most significantly to place those who engage in these criminal activities on the run; by constantly targeting their operations.

You may ask how are we going to do this and why will it be different from anything else we have done? The BPS has recognized that we must continue to evaluate what we are doing, what works and what has not worked. At this time, it is highly important for us to have a reassuring presence in those communities which have recently been subjected to shootings.

With effect from today, Police officers will be more highly visible in the areas that cause us the most concern, the number of armed Police officers will increase and more officers have been deployed to the Police Support Unit and Community Action Teams. These officers will be deployed to do patrols both on foot and in vehicles. We will also be using specific targeting techniques to address those who we have identified are engaged in the criminal activity.

To achieve our objectives we will need the community's support. This support comes in many forms, but most importantly, we need the community to continue to provide us with information. This can be done confidentially or by contacting our Serious & Organised Crime Unit. In addition, we need the community’s vocal support as we engage in these enhanced activities against these criminals.

We also need the community's support in understanding that the resources to engage in this prolonged activity had to be drawn from other policing areas. The impact of this reallocation is that there will be a delayed or non response to some incidents as priority will be given to addressing the current issues. We ask for the community's patience and understanding.

Over the past few years the Bermuda Police Service has been evolving to meet the ever changing complexity of local crime & criminality. I will now turn to Assistant Commissioner Mike Jackman who will give us an overview of the recent changes that have taken place.
 
Assistant Commissioner Mike Jackman

It seems all too frequent that we are appearing before the media to speak on our response to such incidents. Crime and criminal gang behaviour has placed significant demands on the Bermuda Police Service. We have had to constantly evaluate what we have been doing and we are willing to listen to suggestions from the community so we can be better at dealing with this criminal behaviour. We have heard the call for more visibility and getting additional resources into frontline policing has been addressed by shifting an additional 10% of our Service’s Police officers into operational roles; those changes will be detailed later in this statement.

Serious & Organised Crime Division

• Boosted number of detectives in the unit to do proactive work as well as reactive investigations.

The resources available at the Serious Crime Unit (SCU) have been increased by adding personnel from Narcotics, the Criminal Intelligence Units (CIU) and the Community Policing Division (CPD). The SCU now has 17 detectives comprising of a Detective Chief Inspector who is the Senior Investigating Officer (SIO), a Detective Inspector as Deputy SIO, two Detective Sergeants and 13 Detective Constables. As a contingency we also have a smaller team of six detectives led by a Detective Chief Inspector as SIO with one Detective Inspector as Deputy SIO and four Detective Constables.

In addition, two teams have been assigned to be embedded within Operation Safer Streets to provide investigative and intelligence support to Operation Safer Streets activities. The two teams will each consist of a Detective Sergeant, a Detective Constable (SCU) and a Detective Constable (Intelligence Division). Their roles will ensure enhanced follow-ups on all arrests and actions involving targeted individuals, maintaining all intelligence, intelligence gathering, court file review and investigations support.

Operational

The Police Support Unit (PSU) will be boosted to a complement of one Inspector, four Sergeants and 24 Constables; this is an increase from the current allocation of one Inspector, three Sergeants and 18 Constables.
The Community Action Team (Central Area) is being boosted from its current number of one Sergeant and eight Constables to one Inspector, two Sergeants and 16 Constables.

• The Armed Response Vehicles (ARV) will be doubled and remain available 24/7.
• Additional resources will be made available on the completion of the Recruit Foundation Course in mid June for the CAT and PSU teams.

These additional resources have been drawn from the Training Department, Schools Resource Officers, Community Safety Unit, Watch Patrols, Service Delivery Improvement Team, Investigative Units and the Roads Policing Unit. In addition, staff from the Eastern and Western Areas has been reallocated, some to the Central CAT. We have cancelled some courses so that the training staff is available to assist in this enhanced operation.

Deployment

• The ARV Units will be deployed on a 24/7 basis. The ARVs will be available to patrol in the target areas of Court Street and environs as well as St. Monica’s. The ARV will also be deployed to locations where suspected firearms activity is likely to take place.
• The PSU will be available 24/7 and its primary role will be to support the CATs in patrolling the target areas, provide public order support to the rest of the Service and assist with search warrants.
• The core duties of the CAT will be to do highly visible patrols in the target area. The main goal is to promote positive community feelings so that there is more support for the Police. The CAT officers will focus on obtaining relevant information from the public so more actionable information is being provided to allow for more effective policing. One of the tools available is using the Police Command Vehicle in the high risk areas to increase visibility and help the community to feel safer.
• The Watches and Roads Policing Unit will also support the activities of Operation Safer Streets. A Chief Inspector will remain responsible for coordinating the resources that we have made available. A daily operational plan will be developed to identify where the resources need to be deployed and coordination between the uniform, investigative and intelligence units will take place daily.
• Foot patrols will be deployed in the target areas. We anticipate some displacement to other areas and the plan will allow some flexibility.

The Bermuda Police Service still needs the assistance of the community. We continue to urge members of the public who see anti-social behaviour taking place to report it to the Police. We can no longer give covering to persons in our community that sell drugs, carry weapons and contribute openly to the breakdown of our society. The community must make them uncomfortable in functioning around us. The Bermuda Police Service is committed in doing our part; however, the community must be committed in doing theirs.

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