officer be brought in to work with Police Commissioner Mr. Lennett (Lennie) Edwards, The Royal Gazette has learned.

The report, written by UK senior Police adviser for Dependent Territory Police Forces Mr. Lionel Grundy, is part of the reason for Government's recent decision to hire the top two Police officers from abroad, Labour and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. Irving Pearman said yesterday.

Mr. Edwards, who was asked to stay on as Commissioner for another two years, has been in ill health and recently announced he would retire immediately.

Deputy Commissioner Mr. Alex Forbes is also to retire.

The foreign officer was to provide management expertise and "create some innovative thinking'', said Mr. Pearman, who received the report.

The officer would not necessarily have come from England, he said. "We were prepared to go far afield.'' When it was concluded two senior officers had to be hired, Government opted to draw from Britain.

Mr. Grundy, who visited Bermuda last summer and filed a report to the Governor in the autumn, also recommended that a third assistant Police Commissioner be named, Mr. Pearman said.

The Governor and Government also accepted that recommendation. The Opposition Progressive Labour Party, which is supporting a petition calling for a reversal of the decision to hire overseas, has said the Commissioner's post should have gone to one of two current Assistant Commissioners -- Mr. Harold Moniz or Mr. Wayne Perinchief.

Mr. Pearman described the Grundy Report as "objective, in terms of what Bermuda's needs are, the change in society, and the approach that will probably be needed''.

Mr. Grundy's report has not been made public. But it closely followed the report of the Police Tumim Committee, which was made public and blamed Police management for "an undercurrent of frustration, despondency, abandonment and hopelessness'' among the ranks of the force.

Prepared by a committee chaired by school principal Mr. Dale Butler and retired officer Mr. Andrew Bermingham, the Police Tumim report said "esprit de corps is low,'' and "the pressure of dealing with the public is nothing compared to the internal stress generated by Police management techniques''.

It called for changes in Police evaluation, transfer, and discipline procedures, and said "clear guidelines of performance (should) be developed in which the criteria is not solely the issuing of tickets''.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pearman and Deputy Governor Mr. Peter Willis are flying to England to begin interviews tomorrow of eight officers on a short list for the senior jobs. Mr. Pearman said he will help narrow down the eight names to a shorter short list, after which the hiring will be up to Governor Lord Waddington and the Public Service Commission.

The Commissioner is to be hired for three years and the Deputy Commissioner for two. It is expected a Bermudian Deputy Commissioner will be named in two years and rise to the top post a year later.

"I understand fully that a lot of Bermudians just don't want to see another Englishman brought in an executive position,'' Mr. Pearman said. But the short-term move would help to fill a leadership "vacuum'' and was in the long-term interests of Bermudian officers and Bermudians generally, he said.