Bermuda officers were set to launch a hi-tech offensive in the war against drugs.

And Chief Insp. Paul Hoare -- in Bermuda for six months on an exchange with local narcotics squad head Chief Inspector George Jackson -- said he had the men to do it.

Chief Insp. Hoare said: "Since I've been here, I've been very impressed by the commitment, enthusiasm and all-round professionalism of the narcotics squad.

"I think the main role that narcotics squad is involved in is reactive and they are very hard-working.

"It's now the time to introduce some more pro-active measures involving a measure of targeting,'' he said, although he declined to discuss a host of new tactics planned for the Island's battle against the drug menace.

He said: "I would be very reluctant to go into that -- I have applied techniques in London which have been fairly successful and it's possible that these techniques could be applied here.

"For obvious reasons, it wouldn't be prudent to discuss tactics at the moment, but I'm optimistic that there may be some success.'' Chief Insp. Hoare, boss of the drugs and vice squad in Islington in London, was speaking only days after replacing Chief Insp. Jackson, who will be studying the drugs war in London.

And he said he had already spotted similarities between the drugs problems in Bermuda and London, despite the huge differences in the two places.

He added: "What appears to be happening here is that the average age of street dealers is getting lower and lower. That's a similarity between there and here.

"Another similarity is the type of drug dealing -- cannabis, crack cocaine and heroin -- and there is evidence to suggest that we have all that here at the moment.

"The Police Service here is moving in the right direction -- it's just a question of getting up to speed and utilising experiences from elsewhere.'' One major difference between London and Bermuda was that alleged suppliers of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine were invariably remanded in custody in the UK -- while in Bermuda bail is often given.

And he added: "That makes operations very difficult -- although it's not for me to comment on the judiciary.'' Chief Insp. Hoare said that Chief Insp. Jackson would be able to learn from the Met's experience with drugs -- and give London officers the benefit of his experience as well.

He added: "He has a pretty impressive programme arranged for him. He's going to experience a variety of different specialist departments, a lot of them dealing with the supply of drugs.

"One of the benefits of this type of exchange is the contacts you develop and accessibility -- I've call home regularly for information which could be of assistance in Bermuda.'' And Chief Insp. Hoare said: "I would like to think that during the course of the next six months, I will be able to make some impact on the level of drug dealing in Bermuda. And I'd like to think techniques I'm passing on will continue to be used in the future.''