one of the Bermuda Police force's senior officers'' when it published details from an occurrence report that was deleted from the Police computer, the Progressive Labour Party charged yesterday.

Shadow Labour Minister Mr. Alex Scott said in a news release he also believed a report in Monday's Gazette involved a breach of The Official Secrets Act.

Mr. Scott was referring to a story which said a Police occurrence report about a June 29, 1991 call to a report of a domestic assault at the home of Assistant Commissioner Wayne Perinchief had been deleted from the Police computer.

Acting Commissioner Alex Forbes said the report was deleted on the instructions of "a previous administration'' to comply with Police policy.

"The policy for recording personal domestic incidents reported to Police and involving Police officers is by confidential report to the Commissioner,'' Mr.

Forbes said in a prepared statement.

Ms Toni Daniels, chairperson of the Women's Resource Centre, has expressed concern about that policy, saying it could dissuade spouses of Police officers from reporting domestic assaults. It also raised questions about complaints being dealt with fairly, she said.

Mr. Scott accused the newspaper of trying "to poison the public's mind'' against Bermuda Police.

"The Gazette , while knowing the `real story,' has set out to weave a web of intrigue around a Police computer report about a `domestic complaint' that the Police maintain should not have been entered on the computer ... in the first place,'' Mr. Scott said in the statement.

"Generally, it is known that it is the practice and policy (whether we agree or not) of both the Bermuda Police Force and the Bermuda Regiment not to place complaints against any senior member of either organisation on `file,' but to have the individual named in a complaint appear before the Commissioner of Police, or Commandant of the Regiment, where he or she will receive the appropriate warning or reprimand.'' Mr. Perinchief was considered a worthy candidate for promotion then and would be now, he said.

Mr. Scott said Mr. Clive Donald, who was Commissioner at the time, "would have had the record removed'' as soon as he returned to work after the weekend.

"However, it would appear that in that short span of time, some officer (for his own personal reasons?) somewhere in the Police operation has seen the file, lifted it, and withheld it for over three years, perhaps for an opportunity such as this, to leak to a media that was prepared to engage in this shameful display of `yellow journalism'! "Why is The Royal Gazette prepared to publish and support so flagrant a breach of the Official Secrets Act on the part of at least one officer, if not more? "Why is The Royal Gazette apparently unconcerned about the damage which is now obviously being visited upon the morale and cohesiveness of the Bermuda Police?'' While Government plans to bring in two British officers to head the force for two to three years, the PLP says either Mr. Perinchief or Assistant Commissioner Harold Moniz should have been named Commissioner.