residents to use it.

The Police drugs hotline is being re-advertised as a result of a letter to the Editor of the The Royal Gazette , Police spokesman Sgt. John Dale said yesterday.

Residents can call the 24-hour hotline with any information they feel will help narcotics officers. They do not have to leave their name or telephone number.

The hotline has been in existence for some time, Sgt. Dale said, but was not regularly advertised through the media.

Sgt. Dale said it was a February 16 letter to the editor, signed by "Bermudian for a drug free Bermuda'' of Devonshire, that prompted him to see about running the advertisements again.

The Devonshire resident wrote: "Allow me to ask the Bermuda Police Force public relations department what happened to the telephone number you can call to report any drug dealings or drug activity in your area.

"I think this confidential number was a great help to help Bermuda fight the war on drugs and help the Police at the same time.'' Sgt. Dale said the hotline was "another way of helping Police fight the war on crime''. "We are grateful for any information given.'' Head of the Narcotics Department, Chief Insp. Norrell Hull, yesterday urged all residents to telephone the number, 292-8999, with any information on drug activity in their neighbourhoods or elsewhere.

He made the plea even though a number of hotline calls have led nowhere. Chief Insp. Hull said every bit of information supplied was checked out thoroughly before Police acted on it or filed it.

"People try to lure us into situations,'' he noted. "We have to be very careful with the information given.'' But information supplied through the hotline has also led to "successes'', he said.

"When married with other intelligence, the information often proves helpful,'' Chief Insp. Hull said.

He said the hotline was regularly manned and stressed any information recorded on it was "kept in the strictest of confidence''.

Det. Chief Insp. Norrell Hull.