The detection of crime in Bermuda took a slump last year with Police making little or no impact on the most common offences plaguing the community, according to latest figures released last night.

And Police Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay admitted last night that 1999 was a not a good year for the Police Service and the detection of offences.

But the Island's top cop blamed manpower shortages for the shortfall in prosecutions rather than poor policing.

The Bermuda Police annual report, which has been produced several months later than usual and was obtained by The Royal Gazette last night, states that less than a third of all crime on the Island was solved last year.

And some of the areas with the poorest rates of detection are those that most affect the community.

The report shows that the detection of major crimes was just average and the clearing up of more minor offences, such as robbery, burglary and theft, very poor.

The figures follow criticisms made at The Commission of Inquiry into crime on the Island that their is a policy of "armchair policing'' on the Island and a reliance on obtaining confessions.

But last night Mr. Lemay partly blamed manpower shortages during 1999 for the failure to raise the number of detections, and also said that the cycle of crime meant that some years were worse than others.

Of the more serious offences committed last year, only 30 percent of wounding cases led to charges being brought, and only 40 percent of incidents of grievous bodily harm, which is just one step down from manslaughter, were detected.

Only 18 percent of robberies were solved, only nine percent of daytime house burglaries detected and just 13 percent of house break-ins where the occupants were at home were solved.

Just six percent of car thefts were cleared up and only four percent of thefts from vehicles solved.

And one of the Island's biggest problems, cycle theft, despite being on the increase yet again, showed poor results from the force.

Detection rates slump Out of a total of 1,257 cycle thefts last year, only 163 cases -- 13 percent -- were solved.

In Britain, Police forces expect a detection rate for the more minor offences to be at least 33 percent, and the more serious crimes much, much greater.

Mr. Lemay last night spoke at length about the figures and said although he accepted that some of the 1999 figures were bad, he was more optimistic about the detection rates so far this year.

He said: "I'm hoping 2000 will prove much better than 1999.

"Usually when we are talking about major crime we do very, very well at detection -between 73 and 78 percent.

"However, we don't do so well when it comes to cycle theft and these types of things. Last year I think we had a bad year.

"But crime in Bermuda is really based on a cycle. We have a number of individuals who come out of prison - and we could be talking about some 20 people - and they could go on the rampage breaking into houses. One individual could be responsible for 20 break-ins.

"It fluctuates and I think some parts of 1999 were bad for us.'' He said the back end of last year was particularly bad and if charges for those incidents had been brought at the start of this year, those figures would not be included in the annual report.

However, the efficiency of Bermuda Police has come under the spotlight in the last two weeks by the Commission of Inquiry into Serious Crimes.

Both senior and more junior officers have faced a catalogue of allegations from defence barristers and Chief Magistrate Archie Warner, who have accused the force of adopting "armchair policing''.

The hearing has also heard that detectives clear up many of their cases by relying on the obtaining of confessions and place too little importance on thorough investigations.

And head of the Scenes of Crime department, Detective Inspector Howard Cutts, was asked why the force failed to prosecute more cases with the use of DNA.

He admitted that burglary scenes were never tested for DNA samples due to the cost involved.

Instead, he said, Police tried to solve break-ins by finding and matching foot and fingerprints.

However, if they were not found at the scene of break-ins, then he said the investigation was more or less forgotten.

It was also revealed during the inquiry that officers were failing to take fingerprints from people arrested, as they were instructed to.

Last night Mr. Lemay said he had been surprised and upset by some of the allegations made during the last fortnight and said he was presently putting a response together for the commission and would be willing to testify for a second time, if invited.

But he said measures were in place to improve Policing in Bermuda, including the re-introduction of parish constables, and he said he was also targeting young people, who were showing signs of anti-social behaviour, as well as tackling the problem of graffiti.

But he said he was also hopeful that up to 45 additional officers would be in place soon, so the force could be more pro-active, rather than reactive, as at the moment.

Shadow Minister for Home Affairs and Public Safety Michael Dunkley said he was unhappy with many of the detection figures, but said he hoped his comments would be taken constructively.

And he said he believed the figures were partly down to the Police force being "handcuffed'' over its lack of officers.

He said: "There are two very important issues here. If people feel that their crime will not be solved, then they simply won't report it. We will never know how many crimes on this Island are never even reported or recorded.

"Secondly, if criminals know that the Police have a very high detection rate, then it will act as a deterrent to them. We need to be saying `if you break into a house, we will catch you.' We need to get tough on crime. Some of these figures show us that we are not doing that.

"In Bermuda, we should not accept standards like this. We are not New York City where people can disappear into a population of 12 million people.

"Why are our criminals not being caught.'' Government minister for Home Affairs and Public Safety Paula Cox said it was unfair to look solely at detection figures, without looking at the whole picture.

"One can't explain the figures, but we should not just look out of the rear window, we have to look at this year,'' she said.

"There is a considerable marked improvement on the figures for the last two quarters of this year. We have look at the entire picture and what we are doing now.'' CHART