Volunteers will be sought to help reflect Bermuda's diverse population when a new video version of the traditional Police identification parade is launched. The system will use computer technology to throw up library images from a database, instead of Police officers having to hit the streets to find people to pose alongside suspects in the line-up.

It is being brought in as part of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) which aims to modernise the way Bermuda is policed and is based on similar legislation in place in the UK since 1984. The system, which is already used in Britain, will cost an estimated $20,000 to $30,000, and is on course to be rolled out early next year.

"The current line up is extremely time consuming and costly to the Police. We have to round up 15 or so volunteers who look very similar to the suspect. We approach them in the street and offer to pay them a small amount of money," explained Mark Crampton, a former Chief Inspector in the British police who is in Bermuda to oversee the implementation of PACE.

"It's hard to get people to do it. Not only is it inconvenient, but people wrongly believe that if they get picked out they could go to prison for something they didn't do." In addition, he said, the whole exercise is difficult to co-ordinate as volunteers and the suspect must be kept apart from witnesses and victims participating in the ID parade, and arrangements must be made for all of these people ? plus lawyers ? to travel to the Police station. He hopes the new video parade will revolutionise all of this. A nine second clip of the suspect will be filmed, and then characteristics such as age, height and skin colour typed into a database of 25,000 video clips compiled by the manufacturers. The Police then liaise with the suspect and their lawyer to choose 11 images that they believe are a fair likeness to the suspect.

This is where the Police will call upon volunteers from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds to have their images added to the database. "We'll be looking for examples of members of the community to reflect the diversity of Bermuda and to get an accurate database, " said Mr. Crampton.

Once up and running, he believes the video ID parades will make the process easier for everyone involved.

"The whole process takes 20 minutes and then burned onto a disk. Officers can take the ID parade on a laptop to the witness's home, or anywhere else, along with the suspect's lawyer. Sometimes with the traditional line-up they can feel very intimidated when confronted with the suspect," he said.

"It should also make the process quicker, as sometimes people have to be bailed for a long time while the parade is arranged, as well as quicker for the officers. It's one of the exciting things about PACE."

The new-style parades are likely to be the first part of PACE put into effect. Mr. Crampton has written a report for the Attorney General and Commissioner of Police recommending that other aspects of the wide-ranging legislation are gradually phased in over the course of 2007. These include new rules on the way Police act when they search people and property and when they make arrests. The last part that will be implemented, and which does not have a specific target date, relates to the detention and questioning of suspects, and the treatment of prisoners. The legislation sets out requirements such as a medical room and consultation rooms for lawyers, and lists standards for cells such as heating, lighting and bedding.

"There's so much to do and we need to make sure our custody cell facilities comply with PACE," said Mr. Crampton, adding that this was unlikely to be achieved by the end of 2007. However, he said it might not be necessary to wait for the long-anticipated development of a new Hamilton Police Station and court building to be completed.

"The new Hamilton station has a bearing but it's not conditional on that. The current Police station doesn't have some of the facilities PACE talks about, so we've either got to find them somewhere else such as the (new station at) Southside or wait for the Hamilton station," he said. "Having looked at the plans for Southside, it's been designed with PACE in mind."