The Police Complaints Authority has lost its chairman and deputy chairman, both of whom resigned last month.

"I didn't see the Authority as being effective and I couldn't see any change coming forward to make it effective in the reasonable future and in my view it was too frustrating to continue," said Coles Diel, who has been the chairman of the Authority since it came into being in 1998.

Mr. Diel added that he had already informed the Governor when he was re-appointed in September last year that he had wanted to end his tenure by June of this year.

Deputy chair Alan Dunch would only say that he shared Mr. Diel's concerns. Both resignations became effective at the end of last month.

"The function that the Authority can perform in any community is a very important function," Mr. Diel said.

"But it's a waste of time making a complaint if nothing happens. Therefore the Authority must be effective."

The law creating the Authority passed the House of Assembly in October 1998. Its purpose then was to create an independent civilian body to investigate complaints lodged against the Police. Prior to the legislation, complaints against the Police were handled and investigated by the Police : a civilian oversight committee existed but without any real authority.

Members of the Authority have over the past two years complained that the new body could be a lot more effective if some legislative changes are made. And while changes have been promise, Government has taken too long to act on their recommendations, as far as Mr. Diel is concerned.

In April last year, Martin Law, secretary to the Authority, told the Bermuda Sun that the law was about to be changed to make the Authority more effective and give it more teeth. Mr. Law said then that the changes would make the Authority a "truly independent body" which would have final say in whether a complaint is justified.

Yesterday he said the changes are "still in the pipeline".

"Had (progress on) the legislative changes been different both Mr. Dunch and myself and other members of the Authority would have felt differently about it," said Mr. Diel.

He added that the previous Home Affairs Minister Paula Cox had met with the Authority and some progress had been made in getting the process started.

Labour and Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister could not be reached for comment by press time last night.

Mr. Diel said that the legislation which created the Authority is "too cumbersome" for the body to work properly and that more administrative support was needed. Further the Authority does not have its own investigative staff which means that the Police still have substantial input in deciding the facts of a case.

"It's not really fair for members of the service to be involved in investigating their colleagues. It makes it a very difficult task," said Mr. Diel. "Really if you are going to have an independent investigation you should have investigators who are not involved in the service that is being investigated. That would be ideal."

Last year the Authority was given extra money to hire an administrator on an ad hoc part-time basis but, according to Mr. Diel, more is needed.

Among his other complaints are that the rules, which require at least three of the Authority's six members to be present, make it almost impossible to conduct hearings in a timely fashion because all of the members have full time jobs.

And if a case involves complex legal issues "you need to have a legally qualified person deal with it".

"You're dealing with the rights of people here - the civilians as well as the Police - and you can't do it by bush justice," Mr. Diel said.

Every year a substantial amount of cases brought to the Authority remain unresolved.

The members of the Authority have also been concerned that they are not in a position to prevent the Police from "whitewashing" a case once wrongdoing has been proved.

Discipline of wrongdoers rests solely with the Police Commissioner and Mr. Diel has been pushing for changes which would give the Authority an oversight role.

"The Authority should be in a position to prevent whitewashing or a slap on the wrist," said Mr. Diel.