By any measure it was sick, sadistic murder.

Already "mentally on the edge,'' 25-year-old Richard Williams had had one drink too many when in the early hours of September 27 1995, he prepared to take his final, fatal leap.

Stealing through the shadows of Devonshire Parish he came around the back of the house on Middle Road, where Maureen Parker -- elderly, alone and bed-ridden -- lay sleeping.

Jumping to a dusty outside table Williams squeezed through an open porch window and once inside prowled the house looking for something, anything to steal.

Life, Maureen Parker's in this case, proved easiest.

Climbing onto her bed William's attempt to rape his crippled victim was cut short by cries for help and a quick furious struggle. Neighbours later that morning found her lifeless in bed; a pillow over her head and a crumpled white envelope sitting conspicuously on her chest.

Court would hear later she died of asphyxiation; bruises on her body indicated she fought to the end.

After a whirlwind four-day trial it took a Supreme Court jury less than 15 minutes to put Richard Williams away for life.

* * * "The moment I saw the body I suspected murder.'' Called to Number Five, Middle Road, Detective Inspector Howard Cutts recalls now -- one year later -- how initial reports had been sketchy that morning.

A body had been found. And as he arrived at the Parker house the 20-year veteran of crime scenes had thought he'd seen it all; depravity in this business was nothing new.

"But what I saw disgusted me. To think that a human being could do that to an old, frail woman really makes you wonder.'' Calling for reinforcements from the Scenes of Crime lab, Det. Insp. Cutts got down to work.

"The first thing we do,'' he told The Royal Gazette , "is secure the scene, and in this case we were lucky. The officers there had already done it.'' After that cracking the Parker murder became a matter of expertise, observation and deduction.

While outside a team of Police cadets -- on their hands and knees -- combed the area for clues, inside Det. Insp. Cutts and Detective Sergeant Keith Cassidy donned contamination suits and set about collecting the forensic evidence that would identify and put Williams at the scene.

The Parker house was sealed tight and a Cyanoacrylate vapour test -- used to detect latent fingerprints otherwise invisible to the eye -- would reveal William's prints on the crumpled white envelope. Partial shoe prints would be lifted later from the outside table and matched to Williams size and type.

Within three days Police had their man -- a result of the Service's emphasis on combining specialised resources toward a common end.

And quick arrests in the Parker case, the Rebecca Middleton slaying, the Caines murder, the assaults on a Canadian Senator and his companions, the Shawn Crockwell case, and a recent large-scale cocaine bust indicate the strategy is paying off.

"I have to say I'm very pleased; we've cleared up and solved all of what I regard as serious major crimes. Kidnappings, robberies; using a restructured ID,'' Police Commissioner Colin Coxall told The Royal Gazette .

"When we get a serious crime such as a murder, CID takes up the inquiry and they pull in resources from other departments to maximise their effectiveness.

This is comparatively new for Bermuda but has been used extensively elsewhere; it has had considerable effect such as in the Parker or the Middleton murders.'' Chief of CID Detective Superintendent Vic Richmond, in turn credits basic police procedure and the quality of his troops: "We've always had a good track record and part of that is keeping up to modern technology, good street intelligence, and a lot of footwork.'' Changes in force deployment have also played their part. CID has been decentralised from one to three divisions -- western, central, and eastern -- under the control of a divisional commander. The move says Det. Supt.

Richmond, has added an element of flexibility to the intelligence arm of the service.

Forensics has meanwhile traded its dreary and cramped Prospect home for bigger and better quarters at the old American Naval Base in St. David's, acquiring better equipment and creating a more efficient unit.

And despite initial misgivings about decentralisation, morale at the 11-person Scenes of Crime unit has improved, notes Det. Insp. Cutts.

Meanwhile the job of merging the Service's forensics, narcotics, commercial, and major crimes units falls to chief of CID Richmond.

Whenever major crime rears its head on the Island a new four-man permanent incident post located at Prospect pulls together the specialised resources to deal with it.

The first 72 hours are crucial for investigators.

It's the mantra of solid police work and one Commissioner Coxall and Det.

Supt. Richmond quote like scripture.

Witnesses are fresh; the trail is hot and the perpetrator has had little time to concoct alibis or dispose of evidence.

"We like to get as far as we can in the first 72 hours,'' says Det. Supt.

Richmond.

"In the Middleton case we had an arrest within a week based on a combination of intelligence, forensics, databases, and a lot of hard Police footwork. We had about 20 people on the Middleton murder when the Caines case came up, really stretching our resources.'' Nowhere is it more difficult to quantify and qualify success as in the arena of crime fighting; statistics are a mere benchmark easily washed away by the next serious crime wave.

And as Bermuda's restructured Police service continues to ride high on its recent string of high-profile successes Commissioner Coxall has begun to turn his energy towards efficiency and community-based police programmes in an effort to wage war on street-level crime.

A large part of his programme will be to re-invigorate the Island's Parish Constables.

Twenty-five parish constables will be assigned designated areas and be given responsibility for traffic problems, asked to investigate minor offences such as cycle thefts in co-operation with CID, learn to develop an awareness of their community and families that might be in difficulty with substance or child abuse, keeping a watchful eye on the elderly and disabled in the community, and become involved with youth and youth activity.

"I believe we're seeing an improved closeness between the community and its Police Service,'' says Commissioner Coxall.

"It underpins the whole of my strategy in relation to community policing; the Police service working with its community and community trusting its Police.'' Photos by Arthur Bean EYE TO DETAIL -- Constable Gail Correia at work in the photo lab at Scenes of Crime.

DUSTING -- Det. Sgt. Keith Cassidy on fingerprints.