closer to the community. The key to good policing in Bermuda is community involvement and in recent months that involvement seems to have increased.

The huge majority of Bermudians are intent on law and order and safety for themselves and their homes. They do not want to be threatened and they do not want to be locked inside. Bermudians also want visitors to be safe in Bermuda.

Bermuda underwent a crisis of crime and, as a result, people are much more aware of the need to co-operate with the Police and the need to help the Police wherever and whenever they can. That, of course, is as it should be.

No one wants anything approaching a Police state and no one wants policemen who bend the rules or abuse Bermudians but people do want effective and efficient policing and they are very aware and very appreciative of recent decreases in crime rates.

Now Police Commissioner Colin Coxall has a plan to involve citizens in four committees to identify area policing needs and area problems for the Police.

In other words, to tell the Police what is wrong in their area of Bermuda. The Commissioner recognises that the Police had drifted away from the community and that a gulf appeared between the Police Service and the public.

We think that some insensitive policing caused some of the public to distrust the Police and to stay away as much as they could. But there was a second factor, a public perception that the Police Service was inefficient and that any help offered was, firstly, not welcome and, secondly, would not be acted on or investigated. So, why bother to help? That perception is changing with the restructuring of the Police Service.

Mr. Coxall has said: "The prevention of crime, and the maintenance of an orderly society, depend on the Police carrying out their functions with the consent of the community.'' Mr. Coxall's solution is three committees, east, central and west, designed to reconnect the Police to the community and to give people an opportunity to point out area problems like drugs and speeding to the Police. They would also foster trust between the community and the Police and identify areas of conflict. The committees would develop links with other organisations to broaden the approach to fighting crime and promote crime prevention campaigns.

Interestingly, they would be charged with promoting links between young people and the Police.

A fourth committee would represent the whole Island with its members drawn from the three area groups.

As we see the idea, it has great potential but, like most committees, effectiveness will depend on the quality of the appointees. If the people appointed are energetic, involved and aware of what goes on in their community, it will work. That is not as easy as it sounds. Today many people reside in an area but do not live there. They work in Hamilton, play wherever the need takes them and simply sleep where they live.

If the Government decides to appoint some local UBP supporters to carry the party line, as it does with Parish Councils, then the plan will also fail. To succeed it will have to be representative of the community and of problem areas in that community. The history of appointments to the Police Advisory Board is not encouraging.