A former deputy commissioner of Police has blasted the state of Bermuda law enforcement, and charged the service has been “diluted” by civilians in positions of authority while supervising officers should have the power to discipline subordinates arbitrarily, should they not follow proper procedure.

Progressive Labour Party candidate Wayne Perinchief also said Police should start a recruitment drive for middle-aged people with basic literacy and reasonable fitness who could enter the service at the constable level, without the prospect of promotion.

“There is the need for constables who may not want to be inspector or sergeant. We need a mix of bright young cadets and more mature constables who just want to do the policing role on the beat. I've spoken to people who would fill this role.”

He said: “They have raised the age limit but they have not seriously considered mature people. They could be the core and backbone of the constabulary. Young kids would respect them. Right now we have a highly educated constabulary core many of whom are pining for promotion and often want to be top dog. Many of them see things through rose-tinted glasses and don't understand the utilitarian side of people.”

Mr. Perinchief also said he disagreed with the policy of putting civilians in positions such as human resources. He said the policy was begun by former Police Commissioner Colin Coxall in order to “get rid of the top-heavy supervisory organ in order to empower the lower ranks”.

“We need to have a group that is disciplined and bound. There is a policing culture and over the years I've seen a dilution of the credibility of the Police. Things are not too good as a result of putting civilians in roles of authority over the Police. Policemen should judged their own peer group.”

He added that he thought the service's watchdog body, the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), was hampered in its task of investigating Police misconduct by civilians who made complaints but did not follow through on them.

“In my experience, what happens when these complaints are made is that witnesses are often either reluctant or in some instances unavailable.

“People would make a comPeople would make a complaint in the heat of the moment because one of their siblings got arrested, and after process got started they would not be available. Now, civilians have learned that if they've been arrested, one way of frustrating the investigation is to make allegations against the Police. Nine out of ten those complaints aren't even followed up by the people making them.”

The PCA's chairman and deputy chairman resigned last summer after they said the body was not being able to fulfil its mandate due to cumbersome rules and the lack of an oversight role.

Mr. Perinchief said superior officers within the force should have powers to reprimand subordinates for procedural infractions.

“The disciplinary code is well written. If officers were given the power to discipline the men arbitrarily, and when I say that I mean give them suspensions, reductions in pay or reprimands, then we wouldn't have the mess we have today. The powers of supervising officers were stripped from them under the previous UBP government.

“There was a time when the sergeant was the beginning and the end of the supervisory chain and he was backed up. At one time, the buck stopped right with the sergeant. An army needs a proper ranks structure and after all the Police was fashioned after paramilitary organisations.”

Currently, the power to discipline officers rests solely in the hands of the Police Commissioner.