Government will embark on an education and information campaign over the next year to familiarise the public and various parties involved with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE) Bill 2005.

Addressing the Hamilton Rotary Club yesterday, Attorney General Larry Mussenden said due to the major rewrite of policing and procedure that PACE represents, an intensive period of training will be undertaken by stakeholders.

This widespread training is expected to take about a year to 18 months as Government intends PACE to come into full operation by January 1, 2007.

The PACE Bill is about 120 pages and will be debated in Parliament in the upcoming session.

Mr. Mussenden encouraged members of the public to become familiar with PACE and their rights under it.

PACE will govern various areas of the criminal justice system including the stop and search of people suspected of crime, the arrest and detention of suspects, the treatment and questioning of suspects in custody, collection of evidence, taking of samples for testing and DNA analysis, admissibility of evidence in a trial and the admissibility of confession statements in a trial.

Mr. Mussenden told Rotarians that Bermuda's law on theft and dishonesty needed to be modernised since up to a few weeks ago the law was based on what was being stolen.

"This included five years for stealing postal packages, four years for stealing a horse, ass or mule and five years for stealing from a ship in distress. Didn't we do that for a living a few years ago?"

He said the UK enacted its Theft Act in 1968 which has been amended over the years and Bermuda modelled its own theft provisions on the UK version.

As far as the Indictable Offences Amendment Act 2005 was concerned, Mr. Mussenden said several years ago the Legislature enacted the law that allows for video conferencing between the courts and the corrections facilities when accused persons are held on remand.

Even though this system has been used sporadically over the years, for the preliminary hearings in Magistrates' Court and video conferencing to be possible, the accused person and the prosecution have to agree to use of the video conference.

Mr. Mussenden said the new law will remove the option and make it mandatory for video conference facilities to be used for appearances in indictable matters, except when evidence is being taken in court or the accused person has to plead to the indictment.

The equipment has already been installed in Magistrates' Court and will be installed in Supreme Court in the near future.

"This will see a huge reduction in the movement of prisoners between the courts and the corrections facilities," he said.

Mr. Mussenden will be focusing on plea bargaining, a programme to steer first time drug offenders away from the criminal justice system, shutting down crack houses, divorce law, the Jurors Act ? enabling more people to have the opportunity to serve ? and progress the planning for a new Supreme Court complex in Bermuda.