Bermudian prosecutors will be sent to the UK and Canada for training on gang cases, the Director of Public Prosecutions has revealed.

"We're currently looking closely at the whole area of gangs. We're lining up, at the moment, one of our Bermudian Crown counsel to go on secondment to the UK to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)," explained Rory Field.

"We're also in the early stages of lining up another one of our Bermudian Crown counsel to go on a secondment in Vancouver with their anti-gang unit."

The prosecutor sent to the UK will spend time at the London headquarters of the CPS, where they will learn from a top lawyer who deals with the most complex and serious cases.

"We have to be proactive in our approach to learning new skills to deal with things like gangs. There was very successful FBI-led training at the beginning of the year for the Police, and a large number of our staff attended," added Mr. Field.

His staff have also learned more about gangs through the International Association of Prosecutors, and the issue will be covered when the association hosts its first-ever North America and Caribbean regional conference in Bermuda next month.

Mr. Field outlined the training initiatives during a wide-ranging interview to mark the beginning of his second three-year term of office.

"In the time between when I arrived and now, there really has been quite a large increase in the amount of gun crime, which is obviously of enormous concern to everybody who lives in Bermuda," noted Mr. Field, who took up his post in September 2007.

"Therefore, we are making sure the department has the capacity to fairly and effectively prosecute the cases which come before it in relation to this. Certainly at the moment we are well-placed to deal with that."

Mr. Field wants his department to be the "gold standard" in the region — and cited the witness care unit set up last year as an example of how that is being achieved.

"I think we've got a unit operating now which is better than anything operating within the other island jurisdictions, and we certainly have a commitment to witness care going into the future," he said.

While the unit assists witnesses with information and support during the court process, additional measures are being put in place to ensure their physical safety.

The Justice Protection Bill passed over the summer allows for witnesses to give testimony anonymously in some cases, and to be relocated abroad where necessary.

Mr. Field said the bill is not yet operative, and it is too early to go into details. He declined to comment on reports that witnesses have already been sent overseas in some cases.

However, he said his department is making preparations for the responsibilities it will have under the new legislation.

"Certainly that, looking over the next year or so, is going to be an important development which requires quite a lot of consideration, and indeed training, to ensure that it works efficiently and effectively," he commented.

Mr. Field pledged when he took on the role that his eventual successor will be Bermudian. He remains confident that will happen, noting that several members of staff have been promoted under his tenure and sent overseas for training.

Two weeks ago, he was elected to the executive committee of the International Association of Prosecutors.

"We've used that organisation to train our staff, we've had several of our staff attending their conferences and gaining greater international experience," he said.

In the past year Mr. Field has also been elected to the ten-member development board of the global prosecutors' e-crime network, which aims to combat cyber crime.

"We have positioned the prosecutions [department] of Bermuda to be extremely active, and extremely networked, which I believe given the sophistication of Bermuda is the position it should be in," he said.