Bermuda Police Service detectives are taking part in a sexual assault course this week, which will lay the groundwork for a specified sexual assault unit.

The officers are learning how to interview both victims and the suspects in sex crimes.

Heading the course is Det. Rod Russo, of the sex crimes unit in the Tulsa Oklahoma Police Department. He has specialised in sex crimes for six years, but has been in the service for 15 years.

He has dealt with more than 450 sexual assault crimes and said that the course he was teaching was the beginning level, but encouraged officers to further their study in the field.

?To be honest, it?s not for everybody ? you have to have a passion for it and a way to calm your rage when you are dealing with a suspect,? he said.

?But at the end of the day I go home, but I have also taken a criminal off the streets.?

Mr. Russo talked about the four different types of rapist and how to interview them.

He said: ?It is important to know how to interview the victim, because she will tell you what sort of suspect you are looking for.?

During the lecture, the officers watched a digital video interview with a rape suspect and it led to the officers calling for video taping facilities within the Bermuda Police Service.

Two officers said interviews would run a lot smoother if they were taped in their entirety.

?At the moment we have to write down everything ? every word that a suspect says,? said one officer.

The suspect in the video tape was a normal looking white male, who did not have a criminal record and this was the profile they were looking for. But over a four-hour interview, with breaks and a lot of lies, he admitted that he had sexually assaulted the victim.

Mr. Russo said: ?It is important to accept and build on small truths.?

The officers said they were finding the course enlightening. They now felt that they could deal with some of the sex assault cases.

D.c. Carl Neblett said: ?If we could interview the way that the interview was conducted in the film it would cut our time by a third.?

?I am finding the course very informative,? said W.D.c. Euline Nurse.