Bermuda Police have accepted an invitation to compete alongside 50 other Police Departments in the US Secret Service Soccer Club's third annual "Stop The Violence'' Indoor Tournament in Washington D.C. next month.

The charitable event, to be held at American University on March 21 and 22, will benefit DC Scores, a charity which "inspires and promotes creativity, academic achievement, community involvement and athleticism among Urban youth through soccer and creative academic workshops,'' according to a statement.

Bermuda Police will send an 18-member team to the tournament, which will involve 52 Police Departments from all over the United States and Canada and as far away as Croatia, Italy and Germany.

About half of the teams competing will be coming to Bermuda in September when Bermuda Police will host the 19th annual North American Police Soccer Championships.

The PoIice team went to that tournament last year and began planning to stage the event this year, with abut 20 teams expected from overseas.

"I think we will end up with abut 400 people,'' said organiser Cal Smith.

The teams from Bermuda include the Bermuda Police and Reserves and HM Prisons, with Bermuda Police also planning to enter a women's team.

The round-robin tournament will fall into four categories, recreational, over 35s, female and competitive and will see teams playing matches twice a day at three venues, Shelly Bay, Police Field and Bernard Park. The Police team from Vancouver are the defending champions of the competitive division.

"We got a lot of support from the Fire Department, who can't play because it's for law enforcement only, but they will be volunteering assistance through ambulance and man power,'' explained Smith.

Support has also been generated from various corporate sponsors.

The visiting teams will be housed at the Belmont and Hamilton Princess hotels.

Teams that have so far confirmed their participation are the York Regional Police women, Los Angeles Police Department's women's team, Seattle Police women, US Secret Service, Vancouver Police women and men and Abbotsford Police Department in British Colombia.