Police have set up a 24 hour hotline for reporting suspicious packages, as part of a tightening up of procedures in the wake of a rash of suspicious package emergencies in recent days.

And from now on, not every call will get the full emergency response treatment - Police will now make a determination of the appropriate level of response before sending out the troops.

"There's nothing to fear but fear itself," said Premier Jennifer Smith, quoting British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. "There are, however, some very real possibilities."

At a press conference yesterday attended by Governor Thorold Masefield, the Premier and key officials, including the Commissioner of Police and Fire Chief Reg Rawlins, the public was assured that Bermuda's risk of being targeted by anthrax was low and the Island was prepared to deal with packages deemed threatening or suspicious.

This week alone emergency services have had to deal with six such calls, bringing the total since the September 11 attacks to 11.

None of the suspicious packages turned out to be real threats, but one - sent to St. Brendan's Hospital - is apparently a malicious hoax.

It was pointed out during the conference that all of the real anthrax emergencies in the United States involved high profile journalists or politicians.

Governor Masefield announced that the Governor's Council had met to consider the "number of recent requests for the emergency services" in connection with suspicious mail.

"Council heard that the overall threat to Bermuda from a chemical or biological terrorist attack was technically low," he said. "They were also told that hoaxes are more likely than real attacks and may increase in number."

The authorities have been in contact with, and received advice from overseas agencies, including British and American security agencies.

All of the emergency services have evaluated their ability and readiness to deal with the incidents, he added. And the British Army has lent the fire department additional protective suits.

The hotline (299-4243) will be staffed 24 hours a day as of today so people can make reports.

The caller will be taken through a series of questions which are consistent with postal service guidelines for handling suspicious packages.

Each call will be allocated one of three colour coded categories - green, yellow or red, with red bringing the highest response from the emergency services.

Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith said that he hoped, and expected, most of the calls will fall into the "yellow" category which meant that a bit of extra caution is required in dealing with a suspicious package.

A "Green" response would mean normal mail for which no emergency response is required.

"Red" response will be activated for highly suspicious packages and bring out fire service personnel walking around slowly in space suits, evacuations, police cordons, curious bystanders and maybe even a bomb disposal unit officer or two.

"In the unlikely event that it should be necessary Bermuda's medical services are well prepared to deal with situations that may arise," said the Premier.

"However, it is important for a number of reasons that we use our resources very effectively."

The Central Policy Unit task force has been established as a policy coordination committee to deal with the economic impact of September 11 attacks on the United States has been expanded by several members, the Premier announced.

The primary purpose of the group is to ensure that resources are used effectively, he said.

"We think that this is a particularly good move because the Central Policy Unit is particularly well placed to foster cross ministry initiatives... The group will be charged with developing a strategic response and making available timely information. Government is taking measured and prudent steps to ensure public safety and provide the best advice that we can."

Dr. Edward Schultz, head of King Edward VII Memorial Hospital's emergency department, said that if anyone did become infected with anthrax, it would likely be people returning to the Island who have been exposed overseas, or people from diverted aircraft or ships which have been subject to an attack.

He said appropriate steps had been taken to deal with such situations, adding: "We want you to know that this has been well thought out, well planned out and we have the knowledge and equipment to respond if we were required to do so.

"We also have the capability to check for anthrax in our hospital," Dr. Schultz said, but he stressed the possibility of Bermuda being a primary target for an attack is "virtually non-existent".