GOVERNMENT’S treatment of the island’s police service has been condemned as “embarrassing” and “amazing” after pay talks between the two parties broke down.The stalled salary negotiations come just days after it was revealed that plans for a replacement police station in Hamilton have hit further delays — six years after promises for a new station were first made.

The Bermuda Police Association held an emergency meeting this week to discuss the two longstanding issues.

And it is now calling for a meeting with Public Safety Minister David Burch so that an agreement can be thrashed out.

BPA chairman Carl Neblett confirmed that pay negotiations for 2005-2007 had broken down and that the matter was likely to go to arbitration.

It is understood officers are requesting an increase of around two per cent more than what is on the table.

And he also said his members had been left completely in the dark over the status of a new station. In February, Government announced that building work on the new facility would begin this month.

“As we provide the necessary resources to the Bermuda Police Service we also acknowledge and thank them for the job they perform,” Finance Minister Paula Cox said at the time.

However, the Victoria Street site is still derelict and Government this week was unable to confirm if the tendering process has been completed or when construction will start.

“The Hamilton Police Station is the number one issue,” Det. Con. Neblett said.

“We have been made so many promises over the years. In 2004, the Minister, Randy Horton, promised us that ground would be broken that year. That year went by and nothing happened.

“In 2005, the same promise was made and again, nothing happened. Then in 2006, the same promise was made and nothing happened.

“Now we’re in 2007, and a promise was made that ground would be broken in June. We’re now at the end of June and — nothing’s happened. We would just like to know where the stalling is coming from because we have no idea what is going on.”

The existing police station was condemned in an independent study, released last month, which discovered high counts of mould throughout the Parliament Street building.

That report followed criticisms last year from an H.M. Inspectorate of Constabulary team which claimed that the building contained so many hazards that officers were at risk of serious injury.

“Basically, the current station was meant to be a temporary location back in 1978,” Det. Con. Neblett said.

“It is totally obsolete, yet all we’ve seen since then is the usual Band-Aid solutions such as putting a bit of paint on the walls. Two years ago inspectors said it was the worst police station in the western hemisphere.

“For a country as affluent as Bermuda, that’s an embarrassment.”

Det. Con. Neblett said that, because the police are ruled to be an essential service, industrial action is not an option officers can consider.

“We really don’t have any bargaining powers, he said.

“We seem to go through this cycle every few years and I think it shows that police officers are not looked at in the way that we should be.

“We are a special group of people who are regarded as an essential service, yet it’s amazing that, when it comes to pay negotiations, we can be treated in this way.”