Police expect specialist officers from abroad to be seconded to the island within three months to help tackle violent gun crime, the Commissioner of Police has said.

During an update yesterday on the fatal shooting of Janae Minors, Darrin Simons said that more than ten known gangs were likely to be operating in Bermuda, with potentially 200 in their ranks.

Engaging the Emergency Powers Act 1968, which increases police powers under extreme circumstances, has not been ruled out.

Mr Simons said that secondments would “take three-plus months”.

“I would like it yesterday, but there are some logistical pieces.

“It is not a simple matter to just bring resources in. There are some logistics that need to be sorted out. Companies need to be contracted, there need to be places for them to stay and all of those hurdles. We will have the assistance to do it, but it does take some time.”

Mr Simons said that some of the island’s “probably 11 or so gangs” were “historical”.

“It is a complex question in policing terms because we will look at gang leaders, gang members and associates. I would say if you look at the member and leader categories, we have an estimated 200 individuals across all of those gangs.

“It is not as clear as it was [from 2010 to 2014] when you had Parkside and 42, and you knew where they lived, you knew exactly who the people were and the routes they would take.

“There is some work for us to do to develop that information and be in a similar position as we were historically.”

Asked whether he believed that the island was in crisis, warranting the use of emergency powers, he said: “Clearly this is troubling. Clearly we have been on a trajectory that Bermuda does not want to be on and we want to shift that.

“When we look at other Overseas Territories and other islands, we are nowhere near that kind of space. But given our history and our peace-loving nature, this is shocking to the system and we need to get on a different path.”

“[The Emergency Powers Act] has not been engaged. When we look at the total range of options that we could deploy, certainly that will be part of the discussion.

“I don’t think we are there at this point in time, when you look at other jurisdictions and the deployment of emergency powers. There are worse circumstances.”

He added: “There is an effort to deploy armed resources to areas and people, so that is ongoing.

“There is the armed resource capability, but also the general unarmed capability which delivers the lion’s share of our suppression in gang-targeting efforts, in addition to covert resources.”

Mr Simons, who is the chairman of the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police, pointed to continuing dialogue with commissioners in the region but added that discussions are also being held with the British law enforcement adviser of the Bermuda Police Service.

“Those conversations are quite advanced,” he said.

“We are looking at the probability of some form of overseas assistance to augment investigative capability, analytical capability and technological pieces that the police might be able to use to enhance our surveillance capability.

“The Premier has made it absolutely clear that the needs of the organisation will be met.”

He said that about 44 additional officers would be sought in the next financial year.

A Governor’s Council was held on September 2 after discussions with David Burt, the Premier, to tackle internal security and policing issues, with a focus on gun violence.

Mr Simons said that there had been wide-ranging discussions including legislative changes, increasing support in terms of staffing, additional resources deployed to recruiting, equipment and overseas assistance.

“The aim was to galvanise our response and look at the longer-term perspective,” he said.

Another Governor’s Council is scheduled.

Mr Simons was pressed on why the CCTV cameras overlooking the area of the attack this week had not been online to capture images — not least given a double gun murder close to the scene in August.

He expressed regret but added: “Putting up a camera in the city is a complex issue.

“Now we have two camera sites located either side of Dundonald Street and Court Street. They are operational at this moment.

“The real tragedy of this is they were being put online as that incident [on Tuesday] unfolded.”

Mr Simons said that sufficiently trained operators were on hand to monitor and respond to CCTV footage, but said the training of officers was continuing.

The commissioner said it was too early in the police investigation to ascribe a motive to the shooting.

He said that Ms Minors was believed to be the intended target and “clearly, there will be reasonable lines of enquiry”.

He said: “Whenever you see a shooting, 99 times out of 100 that is going to be a gang-connected individual and it is going to be a result of ongoing tensions in the community.

“Sadly, you can expect reprisals. This is something that we have seen in our 15-year history of this kind of event.”

He also noted that the crime occurred at approximately the same hour, and on the same day of the week, as the Court Street double shooting.

Asked whether safety was at stake in North Hamilton, Mr Simons said: “I still think that Bermuda is a very safe jurisdiction. To date, these firearms incidents are connected around gang-involved individuals.

“There are some elements about this particular incident that give us pause. However, Bermuda is still a safe community.”

Police said no evidence suggested that anyone other than Ms Minors was in the salon when the gunman entered. They would not say how many shots were fired.

Mr Simons’s message to the perpetrator was stark.

“We are coming after you,” he said.

“We are not sparing any expense or opportunity to bring offenders to justice, and I would quite frankly encourage you to just turn yourselves in.”

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