Police are pushing for an increase in the retirement age after seeing a fifth of the force leave in the last two years.

Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith said 100 officers had either resigned, retired or died in that period ? which amounts to almost 22 percent of the established strength.

Officers at Chief Inspector level or below have to retire at 55 but Mr. Smith said Police were calling for a change.

He told : "We have advised the Home Affairs and Labour Ministry and we are aware a policy review is being done."

However any change will require a change in the Pension Act.

Mr. Smith said it was normal to lose about 32-38 officers every year but this had increased as both long term and short term recruits from Britain reached the end of their contracts.

"We had a number of recruits from the UK in the early to mid 1970s who are reaching their 30 years."

Meanwhile there were British recruits reaching the end of their contracts and returning while Bermudian recruits were leaving after doing five to eight years to go back to college to help them pursue lucrative private sector jobs.

He said he believed officers got a good deal but were still tempted by better offers elsewhere.

There was also an increased number of fatalities which led to the loss of officers lamented Mr. Smith. He said the force was working hard to recruit locally and overseas. In recent years Police numbers have risen to an established strength of 468 officers plus 107 civilian staff and 120 reserve Police. With 21 full-time officers per square mile Bermuda would seem to be heavily Policed but Commissioner Jonathan Smith said the numbers were less impressive than they seemed.

He said the manpower statistics didn't match the reality as 24-hour manning split availability between four shifts.

At any given time ten percent would be on leave and another ten percent would be unavailable through sickness, injury or suspension. "The number is further reduced through court commitments, overseas courses, local courses.

Between 45 and 70 officers go away every year for overseas training and conferences.

"What we are left with is having to manage the watches with the available personnel."

He said there were 115 separate job descriptions for Police officers. "That gives an idea of the complexity and multitude of functions they have to perform."

Bermuda does not have the luxury of calling on neighbouring forces at short notice, said Mr. Smith, but Bermuda officers were called away for investigations overseas to help them in their roles here. A recent community survey called for more visible Policing.

"I don't dispute that. People feel better when they see Police. What we are working hard on now is getting officer strength back up to established figures."

He said the irony was that more officers were being put on to cover busy nights which made them less visible in the day to the law-abiding public who then complained there were no Police about. Since 2001 the Police Support Unit had made more than 3,100 arrests in night sweeps of problem neighbourhoods.

Asked if it was time for an audit of Police roles Mr. Smith said there had been numerous reviews of deployment including a full audit in 1999 and a realignment of the divisions in 2001 which boosted operational deployment.

An inspection by British Police followed in 2003, while another inspection was likely next year or the year after.

He said up to 80 percent of the service was now in front line positions of some sort while every force needed officers in admin and support.

And he said officers in intelligence roles were vital to get the best out of colleagues at the sharp end.

This summer Mr. Smith will be requesting funds for at least three new intelligence analysts with the latest software to help target locations and individuals. "We are getting thousands upon thousands of strands of information coming in. Now what I want to do is make sure we fully exploit it all."

Mr. Smith was asked if it was necessary to have three officers in a single plea court session but he said they were performing a security function.

"We have a responsibility to work in courts. Plea court is one of the high volume sessions for the court and the officers there have a combination of security functions and process functions to make sure individuals supposed to be in court are there."

Work continues on devising a new shift system to boost manpower at peak periods and appease officers who hate the current system which has them working seven days in a row and gives them little adjustment time until the next set of seven shifts start.

A new system could see officers working longer shifts but enjoying more rest time.

But Mr. Smith said it was not easy to get a system which didn't leave manpower stretched at key times and then incur overtime costs.

"I support a new shift system. Without a doubt we have a shift system which needs to be modernised."

Talks have continued for years but Mr. Smith was not confident a recommendation would come this year.

Mr. Smith, 46, did not directly address claims that he will retire before his contract expires in April 2007.

But he did point out a clause in his contract allowed him to quit early and he said he has done more than 25 years' service. "I have made it clear to the Governor that I was not inclined to take an additional contract. I do have aspirations to work in the private sector."