Dear Sir/Madam,

I am currently a serving officer back in the United Kingdom and read with interest the article in The Royal Gazette about a number of officers not having their contracts renewed.

I was fortunate enough to serve with the Bermuda Police Service between 1988 and 1993 and I have very fond memories of my time on the island. I was one of the unfortunate officers from overseas (Barbados and the UK) who faced a similar move at the end of our contracts and I had to leave the island in July 1993.

I was fortunate enough to secure employment upon my return but did go through a tremendous amount of stress as I left with nothing guaranteed.

The matter was made worse when I subsequently found out that a number of those officers who were “let go” were quickly re-employed as if there was a realisation that the cuts were too detrimental to the service.

I can only wish the best of luck to those officers now going through this process and I hope that they do not find the situation any more stressful than it needs to be.

The police service over here has had many thousands of officers cut and there are further cuts to be made in the coming years — it would seem to be a worldwide issue.

Yours sincerely,

JOHN SWEETING