July 3, 2003

Dear Sir,

I write in reference to an article concerning the Police Operation known as Cleansweep, which appeared in The Royal Gazette on July 30.

In this article the Public Safety Minister Terry Lister is critical of Operation Cleansweep and rules out another similar type of operation. In an effort to be accurate I would like the public to be aware of the following key points.

Cleansweep was an operation that was created to deal with street level drug dealing. It was an operation to try and improve the ‘quality of life' for the communities who live in areas were street level drug dealing is a daily fact of life.

Cleansweep was never an operation that was designed to target the ‘Mr. Bigs' that Minister Lister speaks about. Cleansweep may well have been used as a ‘stepping stone' to target the ‘Mr. Bigs'; however, the initial phase was pure and simple to try address street level drugs dealing.

No single Police operation or initiative can ever stop drug dealing, in fact most hope to try and disrupt or displace such activities. The issues that arise out of drug abuse are deep-seated social problems, that no Police Service, will be able to address in isolation. Operations such as Cleansweep are only one part of an overall effort to divert persons away from drug dealing and drug abuse.

It is a fact that when the costing of Cleansweep was compared or benchmarked to other jurisdiction it fell within very acceptable levels concerning the end cost. Such operations are by nature expensive, however, it is difficult to put a monetary value on an improvement of a community's ‘quality of life'. Persons who lived in affected areas were very grateful for the efforts of the Police in trying to improve their neighbourhoods. To them it was money well spent as it helped to improve their ‘quality of life'.

No one has ever claimed that Cleansweep was the only solution to deal with street level drug dealing or crime. Undercover operations are only one initiative, among a host of others, that are available to the Police and the community when trying to deal with issues such as drug dealing, crime and disorder.

However, what is clear, is that such areas and problems need to be continually monitored and initiatives need to be implemented in further efforts to break the ongoing cycles of crime and disorder. Something that is more worthy of a Public Safety Minister's time than making political comments about a five-year-old Police operation.

It is a fact, that Cleansweep was recognised as a policing success by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Bermuda Police Service and indeed other individual Commissioners in other Island jurisdictions. All of whom have the policing expertise, experience and more importantly no political agenda. Their views and comments will always carry far more weight and credence than views expressed by a Minister at the time of an election.

In conclusion, I can offer two reasons why I believe that the Minister has ruled out any future style operations, firstly, under his watch, we have a narcotics detective before the courts faced with charges of conspiracy to Import controlled drugs, hardly attractive to other professional law enforcement organisations, whose support the Police would need, in order to consider running such an operation again.

Secondly, the Minister has stated, in The Royal Gazette article, that ... “newly arriving Police Officers had been used for undercover operations but only for short periods because they soon became known in such a small place.”

It is not very encouraging for officers to become involved in undercover deployments, when it is clear that the current Public Safety Minister has chosen for political gain, to publicise, by way of The Royal Gazette, confidential briefings that he has obviously received concerning Policing initiatives. Such statements can only ever compromise the safety of Police Officers and potentially hamper the success of current and future operations.

With the current state of affairs in mind, the next Cleansweep is likely to be seen on July 24, 2003.

PIGLET OF PROSPECT SQUARE

Devonshire

July 7, 2003

Dear Sir,

I really think it is a joke that people today blame parents for their children's misbehaviour. The first thing people say about the boys sitting on the wall is, “Where are their parents?” When children are fighting or harming each other they say, “Where are the parents?” Who today is able to be a parent? If you are a “lucky” mother you are actually able to be a parent for three months of that child's life. If you are not so “lucky” then maybe you get a month. Fathers don't ever have the chance to be a parent. What happens after three months? Mother has to go back to work so the child spends most of the time with the baby-sitter. The “parents” then get to feed, bathe, read a story and put the child to bed. Unless of course they must go to a second job in order to make ends meet or have to work late at the fist job. Then the child moves on to nursery, primary school and so on, but the “parents” role doesn't change much. There is very little time for interaction with the child and actual raising of a child. You may say well what about the weekend? There is no time then either. If you don't leave the house to work then you must work in the house, washing clothes, cleaning up, doing all the things that are essential but you are too tired to do or can't find time to do during the week.

We can look to other parts of the world that value parenting and see that parents (fathers included) are able to raise their children for at least two years. The experts say that the first three years are the formative years not three months). So what are our children learning in these three years? I would like to see Bermuda stop following America with its violence and crime and follow more peaceful nations. Study what they are doing right and copy that.

Of course there are those people today who can afford to be parents to their children but prefer to have a nanny or send them to the baby sitter because they are pursuing a career or just pursuing their own lives. Why have children if you are not going to invest time in them? The pursuit of the career or your life is great for today but parenting lasts a lifetime and most people will reach a point where they wish they had a better relationship with their children instead of the executive position.

People like to talk about how the old days were relatively crime free and children knew their place. The old days also were a time when parents (usually mother) were able to raise their children and instil those values in them. So since we in this society must blame somebody for anything that goes wrong we will blame the parents for not raising the children right. Maybe one day we will grow up enough as a country and stop looking to blame and start looking at the cause of a problem and work to fix it, especially when the solution is right under your nose.

FED-UP

City of Hamilton

July 5, 2003

Dear Sir,

Thank you to your newspaper for doing an article featuring me, the law student whose “Cash crisis forces student to quit education.” Members of the public have entered the discussion by writing Letters to the Editor and I commend them. Suggestions were made by these following the article of June 25. I responded herewith.

I was born here and attended public school in Bermuda to Bermuda College. I completed an Associate Degree programme at Bermuda College. It was a different discipline than law because the University of Kent law programme had not yet been established. I self-funded my two year course and toward the end won a small financial award to help pay tuition. I worked weekends and summers and made time for community service.

My three year Bachelor of Laws degree programme was therefore completed in its entirety in the United Kingdom. I agree with the comment made by the writer suggesting that I appreciate “how a good education helps.” That is why I left Bermuda to further my studies even with insufficient funds. I studied in a town where foreigners are less than welcome. I was followed when purchasing the essentials by managers I suspect who thought I might steal. I was a “token” on my law course but I adapted. The law school I graduated from is respected in the UK frequently making ranked lists.

Similar to one of the writers, I was much “the survivor” at University. I, too, accepted charity, from start to finish including, borrowing required text books, accepting a meal different from my spaghetti and tomato sauce and carrots, accepting invitations to friends' houses in the UK rather than spend Christmas on the bare campus. I accepted my friends' honestly commenting that my wardrobe was less than desired, the furthest thing from my mind.

Since the tender age of 14, I worked each and every summer. Sometimes I worked three jobs at one time. The true meaning of holiday is obscure to me since my travels have been for educational purposes only. Someone laughed at me the other day when I said, I have not been to Canada. I have taken and paid for small courses too because I know, it is not always the big things that count.

In terms of scholarship and award applications, I know where they are by heart and applied to them on many occasions. I know the banks' policies and terms but find them difficult in my particular circumstances. I have taken out National Guarantee Scheme Loans before despite the high interest rate of 8.25 percent, variable. I have won and accepted small awards with requirements too but never a major scholarship.

Okay, education is not a human right as some fervently argue, but I think man should not interfere with God's purpose, fate, destiny merely for selfish reasons.

My career objective is clear and by focusing on it, it has saved me from the vagaries of life including - drug addiction, crime, violence, pre-mature parenthood and so on. But I hope my story inspires hope in those who have made such choices. Mentoring fellow Bermudians has been a fulfilling time-filler as I like to see Bermudians happy. Community service, a lot of it, also keep me out of trouble.

God is always kept in sight. I value myself and recognise that God loves and knows me better. I serve HIM in spirit and in actions.

Encouragement from those who genuinely care about me is all that I can expect. I suppose, if it was possible, they might lend me the “chunk of change” needed. Life is tough.

Truthfully, I have exhausted the avenues suggested.

It hurts me deeply to make a harsh decision of rejecting a guaranteed place on a one-academic year law course that all lawyers-to-be must take because of financial adversity. The course is open for me to take in London. It particularly devastates me because I truly believed “I am destined to be what I want to be.” My determination will continue to be, I hope, unwavering so that I can reach my destiny.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Southampton

July 10, 2003

Dear Sir,

My purpose in writing is to address Mr. Simons for his letter, dated July 6.

Mr. Simons, unfortunately I am not your nemesis known to the world only as ‘Breath of Fresh Air'. Whether you choose to believe me is beyond my control but I assure you that anything I write will have my name attached to it.

Your submission demonstrated you to be an articulate and thoughtful individual who cares about his fellow Bermudians. Accordingly, I would like to offer a response that is, I hope, equally thought-provoking.

Mr. Simons, you nailed it on the head when you stated that our Island is divided racially. In the same paragraph, you also revealed your current opinions to have been shaped by a history of segregation and prejudice that you were subjected to, specifically by your referral to the Ord Road School incident in 1970.

I make no excuses for those who caused black Bermudian history to have been scarred by a legacy of slavery and segregation and I have nothing but empathy for what you may have suffered personally during your lifetime. As well, I would never be so pretentious as to say that I can ever understand the hardship that you and/or your ancestors may have endured.

Having read your letter, I think I would be correct in surmising that you believe that it has taken 400 years, but a government you feel is truly representative of your race and culture finally came to power five years ago. You believe that the PLP is now working towards serving your best interests. After 400 years of white oppression and refusal to support integration, at long last, you finally have rightful representation.

Now, if I am correct in surmising this, what do you say to me, a young, white Bermudian, when I tell you that I feel like I am no longer being represented fairly by the members of our current government? What if I tell you that the presence of only one white candidate (and a last minute candidate at that) makes me feel like my heritage is being ignored by the PLP, that they do not have my interests at heart? If we are in agreement that it was wrong for you to be misrepresented in the past by government, is it not wrong for the same thing to happen to me? Or are you supportive of the view of an eye for an eye? I have done you no wrong, neither have members of my generation. I cannot speak for any of my ancestors but must I be made to feel misrepresented now as you have in the past? Or would you agree with Gandhi's lesson that ‘An eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind?”

I ask you this because I intend to suggest that whilst you are right in saying that this Island is divided racially, you are wrong to assert that the PLP, the “saviour of black Bermudians” is the answer to this problem. I would put to you that the PLP's overwhelmingly dominant black membership is only fuelling the continuance and magnification of existing racial division. Would you not agree that the UBP candidates are a more accurate representation of the racial diversity of this Island? If we are to strengthen racial integration, does it not make sense to support a government that would represent all races equally, due to the diversity of their members of government?

I can appreciate that you would have problems with what I have just put to you. You made very clear your lack of support for the UBP in your letter. In the past, your concerns about your level of representation by the UBP may well have been completely valid. But, please, try and look at it for a moment from my point of view, a young voter who is just trying to support the integration of all Bermudians from all colours, creeds and codes. How can I not be drawn to the UBP when I see the diversity of their candidates? You might answer me by saying that the PLP has invited white people to join the party but have been met with refusals. Can you prove this to me with names and addresses of those invited? And if you can, what reason would you give for their refusal to join? I would put to you that if you are concerned with integration, you would expect your government to actively try and recruit members from all areas of the racial and cultural community so as to be more representative of Bermuda's diversity. Surely, if the PLP demonstrated an honest intention to diversify, then people from these communities would be encouraged to join the party. Yet, I am not seeing any diversity. As a young voter, this is of great concern to me as I contemplate the future of relations between all Bermudians on our beautiful Island.

I have not written this with the intention of insulting you nor to criticise you for your political affiliations. I welcome any response you might wish to share with me and our fellow Bermudians as I am sure there is much we can talk about.

STEPHEN NOTMAN

Paget