Bahamian Police sergeant Naomi McPhee headed back home yesterday after spending time on the Island to pick up tips on the concept of CrimeStoppers.

The Bahamas launched its CrimeStoppers organisation at the end of last year, but Sgt. McPhee wanted to spend time in Bermuda to see how the crime-busting agency was operated here.

She spent time with Bermuda's CrimeStoppers' co-ordinator Alex MacDonald and met with numerous agencies to discover how the Bahamas could get the optimim use out of its new operation.

Among things on her agenda this week was accompanying Mr. MacDonald aboard a cruise ship for a crew briefing on drug interdiction, meeting with the CrimeStoppers civilian board, as well as the office staff.

Like Bermuda, all calls to the Bahamas agency are dealt with by the Miami CrimeStoppers office to ensure the utmost confidentiality. And like Bermuda, she said already the operation was proving to be a huge success.

Just three hours after the official launch of the agency, it received its first call from a member of the public, and since then there have been 100 calls and 17 connected arrests, including one for murder.

Sgt. McPhee said: "I'm certainly going back to the Bahamas with everything that I have picked up here.

"It is very well organised in Bermuda.

"In the Bahamas, we have the same kind of problems and crime. I would say drugs is our biggest problem."

But Sgt. McPhee said not everything between Bermuda and the Bahamas was the same. She added: "I was surprised that the cruise ships were so close to the road here. And I was really surprised by the all of the motorbikes."

Mr. MacDonald said only a handful of the Caribbean islands had introduced CrimeStoppers, but he was hoping that within the next year the British Virgin Islands, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Trinidad and Tobago would be on line. He said: "Our directors in Bermuda have agreed to pass on our by-laws to these islands so they can use them as a model to develop their own boards.

"Our hope is to eventually see all of the islands on line."