One year into her job, Director of the Public Prosecutions Vinette Graham-Allen believes she has put in solid foundations for Bermudianising her department, despite the loss of Principal Crown Counsel Juan Wolffe.

Mr. Wolff has just been appointed magistrate and his departure provides a headache for those hoping to find a local replacement for Ms Graham-Allen when she leaves in June 2007.

She said: ?(Government?s) Human Resources (department) is working arduously with me to fill those vacant positions. I am hoping all the staffing issues will be settled by the end of the year.?

Four posts are vacant while the departure of Mr. Wolffe to the Magistrate?s bench will also create a fifth opening.

?At the moment we only have one local applicant,? Ms Graham-Allen explained. ?All the other applicants are from overseas.?

The department has four expatriate counsel including herself but Ms Graham-Allen says they are being paired with junior Bermudian counsel who are being given exposure to Supreme Court trials.

She said Bermudian staff had mapped out where they wanted to be by 2008 and were being helped towards those goals.

?With the succession plan comes training and development,? Ms Graham-Allen explained, adding that prosecutors are getting managerial training as well as legal training.

?We are developing and enhancing the skills they actually need in court such as cross examination and re-examination. As part of that training you will see in each court, as far as possible, a senior and a junior.?

Managerial training now conducted by human resources will be augmented with staff being sent overseas to a civil service college.

?It is anticipated there will be exchange programmes and/or work experience for all Bermudian counsel in other jurisdictions. The logistics of that is being worked out.?

Although clearly enjoying the challenge her year at the helm has not been easy.

?One of the challenges I faced was the opposition implicit in building a department. I faced challenges from inside and outside.?

At times she has embarrassed about not having the staff to man all the courts but she hopes by the end of the year to have all vacancies filled.

She hopes full staffing compliment will help reduce the backlog of cases but notes that shortages on the defence bar can also hold things up.

?My goal is by 2007 we have reduced the backlog or we don?t have a backlog at all. It can be achieved.?

Bermuda?s legal system is currently under the spotlight with Attorney General Larry Mussenden suggesting changes throughout.

Mrs. Graham-Allen said witness protection was crucial because of the collapse of cases after people changed their mind about going ahead with a trial.

?In a small society people are fearful. There are ways and means of addressing it.?

She would like long form preliminary inquiries to be abolished to streamline the process and reduce the chance for witness intimidation.

?I would like to see us move to a stage that England has ? where serious cases go straight to Supreme Court for trial.?

She has already hosted two conferences and hopes to run more but is concentrating on training at the moment.

Ms Graham-Allen is set to join the executive committee of the International Association of Prosecutors and is working to get her department affiliation so staff can attend conferences, such as on witness protection.

She is also working to set up Bermuda and Caribbean Prosecutors Association with a launch date set for next year.

?It is in keeping with my goal to train prosecutors in the Caribbean and in Bermuda. Whatever is happening internationally ? Bermuda will not be left behind.?

When she leaves her post she hopes to prosecute war criminals in the European Court.

It will give her experience should there be a need to prosecute war criminals in the Caribbean region.

Juan Wolffe?s appointment to the magistrate?s court bench, announced through a printed Government notice last Friday, came just two days after former DPP Khamisi Tokunbo was also appointed magistrate and means the lower court now has a full compliment of staff.