Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith yesterday moved to reassure the community after claims that lack of officers and poor morale and sickness were leaving the Island short of cover.

Mr. Smith admitted that Bermuda Police was down a number of officers, but said a recruitment course was in progress, and a campaign to recruit new officers, both locally and from overseas, was underway.

But he denied there was a big low morale issue, although he said some areas of the force were worse than others.

He said while there were 22 officers either on long-term sickness, extended light duties or on suspension, he was unable to release figures or say whether sick leave generally was up.

He said the service should have 436 officers, but its current strength was 417, although ten of those were on a foundation course and were not operational.

"Clearly the Service can operate more efficiently the closer we are to 100 percent strength," he added,

"As a result, a number operational and support positions are not filled right now because of the current resource shortage.

"These current shortages, which we forecast to be short-term, have occurred when there have been additional demands placed upon us in the form of protracted and or high profile investigations. As a result, officers have been redeployed from their current operational positions to the Commercial Crime Department and the Serious Crime Unit to deal with complex investigations in those areas."

Mr. Smith said since the start of 2000, 106 officers had left the service for a variety of reasons.

He said the attrition rate was slightly higher than in the years previously, coupled with greater difficulty in recruiting new officers.

But he also said the force had to compete with other employers for the available pool of Bermudian talent, and when higher salaries and more sociable hours were on offer in the business sector, it was difficult to attract or keep officers.

Mr. Smith admitted that when overseas officers finished their three-year contracts next summer, it would add to the resource problem.

However, he said if sufficient officers were not brought in before then, then they may be given extended contracts, where they have permission from their Police Commissioners back home.

He admitted that forces all over the world were having similar staffing issues, such as Jamaica, which is 1,100 officers short, eight of which are in Bermuda.

He said: "It's true that officers are with three-year contracts, but final determination of whether they can have a contract after that has still yet to be made. Contracts start to end in June 2003. It has been discussed with the Minister, but ultimately, the decision rests with Cabinet."

Labour and Home Affairs Minister Terry Lister said last night that extending officers' contracts was a last resort.

He said: "Our preference would be to bring in brand new officers, with brand new training and brand new skills."

However, one officer, who did not wish to be named, said much of the force's problems stemmed from poor morale, which led to high rates of sickness.

He said: "People are just calling in sick all the time. Some just don't show up - they don't even call. "Morale is very low. People don't feel as though there is any leadership. The people at the top are not seen in the divisions and by the officers. The issue of morale needs to be dealt with. That is the problem."

The lack of resources have led to claims that on some occasions, there has only been one two-man response car to cover the whole East End of the Island during the early hours.

However, on one occasion recently, The Royal Gazette was told there was only one two-man car available to cover the whole Island during the night.

That was disputed by Police spokesman Dwayne Caines yesterday.