The Bermuda Industrial Union yesterday blasted Government's decision to allow non-Bermudians to join the Police.

BIU president Derrick Burgess said: "The Bermuda Industrial Union has learned that the Government of Bermuda has made drastic changes to the recruitment policies for Police personnel which, in our opinion, is detrimental to Bermuda and its people.

"Indeed, it was with horror that this Union learned that Government made this decision recently.''.

Earlier this week, Labour, Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Quinton Edness announced the plan to bring the Police Service up to strength while speeding up and reducing the cost of the recruitment process.

He revealed that 30 new recruits were set to begin training but only 24 of them were Bermudian. The other six were spouses of Bermudians and non-Bermudian residents, marking the first time that they have been allowed to join.

The new policy allows for only 25 percent of a recruitment intake to be non-Bermudian. Applicants must have been residents for at least two years and will be employed on a five-year contract, said Mr. Edness.

"The end result is that the Government of the day openly encourages the foreign work force to directly compete against locals within their own community,'' said Mr. Burgess.

He said if the decision was based on making recruitment cheaper by recruiting within the Bermudian community then the Police cadet programme should be resumed. This programme was shut down last year.

Mr. Burgess also drew attention to a specific example of a non-Bermudian who had found work through the recruitment plan.

"The immediate result is that a young, non-Bermudian waitress has now been given a position on the force. Is Government inviting people to our Country under the pretence of serving one job, only then to be given prime Government employment?'' Mr. Burgess said the BIU believed Government was determined to displace Bermudians in their own Country.

If this was not the case, he continued, then why was Government giving these recruits five year contracts "that will ultimately lead to more persons applying for status based on their number of years of residence in the Country''.

However Mr. Edness said Bermudians were wanted for the service and steps were being taken to encourage and enable them to join. There were a number of young Bermudians who had the potential to make excellent Police officers, but lack the academic requirements, he said.

The Police were finalising the details of a programme that would provide the academic training that would enable these young Bermudians to meet the entry level requirements for the Police Service.

But Mr. Burgess added: "If Government is sincerely interested in Bermudians accepting positions on the Police force, then perhaps they should review and correct the problem of the high turn-over of Bermudians in that sector.''