a Shadow Minister insisted yesterday.

And United Bermuda Party Home Affairs and Public Safety spokesman Michael Dunkley predicted the current on-Island recruitment drive would not produce enough recruits or fast enough to cope with a mounting manpower crisis in the service.

Mr. Dunkley said he agreed with the Mowbray Report into the Police force, which admitted overseas recruitment was vital to keeping numbers up.

But he claimed the ruling Progressive Labour Party was unable to reach a consensus on the political hot potato of signing up officers from abroad -- leading to a stalemate.

Mr. Dunkley said: "If you look at Bermuda's economy, it's booming. There are more jobs to go around than we have qualified Bermudians to fill them.

"And the Police Service is feeling the same pinch every single employer is feeling. That makes it vitally important to bring in officers from overseas as soon as possible.'' And Mr. Dunkley added that -- even if the recruitment drive is successful -- there will be a time-lag before trainees are fit to pound the beat.

He said: "That makes it doubly important we recruit overseas. But we don't have to bring them in without any parameters on how long they can stay here.'' Mr. Dunkley said Bermuda Industrial Union leader Derrick Burgess had come out against overseas recruitment while Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Paula Cox did not rule out officers from abroad.

He claimed: "They're finding it very difficult to get a consensus on their side -- and that is causing problems.'' Mr. Dunkley added he was "not surprised'' that the pay and conditions dispute with Government had been sent to arbitration.

He said: "It's something which has appeared to be imminent for some time now.

"And hopefully this will come up with a solution which will be fair to both parties. I look forward to the arbitration team finding a solution so we can move on.'' But Mr. Dunkley said he found Government claims that there was only one issue outstanding hard to believe.

He added: "I haven't been involved from the Government side, obviously, so I can't say exactly what's gone on.

"But I have said publicly for four or five months now that if we look at the bigger picture, Government has not moved forward on this.

"I realise they have a lot on their platter -- there are a lot of important issues.

"But this is also an important issue and it should have been moved forward expeditiously.'' Mr. Dunkley said $50,000 was set aside in the Budget for Police recruitment overseas.

Editorial: Page 4 MP: Recruit overseas And he insisted it should be spent as soon as possible.

He added: "The Police have to take a certain standard of education and that makes it more difficult for them.

"And it's a pipe dream if we think that national recruitment will solve our problems -- it won't.'' Michael Dunkley Graphic file name: DUNNKER