Former Policeman Neville Darrell on Friday told the Serious Crimes Inquiry that more Police needed to get out from behind their desks and "on the beat''.

Now a taxi driver, the former sergeant who retired in 1978 after 19 years service, agreed community policing would be successful, but insisted on the "good deterrence'' of the public seeing a constable on patrol.

Mr. Darrell said the problem with policing in Bermuda was one of "deployment of personnel'' and he "could not see why'' Police with "250 to 300'' officers could not reduce crime.

The maximum legal number of Police under the Constitution is about 430 but the Service is currently below that number.

"The problems are purely a lack of proper deployment of personnel,'' Mr.

Darrell said. "I can fully appreciate that the current Commissioner (Jean-Jacques Lemay) inherited a lot of our policing. I'm really not pointing a finger at a particular person.

"There really is no excuse for not having men on the beat,'' he continued.

"With the concentration of tourists and locals in the City of Hamilton there really is no excuse that you can't find a man on the beat.'' Mr. Darrell also said he saw too many officers driving unmarked cars about the roads on "paid vacations'' and too little walking about the community and giving the Service a human face.

He also criticised politicians using the Service's problems as a political football, citing the recent raid on Westgate Correctional Facility.

"I think that they are very capable of doing their jobs, I think there is too much politicking,'' he said. "I think Police should be allowed to do their jobs.'' Mr. Darrell admitted past problems of recruitment and retention of Bermudian Police officers may have diminished, particularly since days past when "foreigners'' were promoted over Bermudians with more "time in service''.

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