Bermuda's thin blue line, a Shadow Minister claimed yesterday.

And Shadow Home Affairs and Public Safety Minister Michael Dunkley said the use of new overseas officers as tutors for rookie cops -- one of the suggestions of the review -- could have been acted on more than a year ago.

He added: "The report screams exactly what we've been saying for some time -- that manpower is the most critical issue we are facing.

"Now she's got the report she can act on it.'' Ms Cox did not return calls from The Royal Gazette yesterday.

But Mr Dunkley said the report proved that "the level of experience in the force is minimal at best and a lot less than it has been in the past.'' He added: "We have been preaching that message for 15 months, when the Minister indicated she wanted the Commissioner to have a Core Functions Review.

And he said that the lack of veterans on the streets would lead to rising crime -- and possibly more cases thrown out of court because of mistakes in procedure.

Mr. Dunkley said: "The report makes it clear that that has hindered its activities in many areas.

"That's not good because when you do apprehend people who are breaking the law, if you don't do things properly, you won't get charges to stand up in court.

"There are a lot of alarming things in the report -- but nothing that hasn't been said before and could have been acted upon.'' Mr. Dunkley said that -- in order to make the right decisions -- the facts had to be available, but that Police Commissioner Jean Jacques Lemay could have provided vital information earlier.

But he added: "To some extent, the Commissioner of Police could have been able to furnish a lot of the information at an early stage.

"Maybe then, we wouldn't be in the difficult position we are in now and certainly the crime statistics wouldn't have shown a deterioration.'' Mr. Dunkley said a theme of the report was the difficulty of attracting Bermudians to a life in uniform -- in line with Opposition predictions over the success of a recruiting drive.

And he added: "I would hope that we would have experienced overseas officers on the ground soon -- but I'm a realist and I understand that can take up to six months.''