Bermuda's war on drugs is bogged down in the trenches due to appalling working conditions, a shortage of foot-soldiers and inadequate training, drugs squad chief George Jackson said yesterday.

And Det. Ch. Insp. Jackson said: "To be really effective, if we are going to deal with the problem we are facing from drugs in Bermuda, we cannot expect to make any headway using Band Aid-type methods.

"Either there is a war on drugs, a war on crime, or there isn't. You don't expect personnel to carry out a war without resources and that is how we have been operating for far too long.'' Mr. Jackson was speaking on the first day of evidence in a public Commission of Inquiry into the workings of the Bermuda Police narcotics department -- in particular the squad's handling of the case against Ellsworth Wilson.

He told the Commission that, at the time of the Wilson probe in February last year, the force's standing instructions were going through "a process of change'' under Police Commissioner Colin Coxall's force strategy and that the process was still underway. He added training problems were also being adressed under the strategy.

Commission counsel Kim White asked Mr. Jackson if standing instruction changes had caused any confusion among officers.

But Mr. Jackson said: "Not to any great extent because we always had to fall back on what we had.'' The three-man Commission -- under ex-Bermuda Court of Appeal judge Telford Georges -- was set up following controversy surrounding the acquittal of then-alleged drugs baron Mr. Wilson in June.

Supreme Court judge Norma Wade ordered the jury to return formal not guilty verdicts on the drugs charges, ruling the continuity of evidence had not been maintained.

The move came after evidence from then-Det. Cons. Lendrea Davis, who said she had been pressured by the case officer to change her notes to match those of other officers involved in the investigation into Mr. Wilson.

She claimed one of the pages of her statement had a forged signature and another officer admitted he signed blank statement forms attached to hand-written notes and left them to be typed -- against procedures.

But Mr. Jackson told Mr. White yesterday that he was not aware of any blank forms being signed by his officers.

He said: "I have not seen it happen -- if I had seen it happen, I would have put a stop to it immediately. I don't know for what purpose they would do that. It seems very strange to me.'' Earlier, Mr. Jackson said he and his officers worked under great pressure in "horrendous'' conditions -- and that he needed half again of the around 30 officers he currently had, up from the time of the Wilson investigation, as well as twice the space.

He admitted the department's cockroach-infested offices "were not conducive to a good working environment.'' And he said officers were "all tripping over each other. The building is run down -- I don't even think it would pass a proper health and safety inspection.'' He added that fumes from drugs exhibits were a problem in the unventilated space and said it was "small wonder'' officers fell sick "from breathing stale air.'' Mr. Jackson said: "It's all very well to chastise us for our shortcomings -- but conditions under which human beings are asked to work should be conditions in keeping with good practice.'' He added: "Unless you are there like a robot, constantly devoting your time to one endeavour -- that's the only way to make sure certain things are done....even then, you are going to miss something.'' And he admitted that, in any investigation, things might not follow best practice because of problems faced by the department.