Police Commissioner says moral is difficult to measure
Force, Commissioner Mr. Lennett (Lennie) Edwards said yesterday.
"Morale is an issue which is difficult to measure,'' Mr. Edwards said when questioned about the report of the Police Tumim Committee. "I wouldn't dare be critical of the report.'' The report tabled on Friday in the House of Assembly said there was "an undercurrent of frustration, despondency, abandonment, and hopelessness'' among the ranks of the Bermuda Police.
And it said Police internal problems were at the root of troubles between the force and the public.
Chaired by Mr. Andrew Bermingham and Mr. Dale Butler, the committee was set up in the summer of 1992 on the advice of the Tumim Criminal Justice Review Board. Asked to examine "the role of the Police as a public service,'' its 49 recommendations dealt with much more than morale.
In the morale area, the committee recommended changes in Police evaluation, transfer and discipline procedures, an improved Police welfare department, and a new Police station in Hamilton.
It also called for more emphasis on crime and drugs and less on traffic enforcement, video and tape recordings of Police interviews, an independent procedure for investigating complaints about Police, more beat officers, and beefed-up Parish constable and Community and Media Relations divisions.
"I've read the report from front to back,'' and discussed it with senior officers, Mr. Edwards said. "There's a lot of good, and a lot of not so good.
"It's going to be an interesting document to work with.'' Mr. Edwards said he expected the report to be debated in the House of Assembly on May 27.
While he would not get into specifics, Mr. Edwards said Police were "busy looking at a lot of it,'' and "actually working on the report to let us implement those things that can be implemented right away.
"Quite a bit of it could be implemented,'' he said.
He was glad the public had input into the report.
P.c. Junior Watts, the chairman of the Bermuda Police Association, said he did not wish to comment on the report until the association had discussed it.
