officials announced yesterday.

Minister of Transport Wayne Furbert and Education Minister Jerome Dill yesterday revealed a series of new measures aimed at halting the recent hooliganism against buses.

In addition to uniformed Police officers riding buses from "time to time'', the Ministry of Education will be encouraging parents to voluntarily ride the bus with their children.

"We are asking employers to allow their employees off when asked to ride the bus,'' Mr. Furbert said.

He also said a Police task force will shadow the buses so they will be able to respond quickly to any problems.

"Students caught in acts of violence or vandalism will be prosecuted,'' Mr.

Furbert promised. "The Minister of Education and I will visit schools to announce a no nonsense approach to violence and vandalism.'' Mr. Dill revealed officials had managed to narrow down the trouble zones where the violence was taking place.

But the Deputy Premier refused to reveal those locations for fear of alerting the culprits that the authorities were on to them.

Mr. Dill said his Ministry had received support from parents who were keen on riding buses including members of the National Parents Teachers Association.

He said: "We expect that the measures that we are going to be putting in place over the next week will certainly make a tremendous difference in the severity and number of these incidents, in fact we hope it will be reduced to zero.'' Despite the moves, Mr. Furbert admitted he expected bus drivers will not work this Hallowe'en evening.

And Mr. Furbert said the Minister of Tourism had informed him the bus violence was affecting the tourism industry.

"There have been some concerns expressed in surveys at the Airport from tourists who are concerned about incidents that have been occurring on the buses,'' he said.

The Ministers also branded those involved in the acts of violence cowardly.

"It puts the drivers and passengers at risk,'' Mr. Furbert said. "And as far as we are concerned these acts are cowardly and intolerable.

"Enough is enough. We must take back our neighbourhoods, our schools, our public transportation, our community and above all, Bermuda.'' Political battles delayed Police reforms "And I did not realise the level of hostility that would be focused upon me by some politicians for reasons best known to themselves,'' he said, refusing to name anyone.

"Undoubtedly it made my job more difficult. And I have not been able to achieve maybe quite as much as I could have done because I was spending so much of my time dealing with these political problems.'' From the time that Mr. Coxall's appointment was announced by then Governor Lord Waddington in January, 1995, he has been plagued with controversy.

He and then deputy Police Commissioner Michael Mylod were appointed following a recommendation by Her Majesty's Inspector of Dependent Territories Police Forces Lionel Grundy in 1994.

Mr. Grundy's report was never made public, but it was believed to have contained damning criticisms of the way the Police Service was run.

However, the news of Mr. Coxall's appointment sparked a storm of protest form the Opposition Progressive Labour Party, who organised a petition against the move.

Mr. Coxall later received death threats amid a row over the axing of Assistant Commissioner Wayne Perinchief and Superintendent George Rose as part of a streamlining campaign.

And despite statistics showing that crime has been cut almost in half due to the modern technology and community policing spelled out in Mr. Coxall's strategy, he has come under fire in recent months for his department's drug enforcement practices.

He was criticised for his involvement in the Irving Pearman affair, when the Environment Minister was caught up in the drug-busting Operation Cleansweep.

Mr. Pearman denied any involvement in drugs and was set to take legal action over allegations made against him.

The condition of the Police Services's Narcotics Department also received criticism during a recent Commission of Inquiry.

But Mr. Coxall yesterday said: "I took on board the human resources and the situation which had already been discussed in the first Grundy report which indicated that the Police Service was in trouble.

"I was brought in to turn that around. I'm a turnaround manager. I turn around big organisations. That's the job I've achieved elsewhere. But you can only achieve so much in a certain span of time.'' Mr. Coxall admitted the task he faced could not be realistically achieved in three years.

"I don't think there was any particular thought that the whole process could be completed in three years,'' he said. "It may have been better if a senior officer had been appointed from outside and then produced a strategy, which I did produce, and then with mature discussion decide how long it will take to implement that strategy.'' Asked to rate the Police Service on a scale from one to ten in 1995 compared to this year, Mr. Coxall said it had improved from a three in terms of international policing standards to about a six.

However, there was still much to be achieved, he said, adding that he had some disappointments including: Renovations to Police headquarters, particularly CID which includes the Narcotics Department, which was slated to start in April has not due to demand on Works and Engineering; Information technology throughout the Service, including better radio systems, computer systems, and technology systems still lacking; and Legislation on money laundering and drug profit confiscation still not in place due to a legislative "queue''.

"We still have a long way to go,'' he admitted. "But it is achievable if we follow the idea of new technology, new buildings, keep going with the training programmes, including offshore and senior management training, and it will happen.'' He added that he was surrounded by "good will'' from fellow officers.

"I think they have enjoyed the process of change,'' Mr. Coxall said. "The overwhelming message I get from people, particularly the Police Association whom I have a very close working relationship with, is that they are happy with the way things have gone and are happy that the Police Service should continue to improve.'' While not divulging his thoughts about whether anyone was qualified locally to succeed him, Mr. Coxall said there were several officers who were showing "promise and talent''.

But he noted that it took at least ten years for an officer, with proper training, to move up the Police ranks from Chief Inspector to a senior administrative post.