The 21st Century Police Service will have a Bermudian Commmisioner -- selected from young officers in the ranks now who are being identified as future leaders.

That is one of the results of a series of workshops involving more than three quarters of the Police Service's officers and civilian staff who developed a vision and a mission statement to take the Service into the next century.

The new vision will see the Police change over a five-year period from a "command and control'' organisation to a "shared leadership organisation'' in which all members are involved in decision making, Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay told The Royal Gazette in an exclusive interview.

Mr. Lemay said: "A mandate was given to me to recognise the future leaders of the organisation.

"We are ensuring that officers are given leadership skills as early as possible so we won't have empty top positions and no people to fill them.

"We are developing leaders in the very young stages.'' The Police succession plan, which was a bone of contention under the former Police Commissioner Colin Coxall's reign, promises to boost the Bermudianisation process, identify future leaders, and raise morale among the rank and file.

"This is the first organisation where everybody has been involved,'' Police spokeswoman Evelyn James Barnett said of the strategy. "Normally it is the senior managers only. It's been a time consuming process -- three months -- but it was worth it.'' A mission statement in Mr. Coxall's 1995 Service Strategy was a modified version from another constabulary and local officers never bought into it, according to Mr. Lemay.

"If you want people to buy into a mission statement, it is very important that everyone has an opportunity to have a say in its development,'' he said.

There was also no vision for the evolution of the Service on the eve of the Millennium.

One of the workshop's participants P.c. Mark Clark noted that it was the Service's failure to evolve that had created the problems it was now experiencing.

"One thing we have not done over the years is take a hard look at ourselves,'' he admitted.

He added: "Instead of management making decisions we want those decisions to come from people in the front line, the people who are managing the delivery of the service.'' Another officer involved in developing the mission statement was P.c. Simons Groves.

He said: "We are cognizant of the problems we are facing and want to repair them and deal with any future problems that arise.

"We cannot address the future until we address the current concerns.'' Policing in the 21st Century: See full story on Page 4 POLICE SUCCESSION PLAN Jean Jacques-Lemay