New Senator Jonathan Smith has vowed to look into the effectiveness of the police service to try to improve life for the Island’s residents.The former police commissioner spoke out about “doing things better for the good of the country” just hours after being sworn in to take the Senate seat of former National Security Minister David Burch.The swearing-in ceremony at Government House yesterday morning saw Deputy Speaker Wayne Perinchief named as the new National Security Minister and Sen Smith named as Junior National Security Minister.Sen Smith has been hurled into his first political role less than two years after he joined the PLP. But he said he was ready to knuckle down to his “homework” as he quickly reads up on the legislative rules of the Senate and the Island’s prominent issues.He said: “As a Senator I will be carrying out any given task for the good of the country, for the good of the people in the country and I will always be looking at how we can do things better.“If it means asking tough questions then I will ask tough questions. If that is what it is going to take, then that is what will happen.”Sen Smith’s priority is to meet Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva and his command team.He said he was pleased with the progress police were making, but added: “We have to look at what’s being done and consider if the right people are doing it, that’s the starting point. We will look at if anything more can be done to make things more effective.”Sen Smith said he would be looking at police deployment and strategy, if current laws were adequate and if technical support, such as DNA, was robust enough.Sen Smith was in the process of moving house as Premier Paula Cox tried to get in touch with him on Saturday. He wasn’t an easy man to track down as the condo where he is temporarily living has no landline, no internet and no cell phone reception.Sen Smith said he had “no idea” what was going on until a Government worker knocked at his door on Sunday morning and told him to “call the Premier.”It was then that Ms Cox asked if he would consider becoming a Senator and he said he agreed “without hesitation.”Sen Smith said: “My reaction was one of complete surprise. You just don’t expect your life to change so rapidly.”Sen Smith said Ms Cox was the first Minister he reported to when he was Police Commissioner and he had seen her “carry out a significant amount of reform.”He said: “I had a great deal of respect for her work ethic and her ability to get things done.“It was extremely difficult to say no…I was accepting the offer to serve my country.”Sen Smith insists “public service” is as important to him now as it was when he served as a police officer. He said he had “thoroughly enjoyed” his time in the police and left the police force in 2005 having served as commissioner for five years.As a police commissioner he said a future in politics was the “furthest thing from my mind.”He has worked in the private sector since leaving the police, and says he sees life as “a series of roles that we take on.”Sen Smith said he saw his new political role as “a re-energising experience to serve the country in a very different capacity.”Sen Smith said he had been “encouraged” by the congratulatory phone calls and e-mails he had received. He said it seemed as if people still supported politicians even though “they are easy targets when it comes to criticism.”He said: “Many in the community recognise it is a very difficult time for the country and solutions just don’t all sit with politicians.”Sen Smith joined the PLP in August 2009 saying it was time to break down racial barriers. His brother is former UBP education minister Tim Smith.Sen Smith said: “All my brothers have congratulated and wished me the best, there is no animosity. There may be political differences in the family, but that just makes things healthy.”As for being a white Senator in a predominately black party, he said: “It’s not an issue for me. If someone wants to make it an issue, they can tell me what it is.”When asked about his quick succession from party member to Senator, Mr Smith said he was selected “at the Premier’s discretion.”He added: “I certainly recognise that many in the party have worked longer than I have and probably worked harder than I did when the PLP were in opposition.”Sen Smith wants to make it clear that he is not Minister David Burch’s replacement and said he was “not going to compare himself to anyone.”He said as a junior minister he would “be there to offer whatever support I can to the minister.”But he did commend Mr Burch for his “bringing a very, very clear sense of what needed to be done and why it needed to be done.”Sen Smith was “thrust right into it” with his first visit to the Senate yesterday afternoon. He sat in as Senators were debating the Morgan’s Point development and called it a “critical piece of legislation that will set the stage for jobs, construction and tourism for many years to come.”Sen Smith has previously been outspoken on the need to equip Bermuda’s police officers with firearms. In a letter to this newspaper in March 2009 he wrote unarmed officers were “playing roulette” with their lives.But Sen Smith yesterday refused to talk about “specific police operational duties” or his political ambitions saying it was only his first day on the job.He would only say: “The oath that we take is to serve the people. It’s the basic principle of any public service job, I know that from my law enforcement days. It’s about doing the people’s business.”