Bermuda Police Service
Encyclopedia
The Bermuda Police Service is the law enforcement agency of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda
. It is responsible for policing the entire archipelago, including incorporated municipalities, and the surrounding waters. It is part of, and entirely funded by, the Government of Bermuda. Like the Bermuda Regiment
, it is under the nominal control of the territory's Governor and Commander in Chief
, although, for day-to-day purposes, control is delegated to a minister of the local government. It was created in 1879, as Bermuda's first professional police service. In organisation, operation, and dress, it was created and has developed in line with the patterns established by British police services, such as the City of Glasgow Police
, and the Metropolitan Police Service
.
Bermuda
's first police, from settlement until 1879, had been nine Parish constables (one for each Parish). These positions were filled by men appointed for twelve months, unpaid service, until pay was introduced in the 19th Century. These appointments were compulsory, akin to jury service.
Dissatisfaction with the quality of this part-time Constabulary led to the formation of the Bermuda Police Force under the Police Establishment Act, 1879. The new body consisted of ten full time constables under Superintendent J. C. B. Clarke. Three of the constables were based in Hamilton
, with Clarke, three in St. George's
, with Chief Constable H. Dunkley, and two in Somerset
, and there were still twenty-one part-time Parish constables.
The size of the police force was trebled in 1901. The first Detective was appointed in 1919, and the Force was reorganised again in 1920, with eighteen constables recruited from the UK raising its strength to forty-six. The size of the force grew steadily over the following decades.
The Bermuda Reserve Constabulary was created in 1951. After the closure of Bermuda's Royal Naval Dockyard
and associated military garrison
in 1958, Police Headquarters and other elements relocated to Prospect Camp, the former military heaquarters. A Womans' Department was established in 1961 with the first five female police officers. A marine section was formed in 1962, it's first large boat, the Heron, being built by police officers in their spare time.
, his Aide-de-camp
Captain Hugh Sayers, and the Commissioner of Police George Duckett. The death penalty had not been used in Bermuda for three decades. As the two men convicted were black, many blacks saw the death sentences as racially motivated.
In 1995 the Bermuda Police Force was re-named the Bermuda Police Service as it was thought that the word "force" had unsavoury connotations. The Reserve Constabulary was renamed the Bermuda Reserve Police and adopted the same uniform as the full-time Police officers. This was meant to address the common misconception they had suffered from, which was that they were not "real" police officers. Also in 1995, the United States Navy
withdrew from Bermuda, leaving the Bermuda Government responsible for policing the whole of what was now Bermuda International Airport
.
Bermuda was still feeling the effects of the recession of the early 1990s, and this had led to a reduction in the number of officers of the Bermuda Police Service. At the same time, the new Police Commissioner, Colin Coxall, was determined to modernise the Bermuda Police Service by returning it to its roots. It was felt that the service had lost familiarity with the community it was policing, with constables waiting in police stations to react to situations, rather than walking the beat, anticipating, and preventing them.
As the Bermuda Police Service attempted to redirect its efforts to more traditional "community policing", which required more officers, it found itself short of personnel. Many non-policing roles within the service were reassigned to civilians in order to place more police officers on the street, but it was ultimately decided to withdraw most of the detachment from the airport in order to make-up the shortfall elsewhere.
(a privatised police force operating under the Department of Airport Operations - part of the Ministry of Transport), on the airside, and the Bermuda Police Service, which maintained a small detachment at its Airport Police Station, supplied from the complement of the St. George's Police Station, on the landside. That part of the former US Naval Air Station Bermuda
which was not required for the operation of the airfield was fenced off and patrolled, until final decisions on the disposal of the land were made, by the Baselands Security. This was a unit of security guards recruited, trained, and operated by the Bermuda Police Service, which wore Bermuda Police uniforms, drove Bermuda Police cars, but whose personnel were civilians, without police powers.
up until 1995). Following the closure of the US Naval Air Station in Bermuda, the Scenes Of Crimes officers have moved to a building there. Plans to create a single, new building to house both the Hamilton Police Station and the Magistrates Court on the corner of Court Street and Victoria Street have recently been carried through, with the Hamilton Police Station having relocated there. Sub police stations on Ord Road, in Warwick
, and on St. David's Island
have been discussed, though not opened. As with the Airport Police Station, these stations would be staffed only for parts of the day by detachments from one of the permanent stations. Such a sub station was actually created on Middle Road, in Warwick, a few years ago, but has since been closed.
Following a spate of shootings in May, 2009, believed to be gang-related, there were calls for increasing the size and deployment of police forces. Premier Ewart Brown
called for "sustained, regular policing" and increased foot patrols "in recognized trouble spots". Police Commissioner Jackson said on 29 May that the Service faced "an unprecedented level of criminality" from a hardcore group of 50–100 violent individuals in four or five gangs. In response, the force will intensify patrolling of trouble-prone areas, by doubling the number of Armed Response Vehicles and deploying officers on an around-the-clock basis in those areas. Whereas the Emergency Response Team, whose members were normally engaged in other police duties but which could be brought together and despatched when required, were previously the only officers armed with anything other than a truncheon or baton, handguns and Taser
s are increasingly seen carried by officers on day-to-day duties. The Bermuda Regiment is currently working with the Bermuda Police Service on assisting with, or possibly assuming, some of their maritime policing duties.
Most of the boats used by the Bermuda Police are too small to be used far from shore. As Bermuda is now responsible for policing a zone within a 200 mile radius of Bermuda, larger, sea-going vessels are required. The first large boat operated by the unit, the Heron, lacked the speed required to quickly respond to incidents beyond the reefline. The unit had subsequently also utilized sport fishing boats
, including the Heron II, but took delivery in 2006 of a purpose-built patrol vessel, the Guardian, from an Australian shipyard.
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
. It is responsible for policing the entire archipelago, including incorporated municipalities, and the surrounding waters. It is part of, and entirely funded by, the Government of Bermuda. Like the Bermuda Regiment
Bermuda Regiment
The Bermuda Regiment is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single territorial infantry battalion that was formed by the amalgamation in 1965 of two originally voluntary units, the all white Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps and the mostly black Bermuda Militia...
, it is under the nominal control of the territory's Governor and Commander in Chief
Governor of Bermuda
The Governor of Bermuda is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Bermuda. The Governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government...
, although, for day-to-day purposes, control is delegated to a minister of the local government. It was created in 1879, as Bermuda's first professional police service. In organisation, operation, and dress, it was created and has developed in line with the patterns established by British police services, such as the City of Glasgow Police
City of Glasgow Police
The City of Glasgow Police was the police of the City of Glasgow, Scotland. In the 17th century, Scottish cities used to hire watchmen to guard the streets at night, augmenting a force of unpaid citizen constables. On June 30, 1800, the authorities of Glasgow, successfully petitioned the British...
, and the Metropolitan Police Service
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
.
History of law enforcement in Bermuda
Bermuda
Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
's first police, from settlement until 1879, had been nine Parish constables (one for each Parish). These positions were filled by men appointed for twelve months, unpaid service, until pay was introduced in the 19th Century. These appointments were compulsory, akin to jury service.
Dissatisfaction with the quality of this part-time Constabulary led to the formation of the Bermuda Police Force under the Police Establishment Act, 1879. The new body consisted of ten full time constables under Superintendent J. C. B. Clarke. Three of the constables were based in Hamilton
Hamilton, Bermuda
Hamilton is the capital of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is the territory's financial centre and a major port and tourist destination.-Geography:...
, with Clarke, three in St. George's
St. George's, Bermuda
St. George's , located on the island and within the parish of the same names, was the first permanent settlement on the islands of Bermuda, and is often described as the third successful English settlement in the Americas, after St. John's, Newfoundland, and Jamestown, Virginia. However, St...
, with Chief Constable H. Dunkley, and two in Somerset
Somerset Village, Bermuda
Somerset Village is a small, unincorporated village in the northwest area of Bermuda, located in Sandys Parish. It lies in the northern half of Somerset Island....
, and there were still twenty-one part-time Parish constables.
The size of the police force was trebled in 1901. The first Detective was appointed in 1919, and the Force was reorganised again in 1920, with eighteen constables recruited from the UK raising its strength to forty-six. The size of the force grew steadily over the following decades.
The Bermuda Reserve Constabulary was created in 1951. After the closure of Bermuda's Royal Naval Dockyard
Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda
HMD Bermuda was the principal base of the Royal Navy in the Western Atlantic between American independence and the Cold War. Bermuda had occupied a useful position astride the homeward leg taken by many European vessels from the New World since before its settlement by England in 1609...
and associated military garrison
Bermuda Garrison
The Bermuda Garrison was the military establishment maintained on the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda by the regular British Army, and its local militia and voluntary reserves from 1701 to 1957. The Garrison existed primarily to defend the Royal Naval Dockyard and other facilities in Bermuda...
in 1958, Police Headquarters and other elements relocated to Prospect Camp, the former military heaquarters. A Womans' Department was established in 1961 with the first five female police officers. A marine section was formed in 1962, it's first large boat, the Heron, being built by police officers in their spare time.
Internal Security
In the 1960s the Bermuda Police performed a new role: internal security, dealing with riots resulting from the battle for racial equality. This culminated in 1977 with riots following the hanging of two members of the Black Beret Cadre convicted of five murders, including those of Governor Richard SharplesRichard Sharples
Major Sir Richard Christopher Sharples KCMG OBE MC , St. George, Bermuda) was a British politician and Governor of Bermuda from late 1972 to 10 March 1973 when he was shot dead by assassins linked to the militant Black Beret Cadre, a small Bermudian Black Power group.-Career:Sharples passed out...
, his Aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
Captain Hugh Sayers, and the Commissioner of Police George Duckett. The death penalty had not been used in Bermuda for three decades. As the two men convicted were black, many blacks saw the death sentences as racially motivated.
Renaming as Bermuda Police Service
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
withdrew from Bermuda, leaving the Bermuda Government responsible for policing the whole of what was now Bermuda International Airport
Bermuda International Airport
L.F. Wade International Airport , formerly named Bermuda International Airport, is the sole airport serving Bermuda, a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is located in the parish of St. George's and is northeast of Bermuda's capital city of Hamilton. In 2006, L.F. Wade...
.
Bermuda was still feeling the effects of the recession of the early 1990s, and this had led to a reduction in the number of officers of the Bermuda Police Service. At the same time, the new Police Commissioner, Colin Coxall, was determined to modernise the Bermuda Police Service by returning it to its roots. It was felt that the service had lost familiarity with the community it was policing, with constables waiting in police stations to react to situations, rather than walking the beat, anticipating, and preventing them.
As the Bermuda Police Service attempted to redirect its efforts to more traditional "community policing", which required more officers, it found itself short of personnel. Many non-policing roles within the service were reassigned to civilians in order to place more police officers on the street, but it was ultimately decided to withdraw most of the detachment from the airport in order to make-up the shortfall elsewhere.
Airport police
Policing of the airport, which had previously been split between the US Navy and the Bermuda Police, was divided between the new Airport Security PoliceAirport Security Police (Bermuda)
-History of the Bermuda International Airport:Prior to 1995, the airfield was a US Naval Air Station, NAS Bermuda. Following a US network news report, which scandalised it as the 'Club Med of the US Navy', NAS Bermuda, and the other US Naval facilities in Bermuda, were slated for rapid closure...
(a privatised police force operating under the Department of Airport Operations - part of the Ministry of Transport), on the airside, and the Bermuda Police Service, which maintained a small detachment at its Airport Police Station, supplied from the complement of the St. George's Police Station, on the landside. That part of the former US Naval Air Station Bermuda
Naval Air Station Bermuda
Naval Air Station Bermuda , was located on St. David's Island, Bermuda from 1970 to 1995, on the former site of Kindley Air Force Base...
which was not required for the operation of the airfield was fenced off and patrolled, until final decisions on the disposal of the land were made, by the Baselands Security. This was a unit of security guards recruited, trained, and operated by the Bermuda Police Service, which wore Bermuda Police uniforms, drove Bermuda Police cars, but whose personnel were civilians, without police powers.
Current operations
As of 2009, the current strength of the Service is 468 officers, operating from four police stations in Hamilton, St. George's, Southside (the former US Naval Air Station) and Somerset, along with the Headquarters at Prospect Camp, and a small Marine Police Station on Barr's Bay, in Hamilton (which had been shared with the US Navy's Shore PatrolShore patrol
Shore patrol are service members that are provided to aid in security for the U.S. Navy, United States Coast Guard, United States Marine Corps, and the British Royal Navy while on shore...
up until 1995). Following the closure of the US Naval Air Station in Bermuda, the Scenes Of Crimes officers have moved to a building there. Plans to create a single, new building to house both the Hamilton Police Station and the Magistrates Court on the corner of Court Street and Victoria Street have recently been carried through, with the Hamilton Police Station having relocated there. Sub police stations on Ord Road, in Warwick
Warwick Parish, Bermuda
Warwick Parish is one of the nine parishes of Bermuda. It is named for Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick .It is located in the central south of the island chain, occupying part of the main island to the southeast of the Great Sound, the large expanse of water which dominates the geography of western...
, and on St. David's Island
St. David's Island, Bermuda
St. David's Island is one of the main islands of Bermuda. It is located in the far north of the territory, one of the two similarly sized islands that makeup the majority of St...
have been discussed, though not opened. As with the Airport Police Station, these stations would be staffed only for parts of the day by detachments from one of the permanent stations. Such a sub station was actually created on Middle Road, in Warwick, a few years ago, but has since been closed.
Following a spate of shootings in May, 2009, believed to be gang-related, there were calls for increasing the size and deployment of police forces. Premier Ewart Brown
Ewart Brown
Ewart Frederick Brown, Jr. was Premier of Bermuda and leader of the Progressive Labour Party from 2006 and 2010. He served as Member of Parliament for the constituency of Warwick South Central for 17 years until his retirement from politics in October 2010.Brown was elected leader of the ruling...
called for "sustained, regular policing" and increased foot patrols "in recognized trouble spots". Police Commissioner Jackson said on 29 May that the Service faced "an unprecedented level of criminality" from a hardcore group of 50–100 violent individuals in four or five gangs. In response, the force will intensify patrolling of trouble-prone areas, by doubling the number of Armed Response Vehicles and deploying officers on an around-the-clock basis in those areas. Whereas the Emergency Response Team, whose members were normally engaged in other police duties but which could be brought together and despatched when required, were previously the only officers armed with anything other than a truncheon or baton, handguns and Taser
Taser
A Taser is an electroshock weapon that uses electrical current to disrupt voluntary control of muscles. Its manufacturer, Taser International, calls the effects "neuromuscular incapacitation" and the devices' mechanism "Electro-Muscular Disruption technology"...
s are increasingly seen carried by officers on day-to-day duties. The Bermuda Regiment is currently working with the Bermuda Police Service on assisting with, or possibly assuming, some of their maritime policing duties.
Most of the boats used by the Bermuda Police are too small to be used far from shore. As Bermuda is now responsible for policing a zone within a 200 mile radius of Bermuda, larger, sea-going vessels are required. The first large boat operated by the unit, the Heron, lacked the speed required to quickly respond to incidents beyond the reefline. The unit had subsequently also utilized sport fishing boats
Sport fishing boat
A sport fishing boat, or sport fisher, is a type of power boat designed for recreational fishing by anglers . Typically, these fishing boats are designed with a cockpit at the stern, fitted with a chair fixed to the deck to which a rod can be secured. Alternately, other rods can be used by hand or...
, including the Heron II, but took delivery in 2006 of a purpose-built patrol vessel, the Guardian, from an Australian shipyard.
Part of
- BermudaBermudaBermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...
- Military of BermudaMilitary of BermudaThe defence of Bermuda remains the responsibility of the National Government, rather than of the Bermudian Government, which is effectively a local authority. Despite this, the Bermuda Government was historically responsible for maintaining Militia for the defence of the Colony...