wants to keep one step ahead of criminals according to a leading Police manager.

At a Hamilton Rotary luncheon yesterday Police technology manager Mike Tucker outlined how the force was developing technology in the fight against crime.

And he painted a picture of cybercops using the information super highway to spearhead the war against increasingly sophisticated criminals.

Mr. Tucker opened his speech by stressing that morale in the force was high, despite recent controversies surrounding the so-called Coxall Affair.

"I can report that the Police Service is in fine form and firmly under the leadership of the Acting Commissioner,'' he told a packed audience of leading businessmen and women at Pier Six.

"The Police Service is working hard to support its community and the service strategy is still valid and being implemented.

"But technology is changing the way the Police operate. The Police have made a great deal of investment in technology in 1997/98.'' At the forefront of new technology is the development of closed circuit television cameras which will hopefully be in operation next year.

The system will provide 38 cameras at a cost of more than $1 million, covering an area from Front Street to Bull's Head car park and Par-La-Ville Road to Court Street.

Mr. Tucker pointed out that the cameras would not violate human rights but instead "make Hamilton a safer place for ourselves and tourists.

"This will have a dramatic affect on reducing crime,'' Mr. Tucker said.

"Crime doesn't always move elsewhere. In other places it's led to the locking up of a small number of habitual criminals and that's had a dramatic effect on the clear-up rate. It will provide us with 24-hour policing.

Mr. Tucker explained that a new $7 million computer system had been installed at Police headquarters.

Other new gadgets to be introduced before the end of the century include new radio systems for officers on the street and the possibility of them carrying laptop computers to enable paperwork to be completed outside the office.

Mr. Tucker pointed out that many criminals were already using technology to carry out their crimes, particularly in money laundering a drug trafficking offences.

"The threat is changing,'' he said.

"And if we are to keep up we need to employ the latest technologies in order to keep pace with the underworld.

"But technology doesn't provide us with all the answers. The key is the cost effective use of technology.

"We are seeking a new radio system. The current system of hand held radios have to be used in the clear for safety reasons which enables the world to listen -- there are 1,200 scanners on the Island.

"I am also investigating the use of computer mobile terminals in cars.'' The force will also be investing cash on speed cameras.