Two youths parading around their neighbourhood earlier this week brandishing a black-painted water pistol were within minutes of being set upon by the Police?s heavily-armed Emergency Response Team ? forcing Police to urge parents to pay greater attention to their children?s toys.

Sgt. Russell Matthews of the Operational Support Training Unit yesterday revealed that some time on Tuesday, an off-duty Policeman spotted a pair of 15-year old boys in the area of Crawl Hill in Hamilton Parish, one of who was carrying what looked like a gun.

Officers were immediately called to the scene while Sgt. Matthews also said that the ERT had already been dispatched when Police intercepted the duo and discovered that the gun in question was in fact a brightly coloured water pistol painted black to look more realistic.

Sgt. Matthews said he was personally aware of a number of tragedies in the United States where young people had been shot or killed by the Police who reasonably assumed that the victim was carrying a real gun.

Unveiling three, similar-looking black weapons, including the water pistol, a cap gun and a real firearm, Sgt. Matthews then asked the assembled media to correctly identify which was which.

The failure of any journalist to do so was an illustration, Sgt. Matthews argued, of the ?enormous difficulties? Police often face in judging whether they are confronted with a genuine threat and, furthermore, of the potentially horrendous ramifications of an individual walking around in public with a toy disguised as a lethal weapon.

?The Commissioner (of Police Jonathan Smith) is very keen to get across the message that a split-second decision by an armed officer is critical in this type of situation,? Sgt. Matthews said.

?He wants to urge all parents whose children have water pistols, to keep them obviously visible as just that, so that the Police and members of the public can clearly see that they are not being confronted by a real weapon.

?I must emphasise that no crime has been committed by these two boys and no charges against them are forthcoming,? Sgt. Matthews said. ?Obviously it is not an offence to carry a water pistol.

?But when an off-duty Police officer is not able to tell the difference and they see something resembling a gun being carried around in a public place, that is a recipe for a serious problem. We have to do all that we can to make sure a tragic mistake does not happen here in Bermuda.?