The Bermuda Police will place an emphasis on their service delivery over the next two years. On Thursday, the Service released its Strategic Plan report for 2002-2004 which details the process by which overall service of the organisation will be improved.

"As part of the plan we will adopt the Service-Oriented Strategy that places the focus on how best we meet the needs of the community," the report read.

One of the objectives laid out in the Plan is the planned restructuring of the Service. According to the report, in the near future the Drug and Crime Intelligence Units will merge with the aim of enhancing operational efficiency. The current arrangement of the Criminal Investigation Departments (CID) is also expected to be reviewed in order to identify their most effective configurations.

A review of the Commercial Crime Department, which investigates white-collar crimes, will be conducted to ensure that investigative resources are sufficient to meet varied compliance standards, the report read.

And in what the Service called a recognition "that a part of our core responsibilities is crime prevention", it also intends on developing and implementing a new Crime Prevention Strategy.

With "the aim to develop leadership capabilities at all levels", an audit will be carried out at all ranks to assess the knowledge and skill sets of all officers. Once the audit is completed, it will give a better picture to determine the minimum training required at each rank.

Members of the Service will be offered extra support in the near future as Critical Incident Stress Management and counselling policies have been developed and will be implemented.

A Code of Ethics policy will also be developed and implemented for the handling of intelligence.

The number of Community Beat Officers (CBO) will be increased as the Service is continuing its efforts to better serve the public.

"They will be specially trained in problem solving and will be tasked to work at the local level, in partnership with Government, other agencies and the community generally, to deal with and resolve a wide range of crime and incidents that directly impact of 'quality of life'", the report read.

There are currently two CBO's who patrol the Smith's, St. George's and St. David's areas.

"By setting out our priorities, the Plan deliberately targets an improvement in service delivery by our regular officers, civilian staff, and Reserve Police to the community."