by a frontline Police negotiating team yesterday.

Officers from the Police Special Response Team mounted a siege operation at a house in Flatt's after a tip-off yesterday afternoon.

They negotiated with the 29-year-old from Warwick -- who was alone -- for two-and-a-half hours before persuading him to go to hospital.

Police spokeswoman Evelyn James Barnett paid tribute to the response team yesterday.

She said: "The man was extremely agitated and had a machete in his possession.

"A Police response team dressed in protective clothing were able to speak with the man and, after approximately two-and-a-half hours, calm him down.

"He was then conveyed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital for assessment.

"No-one else was in the Flatt's residence at the time and to the credit of the special response team, the man was able to become reasonable and did no injuries to himself.'' Brandishing a stick and shouting obscenities in front of Police earned an 18-year-old Pembroke man an arrest on Friday night.

Shortly before 11 p.m. on Queen Street, a Police patrol observed the man behaving in a threatening manner in view of other members of the public.

Officers approached the man who immediately threatened them, became violent, and attempted to strike them with his stick.

The man struggled violently when he was being arrested and assaulted the officers. He was later detained at Hamilton Police Station.

BOOST FOR FOUNDATION CLB The Allan Vincent Smith Foundation will get a boost this week when a computer expert will link them to a huge database of AIDS information.

Cynthia McInnis, database manager of the Gay Mens Health Crisis centre of New York will be meeting with AVS to link the Island to the more than 7,000 articles on HIV/AIDS related information.

The Help Line Manager programme is a database of 3,691 listings of providers such as doctors, pharmacies, testing sites, and support groups worldwide.

The foundation will be able to search and obtain reports to meet the needs of callers for general information and sources for experimental therapies, a glossary of terms, fact sheets, and reports.

The GMHC is the world's largest and oldest HIV/AIDS organisation and the AVS has maintained a close affiliation with it for three years.

Ms McInnis has more than ten years of database design, maintenance, and management experience.

Before joining GMHC five years ago, she designed a database at New York's Macy's department store.

She assisted in the design of HLM including managing its integrity. Access to HLM is expected to improve AVS's ability to provide education and prevention information to the Bermudian public.