speed the recruitment of foreign cops, after the Police Commissioner acknowledged the force was stretched to the limit.

Earlier in the month Public Safety Minister Paula Cox said overseas recruitment had never been ruled out as the Government pushed for more local recruits.

However, Mr. Dunkley said numbers had plummeted from 444 to 372 in just eight months and the situation is at a crisis point.

Referring to Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay's plea for more numbers, Mr.

Dunkley last night said: "The Police Commissioner is basically begging.

"For the Police Commissioner to come right out and say those comments that they were stretched to the limit -- comments which have sent a shock wave through the community -- is shocking.

"If Police say they can't do their job because they are understaffed, it will have sent out an alarm signal to criminals that `we can't Police you and we can't deal with this issue'.

"In February I was told in the Budget speech that there were 444 Policemen, then in July I was told there were 405.'' Now the figure is thought to be 372.

He also said a local recruitment drive had yielded just 16 recruits out of 120 applicants and would do little to bolster dwindling numbers.

"We know that the Police lose 36 people every year on average through natural wastage -- it's scary, they should stop playing politics with this issue.'' Mr. Dunkley said the fact that Police had apologised after a woman had to wait 42 minutes for them to respond to her report of a burglary was also an indication of declining numbers.

"They can't enforce the traffic law,'' he added.

On Tuesday, Mr. Lemay admitted that Police could not respond to emergency calls immediately because of low staff numbers.

He had said he was waiting to hear from Government if he could begin recruiting foreign Police.

Mr. Dunkley called for foreign officers to be brought in on three-year secondments to boost numbers and help new Bermudian recruits.

"The Minister should stop wasting time -- even if she gave permission tomorrow, it would still be three or four months before they could come.

"The overseas Policemen could give the Bermudians the benefit of their experience while the Bermudians could impart their local knowledge. It would be a partnership.''