Hector fully sympathises with the Bermuda Police Service over some of the crazy and downright dangerous situations its officers find themselves in at times. But he was left scratching his head at a report of their handling of a security situation at another venerable media institution.

According to Hector?s spies at the DeFontes Broadcasting Company, staff members were left somewhat alarmed this week when an eccentric gentleman wandered into the offices and started praying on the floor in the middle of the room.

According to the visitor, not only is the Reid Street HQ a broadcasting force to be reckoned with, but also a designated place of worship.

When the gentleman persisted in his prayers despite requests to leave, perturbed hacks called the cops.

After the officers of the law arrived and surveyed the scene, one of them asked in apparent puzzlement: ?What is the problem here??

When ? following an explanation ? the penny finally dropped that this was clearly not a normal occurrence, even in the crazy world of journalism, the officers escorted the visitor off the premises.

@EDITRULE:

But Hector hears that Police are not so slow on the uptake when it comes to helping the Island?s citizens out of a sticky situation. A female friend of Hector?s confided that when she couldn?t get a taxi home from St. George in the early hours of a recent Sunday morning, she tucked her head in the door of the local station in desperation.

The friendly bobby inside spent the next ten minutes rifling through the phone book trying to find a cabbie who might be prepared to take her back to Pembroke.

It was a far cry from the dispatching company operators who couldn?t seem to believe that someone actually wanted to travel from the East End of the Island at that time of night.

By rights, their new hi-tech GPS equipment should ensure they know exactly where all their drivers are and be able to send them out promptly (if any of them actually had the thing turned on).

Instead, Hector?s pal got a couple of: ?At this hour...St. George?s...forget it? and a pleasanter: ?Honey, I wish I could help, but your chances of getting home right now are not looking good?.

The Policeman confessed that this was a fairly regular occurrence on his nightshift and that he sometimes took pity on the stranded party and drove them home himself.

Just as Hector?s chum began batting her eyelashes in the hope of a ride west, a cab pulled up, unloaded its passengers and the lady hopped in. All credit to the officer ? but should our officers really have to be doing this sort of thing?

@EDITRULE:

Hector suppressed a giggle this week while waiting for the courtroom appearance of those arrested over the gambling boat saga.

Prior to the hearing where the two men in question denied illegally importing gaming machines, in bounced a beaming lawyer unrelated to the case. The reason for her broad grin? She was still excited about her recent modest gaming machine wins in Nevada.

@EDITRULE:

The tough security clampdown triggered by last week?s London bombing scare caused an unexpected problem on a flight to Bermuda at the weekend.

Long check-in queues, the inconvenience of not being able to take hand luggage on board and a string of connecting flight cancellations on domestic routes were fully expected given the heightened state of alert.

The flight took off slightly late, and everything was going relatively smoothly until the air stewardesses started handing out customs forms to passengers ? none of whom had pens to fill them in. That triggered an announcement from the pilot who said that an extra batch of Biros had been ordered and would be made available on landing at Bermuda.

Despite the extra security at Gatwick, which left passengers only able to take passports, travel documents and wallets through to the departure lounge, it later emerged that several passengers had somehow managed to smuggle some pens on to the plane.

They were passed through the cabin, ending the mid-air pen crisis.

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On the subject of security, it appeared that there was a major alert in Flatts on Wednesday as swarms of cops descended on the roadside near the Aquarium.

But reporter dispatched to find out what had sparked such a Police presence didn?t come back to the office with a major scoop on his hands. Although he was pleased to find out that his traffic documentation was all in order.

About a dozen officers gathered there had actually been carrying out vehicle checks.

And the reporter was happy to inform the cops who were quite tickled to hear he had raced from Hamilton on the trail of a big story that his driving licence was valid and his insurance was covered.

@EDITRULE:

Talking of wasted journeys, Hector didn?t know whether to applaud or boo the somewhat dubious tactics rumoured to have been employed by a certain PLP press officer to tempt hacks along to a late-on-Friday-afternoon press conference at Alaska Hall.

Although the guru in question flatly refused to tell the RG what subject ?P? was going to be opining on, other members of the media turned up proclaiming confidently that it was going to be an announcement related to Independence.

Their faces were a picture when it turned out that the subject at hand was...wait for it...an announcement that soul group the Stylistics are coming to the Island for a gig.

Nice work.