Police Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay last night revealed how he hoped to improve policing and strengthen Bermuda's ties with other UK territories by launching an officer secondment scheme.

At the close of a three-day conference between Police Commissioners and Customs Controllers from all the overseas territories, Mr. Lemay said they could only hope to succeed in their fight against crime by sharing expertise and resources.

"I think we are very fortunate in Bermuda that we have the necessary funding from the Government to cover the requests that we have,'' he said.

"But one of the things that we learn from each other at these conferences is that we all have needs and we all have a common objective.

"We can share information and discuss different initiatives and where one territory has particular expertise, they can coach the others.

"What I would like is to see a lot more secondments between the overseas territories.

"I'm very interested in the management side -- inspectors and above. We could let someone go into another jurisdiction and work with their Police for a couple of months to get a different perspective on policing and making decisions.'' And Mr. Lemay said although the secondment scheme was in the earliest of stages, he had already started to think ahead.

"I intend to have some of our people go to Jamaica to look at what they are doing, and perhaps they will send people here. It would be very positive and would enable us to look at how other Police forces handle similar issues.'' At the close of the conference yesterday, Mr. Lemay said all of the Commissioners and Controllers had learned a great deal from each other.

It was the first time the annual conference had included Customs chiefs, but he hoped that a precedent had now been set.

The Commissioner said he and Winniefred Fostine-Desilva, from Bermuda Customs, were also able to explain to their overseas counterparts how their close working relationship had assisted them in their battle against drug trafficking and money laundering.

And he said although Bermuda was among the leaders of the UK territories in terms of funding, technology and resources, they all had common needs.

He added: "What came out of the conference is that there is a need in the Caribbean for more training with regards the investigation of drug trafficking, money laundering and the tracing of assets.

Lemay reveals plans to send officers abroad "There was also discussion about technical skills and forensic training, for example in finger printing and scenes of crime.

"We are fortunate because we have training facilities available to us in Bermuda, but we are so far away from the Caribbean, it is not financially sound for other overseas territories to send their officers here. "But by working together, coaching each other, using secondments, we can overcome some of the problems.

"Our aim is to become very intelligence led and to target individuals and so stem drug trafficking. The way to do that is simply by working together.'' Although the conference finished yesterday, Mr. Lemay said during the next two days he was making himself available to all of the overseas Commissioners and Customs Controllers who wished to be shown some examples of initiatives and working practices on the Island.

Police adviser Chris Gale, a member of the UK Department for Foreign and International Development, was on hand throughout the conference to listen to the challenges faced by the different law enforcement agencies and offer support.

He will now stay on in Bermuda to carry out an audit of the Police Service, highlighting where it has been successful and where improvements still need to be made. The audits are usually carried out every two years, with the adviser visiting the different departments and talking to managers about what they have achieved and what they hope to achieve. It is expected the audit will take about a week to complete, and then a report of Mr. Gale's findings will be compiled and presented to Mr. Lemay.

Jean-Jacques Lemay POLICE POL CUSTOMS CUS DRUGS DGS