The new cash-for-tips programme is producing results but is also putting more demands on the Police department.

However, a programme to increase manpower in certain sections of the Police Service is awaiting approval by Cabinet.

Crime Stoppers Bermuda has received 30 "valuable'' calls since its official launching by Premier the Hon. David Saul last month, and eight of its anonymous informants have been rewarded.

Chief Insp. Norrell Hull said 75 to 80 per cent of the calls were drug-related, including two calls which resulted in Police filing charges against alleged offenders for possession of heroin with intent to supply.

However, he said that so many drug-related calls had come in that the Police's narcotics department was hard pressed to accommodate all the new information because of staff shortages.

The Police were actively investigating all the calls they had received but they could only pursue them with "limited resources'', he said.

Police spokeswoman Insp. Roseanda Jones said Commissioner Colin Coxall was "in the process'' of replacing officers in certain sections of the Police department with civilians.

She said he had drafted a letter to Cabinet and was now waiting for their approval. If the programme succeeded then half of the officers who were exchanged for civilians would join the narcotics section.

Members of the organisation held a press conference yesterday to inform the public of the programme's status and successes to date and to appeal to the private and business communities for funding.

Crime Stoppers spokesman Rev. Leonard Santucci thanked the public for calling in their information and said the arrests that had been made would not have been possible if it had not been for the quality and accuracy of tips the Police had received.

Mr. David Carruthers said the scheme hoped to promote harmony, stability and safety on the Island because " the more crime we can eradicate then the safer we can make Bermuda for ourselves and our visitors''.

Initial funding for the organisation had been provided by Government, he said, but there was little money left.

To start with, 25 per cent of callers said they wanted the reward but that number had now grown to 75 per cent which increased the demand on the organisation's funding.

Mr. Carruthers stressed that funding was needed for rewards if Crime Stoppers was going to be a success but admitted that it was hard to determine the actual amount needed because as more people called in information, more money would be needed to pay the informants whose tips proved useful.

The scale of payment was determined by Crime Stoppers' civilian board of directors and the amount depended on the type of offence, how many crimes were solved and how many people were arrested as a result of the information.