Police -- but Gertrude Barker is tipped to be the odds-on favourite.

Governor Thorold Masefield is due to reveal which of the four internal candidates will take over the top job when Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay leaves in April. He could make the successor known to the public as early as this afternoon, but, at the outside, the new Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner should have been announced within the next 48 hours.

Each of the candidates are Superintendents, who have spent many months in rotating acting roles as Deputy and Assistant Commissioner.

They are black born-Bermudian Gertrude Barker, white born-Bermudian Jonathan Smith, George Jackson, who is a status Bermudian from the Caribbean, and Vic Richmond, who is a status Bermudian from Scotland.

It is believed to have been a hard-fought battle for the top post, but insiders think Ms Barker will be made chief, and Jonathan Smith her deputy.

The interview panel, made up of Mr. Lemay, Deputy Governor Tim Gurney, Labour and Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Robert Horton, and Director of Personnel Services Judith Hall-Bean, had to reach a unanimous decision before agreeing the positions.

Barker tipped for top post The new Commissioner will be offered a three-year contract, with a further three years an option under mutual agreement. This is the same as that offered to Director of Public Prosecutions Khamisi Tokunbo.

Once both the posts of Commissioner and Deputy are announced, the process for filling the rank of Assistant Commissioner will then begin.

But once all three of the top jobs are taken, it is expected that there will then be three vacant Superintendent positions available.

The Chief Inspectors thought to be in the running for the posts are Norman Ingemann, Steve Shaw, Derek Smith, Vendall Bridgeman, Carlton Adams, Sinclair White, Randolph White, and Roseanda Jones.

Chief Inspector Larry White has made it clear to The Royal Gazette that he will not be putting himself forward for the posts.

Interviews for those posts are expected to be held internally by Mr. Lemay.

Premier goes for Peugeot look Commenting generally about the management of the Government Personnel cars, Mr. Scott said the purchase of the new car represented the policy of continuing to replace aging vehicles in the GP executive fleet by having them cascade down the line of the fleet to the GP pool and then out of service when they became mechanically inoperable.

However, Mr. Scott said the plan for GP1 was to have it exported for sale outside of Bermuda.

The petrol-driven 607 can either have a 2.2 litre or 3.0 litre engine and can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 9.6 seconds.

The 2.2 version has a top speed of 136 mph and is 191.68 inches long -- more than 22 inches longer than the permitted car size in Bermuda.