Commissioner after the pair gave mixed messages over recruiting foreign officers earlier this week.

Police Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay had gone on record on Monday saying permission had been given to recruit foreign male Policemen on short-term contracts to help cover the staffing crisis -- but Ms Cox then said Cabinet had yet to agree to this and Mr. Lemay had been premature and discourteous.

At yesterday's Passing Out Parade for new recruits she gave few hints about what was actually on the table.

She said: "The paper which will go to Cabinet shortly will be a hefty one but that is about all I can say without breaching the oath I took on being sworn into the Cabinet.'' Ms Cox said: "Let me disabuse you of any notion that there is a simmering rift between the Commissioner and I. I like working with him.'' However she did admit that she and the Commissioner did not see eye to eye on everything.

"I respect the Commissioner. However that doesn't mean that when I have healthy concerns that I will not speak frankly. The Commissioner is not there to be a yes man and I am not there to play the role of yes Minister.

"In any relationship there will sometimes be a different way of doing things but it does not mean that because there are differences that there is acrimony, bitterness or a rift.'' And yesterday Ms Cox also appeared to take a swipe at critics in her own party who had been vocal on Police manning problems, including backbencher Wayne Perinchief who had said Police manpower could plummet further with resignations expected in the spring.

She added: "I don't know if a day goes by when there isn't something about the Police Service, the Commissioner or the Minister. I can assure you, however, that I and I alone speak for the Government on Police matters.'' Cox denies rift with Lemay However Shadow Home Affairs spokesman Michael Dunkley said: "She says she alone speaks for the Government, not Derrick Burgess or Wayne Perinchief. I would have thought the Premier should speak for the Government.

"This is an exercise in damage control.'' Ms Cox said the Police were being expected to solve crime single-handed.

She said: "In Bermuda, too often, we are in a state of denial about issues of crime relating to the Police and the Police strategy. Too many people conclude that issues of crime are solely related to the Police and Police strategy.

"Not so. The Police always become an easy target for dysfunction within the community.'' She added: "The community has a role to play. Issues of crime are not solely linked to Police apprehending criminals -- it also relates to how we rear our people, the family, how we treat criminals, the social and economic conditions.

"That is not rocket science, but when you listen to some public utterances one begins to wonder.'' However Mr. Dunkley said it was the Government that was in a state of denial about the problems facing an undermanned Police service.

He said: "A lot of what she says there I agree with. It's got to be a multi-faceted approach. However the Police have to be equipped to do their job.''