Reports of low morale within the Bermuda Police Service have resurfaced just days before the induction of new officers into its ranks.

The Police Service intends to give a ceremony welcoming the first group of 45 overseas officers to Bermuda, but Police sources said they doubted the new additions would make a dent in the suffering Service.

It is understood that discontent with the Service has grown to the point where some members of staff have quietly staged sick outs in protest over bad working conditions -- including poor building maintenance, staffing problems and pay.

Under the condition of anonymity, officers told The Royal Gazette that morale was at an all-time low, particularly in the Eastern Division.

"There is a definite problem,'' said one officer. "This is our busiest season with the cruise ships in.

"Not a night goes by when there isn't a problem at Freddies, but we can't properly deal with it because we have a manpower shortage.

"There are officers that call in sick because they are fed up with the Service.

"In over a year, seven people have left this department because of poor working conditions. There is so much talk about Bermudianisation, but they cannot properly recruit people of quality because there isn't a good working environment in the force.'' According to another officer, the condition of St. George's Police Station has drastically deteriorated in recent weeks.

A ceiling has collapsed and the building is infested with insects -- raising health concerns and making officers wonder why Police hierarchy would allow such working conditions.

"The Somerset station is state of the art,'' the officer said. "It's hard to understand why all the stations are not up to the same standards.

"They care more about the comfort of the prisoners rather than the comfort of their staff.'' In the past years, the Police Service has experienced its share of morale problems amid claims of racism, sexual harassment problems and unfair treatment of Bermudian officers.

As a result, Police Commissioner Jean-Jacques Lemay held a series of workshops late last year in a bid to develop a set of core values, a mission statement and a vision for the Service.

This allowed all officers within the Service a chance to voice their concerns and opinions about the ills facing the Police Service.

However The Royal Gazette understands the programme has since been suspended because of internal complications.

These latest developments have caused concerned officers to doubt Mr. Lemay's ability to run the Service as they feel he has failed to address their concerns.

"He was excellent as a deputy,'' the officer said, "but he has fallen into the same pattern as other commissioners.

"Now that he has to make the hard decisions, it's not that easy. Everything was hinging on that programme and he didn't care what the expense was, but in the end it just proved to be another exercise.'' A Police Media Relations spokesman refuted the claims.

Police morale at all time low He said: "Everyone had a chance to voice their concerns, civilians and Police. The purpose of the exercise was to gauge what was most important, but we are restructuring it and it is still ongoing.'' "We are aware of the working condition problems at St. George's station and we want the officers to be aware that these things are under negotiation with the Bermuda Police Association (BPA) and Government.

However, officers said the news was of little consolation to them because they believed Service chiefs were trying to heal a broken arm with a band-aid.