The Bermuda Police Association has launched a stinging attack on the Government’s negotiation team as their dispute over terms and conditions of employment continues.

Sergeant Andrew Harewood, the BPA’s chairman, claimed this afternoon that “we have been shown absolutely no respect”.

Sergeant Harewood also accused the Public Sector Negotiation Team comprising of Gary Phillips, Martin Law and John Harvey of “underhand” tactics by providing a one-sided report to Senator Jeff Baron without the “knowledge or input” of the BPA.

“As opposed to producing a collaborative report, to our disappointment Mr Phillips and his team went outside of the parameters of the agreement by presenting the PSNT perspective to the minister without the knowledge or input of the BPA,” Sergeant Harewood said. “Mr Phillips subsequently gave us a copy of the said one-sided report.

“This action by the PSNT is not in line with the Government’s strategy or transparency and we regard it as underhanded.

“The report is writhed with suppositions and half-truths and has done nothing but further erode the morale and commitment of the hardworking members of the BPA.

“It is utterly deplorable that the issue of health and welfare of the members was not addressed in the mentioned report despite being part of the agreement and is therefore quite disturbing and unconscionable.

“The highly prejudicial report by the PSNT stopped short of discounting the value of the police officers in Bermuda along with the risks that we face daily.

“The Government through the PSNT has acted in bad faith, and their actions only serve to frustrate the process and tarnish the agreement between the Government and the BPA.”

The association and the Ministry have been at loggerheads over terms and conditions of employment since 2015, as the Government has tried to cut spending in the Bermuda Police Service.

The row resulted in about 100 police officers gathering on Cabinet grounds in December 2015 to present complaints to Michael Dunkley, the Premier.

After the demonstration, a working group was tasked with producing a report exploring the issues surrounding government employees’ health insurance.

Last month the Ministry of National Security told The Royal Gazette that the BPA had failed to contribute to a report about the issues at stake, describing the report as “incomplete”.

But Sergeant Harewood said: “The BPA rejects the assertion that the BPA failed to produce a written report on the subject matter.

“The fact of the matter is that due to the complex nature of the issues affecting our member’s health, safety and healthcare the BPA and the Government of Bermuda agreed to discuss the subject exclusive of the previous negotiations.

“The BPA and the Government agreed to form a working group to examine the welfare of police officers as well as its members regarding healthcare costs and contributions under the Government Employment Health Insurance scheme.

“As a party to this arrangement the BPA in good faith and consideration of the importance of this matter, after and for the good of Bermuda agreed to the Working Group Terms of Reference to guide this review process.

“A caveat to this agreement was that at the end of the review the Working Group, the PSNT and the BPA would present an unbiased joint report detailing its findings to the Minister responsible.

“It was agreed that the first phase of this task would be a discussion on the issues, the second stage would be the preparation and production of a joint report.

“The discussions were very productive, although not moving as fast as we would have liked. This was due to the gravity of research required and availability to meet at times for a variety of reasons on both sides. We met on four occasions and were having communication via e-mail between meetings.”

Sergeant Harewood said that the BPA took its responsibility of public safety extremely seriously, but warned that an unhealthy police service is a danger to the public.

“Any change to our health benefits must be well calculated and we must ensure that it does not negatively affect public safety and is not unreasonable to our members,” he said.

“The Premier and Minister of National Security have pledged their support to ensure the safety of the public is maintained. We are confident they would not condone such mendacious behaviour from Mr Phillips and his team, hence that matter brought to the attention of the minister and a meeting was requested to discuss a way forward. We cautiously report that despite not having the meeting with the Minister thus far he has made a promise to do so.”

He added: “The BPA is fully committed to doing its part to assist Bermuda where it can. It is worth noting that we positively responded to Government’s fiscal programmes and gave over $4m in concessions on the backs of our members.

“When all other groups decided enough is enough we continued to make sacrifices from furlough to job losses.

“When all other groups can down tools by law the police cannot. We were the only Government department that suffered job losses. If the behaviour of the PSNT is any reflection of the current government’s view of the police, then there should be great concerns for public safety. We have been shown absolutely no respect.

“Nevertheless as we always do we will continue to work with the office of the Commissioner and the Government to ensure that public safety is not compromised.”