FROM NORTHERN IRELAND'S 'TROUBLES' TO COMMUNITY

Policing In Bermuda

"I have been shot at, I have been blown up, I have been involved in
an explosion where five officers were killed."

So says Bryan Bell, Bermuda's new Assistant Commissioner of Police,
who cut his teeth in Northern Ireland during 'The troubles' which
claimed well over 3,000 lives.

But those fearing Bermuda has recruited a hard-line British cop bent
on brute force Policing need not fear.

Mr. Bell's approach is about working with the community rather than
being at its throat.

"It's about trying to keep divided communities from harming each
other and bringing communities closer together."

He has been recruited for a three-year stint overseeing crime, drugs
and intelligence after a tough career which saw him rise through the
ranks after joining the the Royal Ulster Constabulary in 1975 as a
raw but committed 18-year-old.

His homeland was little more than a war zone where Police were seen
as legitimate assassination targets by the Irish Republican Army in
its bloody bid to force Britain to give up its hold on Northern Ireland.

Despite the bloodshed he was drawn to Policing.

"If values have been put in you by your parents and your community
you sometimes have to step up to the plate and do things.

"No one becomes a Police officer thinking you are going to become rich."

But it led to richer life experiences said Mr. Bell.

"You are dealing with some of the most tragic circumstances, whether
it is someone down and out or the person who has become bereaved.

"If you deal with it in a professional and sensitive way it keeps
you in touch with humanity.

"In that sense it is a fantastic career for people to aspire to."

The most depressing thing has been seeing parents keen to pass on
their own bitterness and hatred to their children.

"I recall a little child, maybe two-years-old on his parent's
shoulders and the parent made the child's hand into an obscene
gesture in front of my face."

It saddened him as he knew that child would be thrust into the
violence rather than protected from it and the whole vicious cycle
would continue into another generation.

"If life means anything it's how well you bring your children up and
give them a chance to live a happy life."

His own life was nearly cut short several times.

He recalls sitting in a Police training room when a bomb went off.

"The terrorists had planted it in a suspended ceiling -- I am still
a little bit nervous of suspended ceilings.

"In the middle of the class there was this fantastically loud bang,
flash and explosion.

"Colleagues were killed. The back of the building was blown out
completely and we were four floors up.

"How I stayed in the room I don't know. I think it was partly bad
construction. They used single blocks, the walls gave in so that let
a lot of the blast dissipate.

"We came around, alarms were ringing, we made our way to the door."

Then came the grim realisation that other officers weren't moving.

He suffered temporary hearing loss and minor scars on his fingers
from falling debris but counts himself lucky to live to tell the
tale although he said he has been involved in a number of explosions
on duty and off.

"They were all colleagues I worked with," said Mr. Bell. "You then
attend a series of Police funerals."

It was something he had to became used to.

"At some stages we had officers dying at such a rate we had to
schedule funerals so officers and the Police band could attend."

But he never wanted to quit and found himself running large public
disorder and counter terrorism operations, sometimes involving more
than 500 officers deployed on a single incident.

"Bad times reinforce your resolve that you have to do something with it.

"Using the problems we face here -- that's the time you need to dig deeper.

"There's no point in walking away from it. It won't go away, it will
only get worse."

He said drug activity was a major factor behind violent crime here.

"Serious criminals and drug barons fuel the street level use of
drugs and a lot of the anti-social behaviour."

Well aware that efforts have been made to combat the narcotics
menace he said it was now a case of co-ordinating many necessary
methods -- everything from street lighting and working in schools to
enforcement.

It was an approach he tried in the county of Cleveland, in the north
east of England, where he was responsible for operational policing
covering a population of 550,000 people after becoming Assistant
Chief Constable following his 23-year stint in Northern Ireland.

The largely urban area included many deprived, drug ridden pockets
where heroin addiction fuelled a murderous crime wave.

Tackling Cleveland's heroin problem involved everything from helping
get teen prostitutes off the street and encouraging doctors not to
turn away addicts, to international anti-drug operations. "I won't
say it went away but it was not as bad as it could have been had we
not taken steps."

He acted as deputy chief constable working with a $115 million
budget and 2,000 staff before taking on the newly-created role of
co-ordinating the Special Branches from the UK's 55 separate Police
forces after 9/11.

The concept of melding different branches of Policing is something
that has applications here, said Mr. Bell who had achieved the rank
of Deputy chief constable before he left Britain.

Already all too familiar with the dangers of guns he said Police
would be robust in their response.

But ultimately the criminals will be on the run when the community
has had enough and works to remove the gang culture.

"That requires courage -- parents and family who know what's going
on -- to not turn a blind eye and think it's going to go away.

"In Belfast one of the big things which turned the tide was when
mothers got together from different sides of the community and
decided that they had had enough.

"In some ways it's a little bit like that here."

Mr. Bell, 49, said too many people withheld information because they
assumed it was obvious and Police would already know.

"Sometimes we might not know. It's better when people aren't complacent."

But a tiny bit of information, which might seem irrelevant to most,
can crack a case said Mr. Bell.

"I remember a very junior officer who stopped a young chap going
along the road and diligently made a note of his clothing.

"Two days later a murder was committed and a fragment of clothing
was left behind that fully fitted that description.

"At the time it didn't seem that important but it turned out to be
extremely important."

He said Police already had a Community Beat Office working on
building public support.

"I suspect part of the reason why I have been brought here is to
make sure we join up from the grass roots officers in the street
right through to our serious crime and narcotic departments so we
are fully joined up. "Every officer and indeed upstanding member
of community needs to take a responsibility in tacking these issues."

He said Bermuda still had a strong sense of community, already lost
in many other places in the world, which could be levered.

"It's something that Bermudians need to value and not take for granted."

Asked if people might question why an outsider was necessary he said
part of his goal was to make sure his replacement was a local and he
has set a goal of improving intelligence gathering and passing on
his experience of running a large organisation. He came to know
about Bermuda after meeting current commissioner George Jackson and
his predecessor Jonathan Smith at a senior command course in England
years ago.

And he was inspired to apply for his current post after being
impressed with their professional resolve and enthusiasm.

"They beguiled me with stories of how beautiful Bermuda was.

"They also struck me as two Police officers of high moral integrity,
commitment and belief in what they were doing and belief in Bermuda.

"That struck me as something I would be happy to work with.

"I think Bermuda has a high reputation, quite rightly, as one of
those special places in the planet.

"I was honoured and proud to have been chosen to come here.

"I have always been someone who wants to share and learn experience
around the world."

That desire took him to South Africa as part of an international
monitoring team which helped transform its Police force from the
apartheid era into a community focused organisation.

He had regularly gone back.

Life in Bermuda is a huge contrast to cold, rainy Belfast and
Cleveland, admits Mr. Bell. But at its core the job has some
fundamentals which never go away.

"The scale might be different, the scale of violence might be
different but fundamentally Policing comes down to the community."