Firing Faster than Hiring?
In 2015, the Bermuda Police Service (BPS) had 420 employees – thought to be sufficient to allow the BPS to ‘meet the community’s minimal expectations in terms of our response to crime and visibility’. But over the years, the number of employees started shrinking like a melting ice cream cone in the sun.
By 2024 (9 years later), the BPS had just 358 employees left. Based on these figures:
The rate of loss per year is:
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62 employees lost over 9 years
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62 ÷ 9 = about 6.89 employees per year
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Let’s call it 6.89 employees disappear each year like magic.
420 ÷ 6.89 ≈ 60.96 years, let’s round it to 61 years.
If the constabulary keeps shrinking at the same rate, it will have zero employees in about 61 years from 2015, which means by the year 2076.
Additional factors:
- This assume a 420-strong constabulary, described as ‘minimum‘ (as above) is sufficient to tackle crime – should this increase, the number of officers required may need to be recalculated
- murders have increased in the past 10 years
- firearms incidents are up
- Disaffection may cause departure at a faster rate
- Negative publicity may make it harder to recruit.
