Bermuda’s Police Service: Decades of Dysfunction & Missed Opportunities

January 2025 – A recent damning assessment of the Bermuda Police Service (BPS) paints a picture of dysfunction and decline that seems to have worsened since the early 1990s. Coupled with the glaring fact that the most recent, troubling, crime statistics available are from 2022, serious questions must be raised: is the BPS unable – or unwilling – to provide updated data? What are they hiding?

The signs of systemic failure are hard to ignore. Looking back to 1990, one former officer questions whether the superficial responses to what his team unearthed back then paved the way for the current gang- and drug-fuelled crisis. “The missed opportunities, coupled with the vast amounts of money to be made from narcotics, have surely encouraged the rise of gangs and the violence that comes with them,” he says. “In a country as small as Bermuda, what else could sustain a gang culture warranting the murder of the competition?”

The question, however, remains: does anyone care?

Bermuda’s intense focus on the war against drugs seems to have had unintended – and, for some, perhaps welcome – consequences. While gang violence and narcotics-related crime dominate headlines, this singular focus has drained the BPS’s already-limited resources. Other major issues, like financial fraud and corruption, are left to fester in the shadows, with white-collar criminals benefitting from the lack of scrutiny. The result? Bermuda is not only battling drugs but also an undercurrent of unchecked criminal activity that is less visible but equally damaging.

A Culture of Fear and Control Within the Ranks

Concerns about officer welfare and internal misconduct appear to be as relevant now as they were 30 years ago. The former officer recalls his time with the BPS, describing a culture of control, suppression, and fear that stifled accountability.

“When I joined the Narcotics Department in the late 80s, I was given two conditions,” he recalls. “One, I had to help the department arrest over 1,000 people in a year – an absurd numbers game. And two, I had to stop representing fellow officers in disciplinary hearings.”

The second condition speaks volumes about the toxic culture within the BPS. Officers accused of wrongdoing were subjected to a disciplinary system stacked against them. Complaints were investigated, prosecuted, and judged by senior Officers – a clear conflict of interest?  To the former officer’s knowledge, no one had ever been acquitted at a BPS disciplinary hearing before he got involved.

He recounts one of his first cases: a UK officer pleaded not guilty, while his Bermudian co-defendant pled guilty – likely out of fear. In the end, both were acquitted. “They were victims of oppressive and incompetent conduct by senior Officers,” he says. “But the process was malicious. I, too, was threatened.”

“Bucking Authority”: A Convenient Excuse

By 1991, his five-year contract was up, his time in Bermuda ending with another example of the oppressive regime. under a cloud of suspicion. Accused of two vague and spurious actions: “bucking authority” (a charge so nebulous it was never fully explained) and attempting to record the head of the Narcotics Department.

On the latter charge, he provides context. The Narcotics Department was woefully under-equipped, operating without basic tools like a call-recording device. To fill the gap, he had purchased his own Dictaphone and microphone attachment to assist with investigations. The equipment became the basis for the allegation, but there was no evidence to support it. Despite his request for a formal disciplinary hearing to clear his name, the BPS refused and simply declined to renew his contract.

Ironically, the officer he was accused of recording – the head of Narcotics -was soon placed on gardening leave following the former officer’s report implicating him in an ongoing investigation. “He never returned,” the former officer notes.

Decades of Decay

Now, in 2025, the former officer reflects on the state of the BPS and concludes that little has changed. Fear still permeates the constabulary, and accountability remains elusive.

“Policing in Bermuda appears stuck in the same cycle of dysfunction that I witnessed decades ago,” he says. “Missed opportunities, internal power struggles, and a culture that prioritizes appearances over substance have allowed the current drug and gang crisis to flourish.”

As Bermuda grapples with its spiralling crime rate and the erosion of public trust in its police ‘service’, one thing is clear: until the BPS confronts its internal failings head-on, the island’s safety and stability will remain at risk.

Corroboration

It is easy to make allegations, particularly given the length of time that has passed.  But as with everything the officer said and did, he employed the ‘CYA Act’ (cover you a*se); it was necessary given what was being uncovered, what was happening.

The accusations (above) were made in late August 1990, a brief note of the meeting was recorded in the officer’s Diary, an A5 book that would be reviewed weekly by supervisory officers.  The entry and comment can be read here.

The transcript of a conversation linking the head of the Narcotics department to the officer’s ongoing investigation can be read here.

• insight extracts from a former officer, approached to write a detailed autobiography documenting his time in uniform and C.I.D with the BPS. His experiences, spanning years of dysfunction and missed opportunities within the BPS, aim to shed light on the systemic issues that have plagued the constabulary – and the country it is supposed to serve.

*officers & Officers.
An ‘officer’ (lower case ‘o’) is of the constable or sergeant rank.
An ‘Officer’ (upper case ‘O’) is of the rank Inspector and above