Vexed Bermoothes

The Lt. Colonel Burch is getting a lot of flack about his comments to the media exhorting the police to use “decisive, aggressive and appropriately violent action” in fighting crime.

I’d like to cut the man some slack.  It’s feel the love day, people!  Yes, he can be a “slow motion train wreck” in terms of PR but to his credit he does speak his mind – sometimes good, sometimes scary.  He is also one of the few ministers who seems to thrive on the details of his portfolio.

Many of our political leaders ignore the public and media entirely, or produce such over-spun meaningless waffle as this gem yesterday from our Physician-in-Chief:

“strategically maximise the operational effectiveness of Bermuda’s municipal operations so as to be reflective of the overall strategic and policy aims of the Government of Bermuda”.

In this case, Minister Burch’s precise words were a gaffe.  But I think his underlying sentiment – of wanting the Police to be less passive – are held by many in the community. He’s the Minister in charge of public safety – he’s in a position to get the Police moving.

There’s a good letter to the editor in the Daily:

“Public sentiment (towards the end of the UBP Government) wanted the emphasis to be on rehabilitation and greater rights for individuals who were brought into police custody. That shift mirrored attitudes in most countries, and the end result was that the Bermuda Police Force became the Bermuda Police Service and for the last ten years or so we got what we asked for, a less aggressive, less proactive, less visible police service. In those same years the criminal element became more aggressive, more organised and more violent. ”

The pendulum has swung too far.  It’s time for the Police to assert their authority more actively.  From his previous statements, it sounds like Lt. Colonel Burch will be behind them when the inevitable complaints start.

I also agree with the Opposition’s proposal that it’s time for an independent review of Police deployment, and an update on where we stand on the Police accreditation that was started in 2003.  Bermuda’s crime stats are bad – and are likely to get worse in the decaying economic environment.  The community needs to know how the Police are going to take a more effective bite out of it.

Finally, it’s cosmic how much Minister Burch sounds like the “law and order” UBP in the last election!  I wonder how he gets along with Marc Bean of “the neo-fascists want to lock us all up” fame?