March 4, 2020

Deputy Leader. Oh, I am sorry.
The Deputy Premier. (Sorry) And also to the family of Sharon Wales, from Cut Road, St. George’s. That was definitely a shock for us St. Georgians. But we ass ociate MP Tyrrell with t hose comments. We keep her
and her family in our prayers during this difficult time.
And on a happier note, Mr. Speaker, I would
like to congratulate the participants of the 8
th annual
Bermuda Debate and Public Speaking Competition, and in particular Ms. McKenzie- Kohl Tuckett, who
placed first in her category. I think that is a young lady
whose name we hear often around this House. And I
think that —

Good morning, Bermuda.
Mr. Speaker, I am not sure if it was mentioned
already, but I would like to give condolences to the
friends and family of Ms. Keita Wilson. She was Campaign Manager for MP Tinee Furbert, and she was a
PLP stalwart. She was a young lady who . . . everybody wants to be associated. She was a young lady
who helped everybody. She was a mother of two young sons, one who is in university. And I want ev eryone to please give MP Tinee Furbert support that she needs, because that was essentially her sister.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to also give cond olences to the family of Ms. Anna Bento of Poinciana Estate. That falls under constituency 12, but falls un-der Devonshire.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I want to join everybody on
speaking about Mr. Dingback Simmons. What was not
mentioned was that he was actually a chairman of a Devonshire branch, constituency 13 to be precise. He was a chairman when we needed a chairperson. He was a chairman four years ago when we ran a byeelection, a successful bye-election under his gui dance. (Well, if anyone knows what his guidance means , it means, Hey, do that here! Do that there!
You ain’t seen this person! I ain’t seen you guys on my street! ) We won. Four years ago we won that bye -
election.
Four years ago this month he also led people
to surround that House. And then four years ago on December 2
nd he led people in front of the gates of
that same House. So my point is that I concur with everyone in here that in the highs and lows, Mr. Glenn
“Dingback” Simmons was a leader of our Bermudian
people. And he will be sorely missed. And for that, we must say, Uni ted we stand.
[
Inaudible interjection]

Thank you, Honourable Member.
Does any other Honourable Member wish to
speak?
We recognise the Minister of Finance. Mini ster, you have the floor.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Mr. Speaker, thank you
for your indulgence. I would like to be associated with
the comments by colleagues for Glenn Simmons,
“Ding-back” as I know him from bac k in the day s in
Somer-set.

Ber muda House of Assembly But I would like to shift gears slightly and off er
some congratulations. Mr. Speaker, in my family,
birthdays are very, very, very important affairs. And today is the 16
th birthday of my younger son. I normally would not talk about this, because he would not want me to. But because they are living in Ne w York
now we do not get to do the normal thing that we do,
which is gather all family together to have cake and
ice cream and just have a happy birthday. So on this occasion I would like to have the House send my son, John, his Happy 16
th Birthday wishes, please.
Thank you.
Th
e Speaker: I hope he is tuned in listening even
though he is overseas.
Hon. Curtis L. Dickinson: Well, I told him that I
was going to do this.
[Lau
ghter]
Th
e Speaker: Good.
Mr. Scott. Honourable Member, you have the
floor.
Ho
n. Michael J. Scott: Good morning, Mr. Speaker.
Th
e Speaker: Good morning.
Ho
n. Michael J. Scott: I rise and associate myself
with these important and fine condolences to a true
social justice champion, Mr. Simmons. And may I be associated with the father’ s congratulations to his 16 -
year-old just making his way in life.
Mr. Speaker, on a further note, I ask that this
Honourable House send condolences to the family of
Mr. Walter Kenneth “JU” Dill to his wife, Cheryllyn Dill.
I would like to associate Ms. Gordon- Pamplin.
[Inaudible interjection]
Ho
n. Michael J. Scott: Was that? Then I ask to be
associated with the condolences. I want to associate my colleague, Mr. Neville Tyrrell, who has a family connection through his wife with Ju- Ju. Ju -Ju and
Cheryllyn , I certainly grew up and went to school with
Cheryl. And I know that at this time she would appr eciate the condolences that are being offered as she goes through this sad time of the loss of her helpmate and life mate in Ju- Ju Dill.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Th
e Speaker: Thank you, Mr. Scott.
Mr. Richards, would you like to add a contr ibution?
Mr
. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Th
e Speaker: You have the floor.
Mr
. Sylvan D. Richards, Jr.: Yes, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to be associated with the condolences to [the family of] Mr. Glenn “Dingback” Si mmons. His contributions to Bermuda and the Labour Movement are well known. So I do extend my condolences to his family.
And I also want to take some time to be ass ociated with the condolences that the House is sending
for Ms. Keita Wilson. I knew Keita from social circles. My sister and Keita were good friends. We had good times together at parties. And the last time I saw her
was actually about a month ago at a fundraiser for a
relative of mine who is suffering from cancer. And
Keita was there. And we had a good chat, and we laughed. And you know, life is funny. Never in a mi llion years would I have thought that that would have been the last time that I would lay eyes on Keita. A
lovely you ng lady.
And you know, she worked full -time in international business, so I know her from her time working in
the industry. And she will be a great, great miss. I know that a lot of people, including MP Tinee Furbert,
are devastated by her sudden passing, as are all of
her friends and family. So I just wish to take time to
wish condolences to her two sons and her family. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Th
e Speaker: Thank you, Honourable Member.
Does any other Honourable Member wish to
contribute?
None? Before w e close out the condolences
and congratulations, just let me add my comments to the many comments that have already been ex-pressed on the passing of Glenn “Dingback” Si mmons.
As a Somerset boy, I think I have known
Glenn since primary school days. And he has always
been, as described, a character, but always had lead-ership quality. The last occasion I had to see him was
two weeks ago, actually. I visited his church. He was a
member of the Devonshire Seventh- day Adventist
Church. And I was there on that occasion because one of my sons preached that day. But it was the last time I had to see him. And I am glad of the lasting memory I have, and he will be in the House of the
Lord. And with that, I add my condolences to those
that have been expressed to the fam ily.
We will now move on.
MATTERS OF PRIVILEGE
Th
e Speaker: There are none.
PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS
Th
e Speaker: There are none.
3316 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly NOTICE OF MOTIONS FOR THE
ADJOURNMENT OF THE HOUSE
ON MATTERS OF URGENT
PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Members, and members of the general
public who are listening in, we are here to continue
the annual Budget Debate. And at this time we will
resume in Committee for the debate to proceed. And is standard for this process, the Speaker is out of the
House for the rest of the day until we finish Commi ttee. So we are going to ask the Mini ster to move us,
and then the Deputy Speaker will come and chair the Committee sessions.

Honourable Members, good morning.
We are now in Committee of Supply for further consideration of the Estimates of Revenue and Expend iture for the year 2020/21. We are going to hear the
Heads 83, 06, 07, 12, 25, 27 and 45. They are now all to be debated.
I call on the Minister in charge to proceed.
Minister, you have the floor.

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL SECURITY

Hon. Wayne Caines: Good morning, Madam Chai rman. I move the following heads: M inistry of National
Security Headquarters, Head 83; Defence, Head 7;
the Police, Head 6; Customs, Head 12; Department of
Corrections, Head 25; Fire Services, Head 45, be now
taken under consideration.

HEAD 83 —MINISTRY OF NATIONAL SECURITY
HEADQUARTERS

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, Honourable
Members, I am pleased to present the current accounts estimate for the Ministry of National Security
Headquarters, Head 83, which can be found starting
at pages B -277 to B -279 of the Estimates of Revenue
and Expenditure book.
Mission

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the mission
of the Ministry of National Security Headquarters is
Working together to keep you safe .
Madam Chairman, the Ministry’s departmental
objectives are to finalise the strategic plan for the Mi nistry, execute comprehensive immigration reform, reallocate and realign financial resources within the Mini stry, launch Bermuda’s first Coast Guard, implement a
Ministry -wide succession planning approach, formalise and enhance collaboration and team environment
between the Ministry’s heads of departments and
build frameworks and legislation for the Disaster Risk
Reduction and Mitigation Unit and Cybersecurity Unit.
Madam Chairman, the Ministry also facilitates
the delivery of the policing strategy of the Bermuda Police Service and promotes the role of the Bermuda
Regiment.
Madam Chairman, there are several boards
and committees that fall under the Ministry’s remit,
including:
• Parole Board;
• Treatment of Offenders Board;
• Police Complaints Authority ;


Bermuda House of Assembly • War Veterans Commission;
• Board of Immigration; and
• Immigration Appeals Tribunal .
Madam Chairman, the Ministry of National
Security Headquarters’ budget allocation is
$2,372,000 for the year 2020/21, and it represents an
increase of $312,000, or a 15 per cent increase. This
increase is due to the net effect of the salary for the
Permanent Secretary being reallocated to the Cabinet Office, the reallocation of the Cybersecurity Officer
from IDT to our Ministry, the addition of a budget for
the Gang Violenc e Reduction programme and the
Immigration Appeals Tribunal. The Ministry will also
be converting an existing administrator’s post to that
of a management accountant.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Wayne Caines: In 2019, Bermuda was fort unate not to have any fatalities due to gun violence.
The success was due to a result of the combined efforts between Bermuda Police Service, Gang Violence
Reduction Team [GRVT], and to our community as a
whole.
The budget for the Gang Violence Reduction
Team was $580,000. The Gang Violence Reduction
Team will continue to effectively provide community
outreach; intervention and prevention services; and
therapeutic programmes to at -risk individuals, families
and schools involved and affected by violent crime in Bermuda.
The team operates from a coordinated plan to
tackle gang violence and antisocial behaviour through a series of strategically designed prevention, intervention and rehabilitation programmes and initiatives.
Madam Chairman, for 2019/20, the Gang Vi olence Reduction Team successfully implemented the
following pilot programmes:
1) Launched a 32- week Redemption Farm Initiative with 10 participants.
• Trainees have received over 60 personal development, job training and life skills sessions,
completed over 70 farming sess ions and r eceived individual case management sessions .
• The Gang Violence Reduction Team assisted
in over 25 crisis situations. These crisis situa-tions include family situations, economic situations, community situations and some signif icant life events. The Gang Violence Reduction Team also provides the young men nontraditional case management support to trai nees in other certain circumstances within the
programme.
• In March 2020, eight of trainees will transition
into a four -to-six-week work placement trial in
hotel, shipping, construction, plumbing and
carpentry industries throughout the Island,
and two have enrolled in educational pr ogrammes. 2) Designed, developed and launched the
summer 2019 and s pring 2020 Work Placement and
Mentoring Initiative.
• Fifteen local companies offered the opportunity to host 14 student employees for a six -
week training programme.
o 13 out of 14 students , or 93 per cent ,
completed the programme;
o 118 job coaching sessions delivered;
o 11 out of 14, or 79 per cent , were offered an additional two paid weeks;
o 7 out of 14, or 50 per cent , of the st udents were hired in ful l-time or in parttime positions;
o 13 out of 14 students , or 93 per cent ,
of the parents reported that their chi ldren stayed clear of antisocial behaviour.
3) The programme delivered and implemented the Targeted Primary Prevention Programmes.
• The programme is currently being delivered at
Victor Scott and Elliot Primary Schools. This
includes 14 [experiential -based] sessions d elivered to targeted students in Primary 5 and
6.
• The sessions focus on building self -
confidence, self -esteem, positive relationshipbuilding skills, teamwork and resilience. The programme is designed to reduce risk factors,
to enhance protective factors, to increase academic motivation and to inc rease developmental factors in the young people.
The Gang Violence Reduction Team conti nues to provide [incident] management support for our
community and schools with support in managing
gang- affiliated incidents. Providing immediate [upon
request] suppor t when incidents occur, coordinating
and leading multi -agency meetings to assess and di sseminate information pertaining to gang- related inc idents, holding mediations and negotiations and tr iaging to services and support on a case- by-case b asis.
The Gang Violence Reduction Team supports
the targeted intervention programmes at CedarBridge
Academy and the Berkeley Institute. In this school
year, the Gang Violence Reduction Team will be par tnering with the Berkeley MILE Programme and
launching the My Ambition Programme at CedarBridge Academy.
The various support services to our high
schools include incident management support services to administration teams, restorative justice sessions, student mediations, student referrals and daily
student check -ins, ind ividual case management services and small group sessions. We are also working
with the school teams to provide individual student,
parent and family support sessions.


3318 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Plans for 2020/21

Hon. Wayne Caines: Plans for 2020/21 include the
following:
1. Complet e a comprehensive review of the R edemption Farm pilot programme and a plan to
make changes based off the recommendations of our professionals. Between July and
September 2020 launch the next pilot pr ogramme with new trainees .
2. Cont inue to manage, support [ and train ] the
three part-time community outreach workers
to support our at -risk population.
3. Launch the bullying app into the middle and high schools .
4. Continue to provide case management sup-port, mediations, negotiations and restorative circle groups in our schools and in the community .
5. Continue to provide support to the high school intervention programmes at Cedar Bridge
Academy, Berkeley Institute and Success
Academy .
6. Continue to deliver the targeted pri mary pr evention programmes in three targeted primary schools .
7. Develop and launch a safe house programme.
8. Continue to deliver the work place ment and
mentoring initiatives.
Madam Chairman, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation Team [DRRM] will have a budget of $95,000, down from the 2019/20 budget of
$173,000, or a difference of $78,000. The reduction is primarily due to the reallocation of funds required for
the management accountant post and consultant cost
for projects.
In the National Security and Defence Review
in 2014 by the Bermuda Government, the following
initiatives were recommended:
• establish a National Disaster Planning [NDP]
office;
• establish a National Disaster [Management]
Policy;
• establish a National Disaster Planning Office
led by a National Disaster Coordinator ;
• update the emergency pow ers;
• update the EMO mandate and standing instruction;
• update the [ Emergency ] Powers Act 1963;
• review the Emergency Measures Organisation
executive and second- tier structure;
• establish memoranda of understanding
(MOUs) with international agencies;
• make prov ision for the special needs of seniors and vulnerable persons;
• disaster preparedness information must be
updated, and public education campaigns
must be implemented; • networks of emergency relief centres must be
established;
• establish a contingency plan for handling
mass casualties; and
• improve communications with other emergency organi sations.

Background Information

Hon. Wayne Caines: Police Inspector Steve Cosham
was seconded to the Ministry to hold the title of N ational Disaster Coordinator as of April 1
st, 2015.
Under the direction of PS Marc Telemaque,
now Cabinet Secretary, a paper for discussion was
submitted on August 28, 2017, for the establishment
of disaster management legislation and National Di saster Planning Office led by the National Disaster C oordinator. This cabinet paper was discussed on September 19, 2017.
A further Cabinet paper for decision was
submitted in January 2018 for the establishment of the
Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation Department.
This paper was returned due to budget constraints,
and no new government positions were created.

Duties Performed

Hon. Wayne Caines: The National Disaster Coordinator engages with stakeholders who own the r equired national disaster contingency plans. They c oordinate and stimulate the develo pment, training, exercising and updating of the required national disaster
contingency plans. And they must have a good wor king knowledge of the national disaster contingency
plans. They must be able to advise the Emergency
Measures Organisation as [soon as] possible. They
must engage with all communities and develop and
update the various national disasters and contingency plans. (I crave your indulgence, Madam.)

[Pause]

DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND
MITIGATION TEAM

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Disaster
Risk Reduction and Mitigation Team will be engaged in the following projects:
1. Cruise s hips. The team will build on the preparations and exercises held in 2018 and will engage stakeholders to develop contingency
plans for cruise ships, starting wit h the regular
cruise ships that visit Dockyard. Once completed this will expand to other ports.
2. Chemical f acilities. The team will work with
SOL, RUBiS, prisons, residents and bus inesses in the Ferry Reach area to develop contingency plans for the fuels.


Bermuda House of Assembly 3. A counter terrorism strategy. They will work
with US entities engag ing with Bermuda
agencies to develop a meaningful counterterrorism exercise at the airport in 2020.
4. Cybersecurity. They will d evelop a cybersec urity strategy to make government and critical agencies that support Bermuda and make
sure that we have a more robust strategy for
dealing with cybersecurity threats.
5. Training. The Disaster Risk Reduction and Mitigation Team will hold training workshops to ensure that the executive and other agencies that support the Emergency Measures
Organisation understand their role and work
cohesively.
6. Emergency br oadcast facility. They will u pgrade the emergency broadcast station on 100.1FM from analogue to digital and ensure
that the radio station is robust should we experience a hurricane or another emergency.

Capital Projects
Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, in the coming fiscal year, the Ministry will be bringing on board
the remainder of the departments to the public safety
communications system and it w ill be completed for all
testing.
Madam Chairman, this completes the presentation for Head 83.
Madam Chairman, with your leave I would like
to proceed to Head 6, Defence.

Yes.

HEAD 6 —DEFENCE

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, Head 6
comprises the Defence Department, the Royal Bermuda Regiment (or the RBR for short).
The Regiment’s role is to provide a capable
and adaptable force across a spectrum of duties. The
Royal Bermuda Regiment performs a number of irr eplaceable roles that facili tate stability on our Island.
The only organisation to have elements that are held at readiness in order to respond to natural and man-made disasters (both on and off the Island), plus routine, surge, and specialist support to the Bermuda P olice and the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Services. The
only government department that does not incur overtime expenses.
The primary legislation affecting this Royal
Bermuda Regiment is the Defence Act 1965, the Ro yal Bermuda Regiment Governor’s Orders 1993, His Excellency ’s Directive to the Commanding Officer
dated 21 September 2018, the Bermuda Volunteer
(Reserve Force) Act 1939 and the Royal Bermuda
Regiment Junior Leaders Act 2015.
Mandate

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, under the
authority of the Defence Act 1965 , the Royal Bermuda
Regiment’s mandate is to be a military force maintai ning the necessary standards of manpower, training
and equipment to enable it to perform its assigned
roles efficiently and effectively. The Regiment is co ntinuously training to remain at a state of readiness in
order to accomplish its role, its missions and tasks for
local and potentially overseas operations.

Mission and Roles

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Reg iment has completed a five -year internal review study
and has [started implementing] the first elements. It is
a living document, and it will be used as a baseline for
the newly appointed commanding officer as he sets
out to meet the vision and needs over the next five
years.
As stated earlier the Bermuda Regiment’s mis sion
statement has been changed to, to protect Bermuda’s
interests , and following the mission has seen a
change over the past year, [including]:
• to recruit and retain an all -volunteer force, 31
new recruits and retain a retention rate of
75 per cent ;
• further integration with the Emergency
Measures Organi sation in responding to humanitarian aid and disaster relief ( commonly
called HADR) [operations ];
• implement and force- generate a full -time pr ofessional inshore Coast Guard capability.

Coast Guard

Hon. Way ne Caines: In adherence to the Defence
(Coast Guard) Amendment Act 2018, the Coast
Guard has been established in order to secure Bermuda’s territorial waters out to 12 nautical miles.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment is happy to report
that in partnership with the Bermuda Police Service,
on Thursday, 6 February 2020, after 40 years of plan-ning and discussions they officially launched the Bermuda Coast Guard, which will be working as a joint
unit until April 1, 2021, out of Watford House in Doc kyard.
Over this n ext year they will be developing a full -
time Coast Guard capability that can undertake the
following tasks once approved:
• meet the standards required to pass the IMO
III evaluation;
• provide a 24- hour search and rescue capacity
coordinated by the Maritime Operations Centre;
• enforcement of Bermuda’ s inshore maritime
laws;
3320 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • support HM Customs to interdict marine
smuggling operations ;
• support the Department of Environment and
Natural Resources to enforce fisheries regul ations ; and
• support the Department of Mari ne and Ports
to enforce maritime regulations and ensure
maritime border and p ort security.

Funding

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the total
funding for Defence in this coming year is $7,959,000.
This reflects an increase of $750,000, which is 10 per
cent more than the budget in 2019/20. All of this funding and $746,000 of this money will be used to fund
nine new full -time members and the operations
[$1,496,000] of the newly launched Coast Guard, as
you will see at page B -281.
Again, Madam Chairman, the funding of this
increase will be used to staff and fund the newly cr eated Coast Guard. The newly created Coast Guard
will be used for search and rescue, enforcement of
inshore maritime laws, to support HM Customs to i nterdict marine smuggling, to support the Department
of Environmental and Natural Resources, to enforce
maritime fisheries and to support the Department of
Marine and Ports to enforce maritime regulations and
to ensure maritime and border security in Bermuda.

Capital Acquisition Funding

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Ministry
of National Security has approved $51,000 of capital
acquisition funding for Defence. This funding will allow
the Bermuda Regiment to continue with its refurbis hment of a 27- foot Boston whaler for the new Coast
Guard, with additional funding provided for the much-needed replacement of the information technology
and law enforcement systems. Although the Royal Bermuda Regiment did not receive the capital funding
that was in the forecast requirement, they have been
provided adequate funding to establish nine full -time
Coast Guard officers. Additionally, they are leveraging
their relationships with the UK’s Ministry of Defence
for procurement of equipment that are most compet itive at UK rates and exploring acquisit ion of surplus
equipment.

Personnel

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Bermuda
Regiment currently employee 31 full -time staff, of
whom all but three are military personnel. With the
start-up of the new Coast Guard they will now employee 39 full -time staff. The three civilian staff are
employed in the administration of recruitment, accounting and grounds maintenance at the Warwick
Camp. The Royal Bermuda Regiment currently have
263 part -time soldiers enlisted, giving the total staff at
294. Although t his number is below their required o perational strength [of 400], they have seen a steady
increase over the last year. Their recruiting is taking hold, and they have now implemented an auxiliary,
which acts as a ready reserve of recently retired so ldiers w ith a limited service liability. The strength is
400, Madam Chairman. And the acting strength right now is 294.

Output Measures and Objectives

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Reg iment successfully met the evaluation standards for
competency and currency in its two main outputs of
Force Protection, and Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief.
In February the Regiment had a successful
recruit camp, with 31 volunteers participating, which
was better than the revised measure on page B -284.
There will be an additional recruit camp in July 2020.
The Regiment hosted five potential officers from the Cayman Islands and has been requested to deliver
training to its initial 50 soldiers to the cost of the Ca yman Islands.
Further, the Turks and Caicos Islands hav e
made a similar request for assistance establishing a
military unit based off of our Royal Bermuda Reg iment. The Royal Bermuda Regiment has been ident ified as the centre of excellence for the UK Overseas Territories for its military capability.
In order to address the challenges of recrui ting, the Royal Bermuda Regiment has entered into a partnership with the Bermuda Police Service for the
operations of the Outward Bound school, which is attended by over 800 students each year. This will allow the unit t o positively influence young people regarding
military service so that when they reach the age of
majority they will make an informed decision.
Preparatory training has been established for
the three overseas training events, and the events are as follow s:
• The newest non- commissioned officers will
undergo a command and leadership training
and evaluation at Camp Lejeune in May 2020.
• A Company will develop their F orce Protection, common core skills and A dventurous
Training also at Camp Lejeune in May 2020.
• A team of specialists will deliver F orce Protection and Public Order training to the Guianese
Defence Forces and other Caribbean nations during Exercise Tradewinds in June 2020.
• Locally, the Royal Bermuda Regiment will
conduct externally certified chains aw oper ations, as well as working at heights , to mit igate the risk when they conduct post -disaster
operations.



Bermuda House of Assembly Major Achievements

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Royal
Bermuda Regiment is primarily a part -time organis ation that conducts all the roles you would expect from
a regular unit. This includes the following:
• Provid e an immediate response to the effects
of Hurricanes Humberto and Jerry .
• The Potential Junior Non- Commissioned O fficers (PJNCO) Cadre were examined at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, in May 2019, maintaining a high standard for young Berm udian commanders .
• B Company [HADR] excelled at their training
exercise at Tradewinds in June 2019, in St.
Vincent and Grenadines, as part of a multi -
national HADR exercise practicing the r egions’ res ponse mechanism to natural disasters. This exercise proved Bermuda’s capacity
to operate in joint operations on land, sea and air, focusing on regional cooperation in complex multi -national security operations.
• A Company (MACA) were evaluated at the
Lydd & Hythe training complex in Kent in the
UK in late September 2019. They received the
Ministry of Defence certification for Internal Security operations.
• The Royal Bermuda Regiment Boat Troop conducted local operation s in support to the
Bermuda Police Serv ice Maritime Section
throughout the peak boating season. Additionally, they will continue in training in local disaster mitigation exercises with regards to oil spills and other man- made or natural disasters, which were used during the boat fire in Dockyar d earlier this year.
• The Royal Bermuda Regiment provided sec urity and marshalling for the I nternational Triathlon in April 2019 and other national events.
• The Royal Bermuda Regiment continues to
work closely with the Bermuda Police Service,
including the Joint Service Explosive Or dnance Disposal [JSEOD] and the Underwater
Search and Rescue Team (or USRT) training.
• The Royal Bermuda Regiment is committed to
investing in its people, and they saw four
graduates from its GED program this current
year.

Closing Remarks
Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the Royal
Bermuda Regiment is essential to Bermuda’s land
and sea defence and protecting the interests at home
and regionally. No other similar jurisdiction can boast
an organisation that compares with the capability,
proud traditions, ethos, training and management
which can be found within Bermuda’s Regiment. The
implementation of the Coast Guard, while nascent, demonstrates that given the correct resources it can make meaningful transitions for Bermuda’s needs .
Madam Chairman, with your leave I would like
to go to Head 7, the Bermuda Police Service.

HEAD 7 —BERMUDA POLICE SERVICE

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Bermuda Police Service
[BPS] has received a budget settlement for the financial year 2020/21 of $61,802,000. In light of this budget the Bermuda Police Service intends [to progress] its
7 Ambitions Change Programme. This will build upon
the historic achievement in 2019, where there were no
homicides in Bermuda (a position not seen for over 20
years).
The Bermuda Police Service has commenced
a comprehensive review and reorganisation of its o perational structures and provision of its services. This
will include the following:
• an increase in community policing, extending the parish constable scheme in number
acros s the Island;
• the increase in specialist resources to deal
with complex crime including financial, cyber,
corruption and vulnerability;
• a new gang targeting team;
• an increase in CID officers deployed locally
across parishes;
• a new non- emergency service (an alternative
to dialling 911) to enable a bespoke response to calls for service and to enable a focus t owards the increasingly complex crime profile,
the vulnerability of victims and the needs of
local communities; and
• the BPS will also develop partnership approaches within the private sector to reduce
expenditure in policing public events (like Cup
Match and Bermuda Day), thereby limiting and decreasing overtime expenditure.

Notable Achievements by the BPS in 2019/20

Hon. Wayne Caines: Notable achievements by the
Bermuda Police Service in 2019/20 include the follo wing:
• the prevention of homicides in 2019. Again, a
position not seen in Bermuda in over 20
years;
• the associated reductions in gun- related inc idents;
• the recovery of three firearms known and
proven to be used in previous shootings on
the Island;
• a 50 per cent reduction in road deaths and r eductions in serious injury collisions —a pos ition significantly assisted by the Governments’
road sobriety legislation;
3322 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly • a projected 8 per cent reduction in all crime
for 2019 compared to 2018;
• an increase in sexual assault reporting, a positive position given the number of historical i ncidents being disclosed, thereby indicating
confidence by victims to come forward;
• the largest decrease in the category of burgl ary, with residential burglaries seeing the bi ggest reductions of any other crime offence compared to 2018;
• Reductions in motor vehicle (car and bike)
theft, with approximately 50 per cent recovered and an average three persons arrested
each month for thi s crime ;
• significant recovery of drugs imported to Bermuda, including large amounts of marijuana,
cocaine, heroin and MDMA (which is ecstasy)
tablets (all with street values in the regions of several millions of dollars);
• embedding parish constable schemes and the
newly introduced marine parish constable
roles ;
• the development of a new Vulnerable Persons
Unit to deal with hidden harm, including d omestic violence and child abuse (online and offline);
• the development of a new Professional
Standards and Anti -Corruption Unit, which
has already resulted in the BPS taking great
steps to increase confidence in local comm unities through high standards of integrity, with
the model to be extended to the Departments
of Customs and Corrections;
• significant investigations taken forward with
relation to complex and sensitive crimes, i ncluding financial crime, sexual exploitation
and corruption;
• the joint collaboration with the Royal Bermuda
Regiment to deliver Bermuda’s Coast Guard
capability; and
• to develop the BPS as the regional and Overseas Territory training centre for firearms and
public order, the UK Foreign Officer citing
Bermuda as a centre of excellence in this area.

New Current Account Funding Provided to the
Department and Its Intended Purposes

Hon. Wayne C aines: Madam Chairman, there is no
additional funding provided to the Bermuda Police
Service for the 2020/21 [financial year]. The service
will therefore operate with 410 officers. There is likel ihood for recruitment in late 2020. There is a $4 million
reduction that will not affect operational services. I ndeed, the work being led by the Police Commissioner
and his team seeks to build the Bermuda Police Service that invests greater numbers in the communities and continues to develop specialist capabilities to target serious crime and complex crime.
The BPS’s overtime allotment requires that
the service rethink the management of public events such as Cup Match or Bermuda Day. A new partner-ship approach is being looked at within the private
sector to identif y more affordable models to support
public events to protect overtime spend managing the
aspect of policing risk.
With the onset of the new Coast Guard, the
BPS has been able to reduce a further $100,000
spend, as it has also reduced the allowances for R eserve officers by $120,000. However, the Reserve
officer numbers remain low, and therefore there is a
challenge in attracting more local people to join, which
is of note as Reserve officers are critical to supporting
policing efforts, as their costs are l ess.
The BPS telephone budget, or the mobile
phone budget, was reduced by $150,000, and the
service will be performing a review of the cell phone
deployment with a view to decreasing the number of
cell phones to officers. The BPS consultant budget was reduced by $284,000. This represents a reduced
spend of over $500,000 in the past 12 months. Ho wever, it is noticed that the Bermuda Police Service will
still need to retain specialist consultants in order to
support ongoing complex investigations where specialist capacity within the service is not available locally to support.
To that end, in the 2019/20 financial year the
multi- year lease with BAS/Serco for the maintenance
and monitoring of CCTVs deployed throughout the year ended. At the end of the five- year lease, the BPS
became the owners of all equipment purchased under the agreement. It is now incumbent under the BPS to
procure a vendor for the maintenance and monitoring
of the Island- wide CCTV. The termination of this lease
will realise a further reduction of $660,000 in costs.
During the 2019/20 financial year, the Berm uda Government undertook the procurement of a radio infrastructure for a number of government entities.
This initiative means that the BPS no longer has to
pay $1.3 million to vendors for the radios a year. That
is another $1.3 million in savings due to choosing a new radio vendor for this year.
There were other small reductions due to the
BPS budget, but overall these were the critical factors
that helped the BPS realise a savings wi thout causing
any cuts to frontline police officer services.

Existing and New Capital Projects to be
Completed and Implemented for
the Fiscal Year

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Bermuda Police Service is
committed to reducing spending on rents. To curve
this sp ending, the BPS is endeavouring to revive its
abandoned headquarters in Prospect. During the
2019/20 financial year, the BPS submitted plans to the


Bermuda House of Assembly Department of Planning for construction works. In the
meantime, construction workers gutted the building
and repaired the damage to the roof and designed the
office space. The Bermuda Government has given the BPS an additional $250,000 for the 2020/21 financial year. It is our plan to use these funds to upgrade the
project. Based on the project and the cost of t he upgrades, these are not sufficient funds to complete the
works in this financial year, but will allow the initial
work to commence.
In addition, the BPS was given $150,000 in
replenishing its vehicle fleet and $150,000 to assist with the purchasing of additional hardware and sof tware needed as a result of obsolescence, the IT sof tware becoming obsolete, and due to normal wear and
tear.

New Initiatives in the Department and Items Being
Implemented under Strategic Plans

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the strategic
focus of the BPS is set towards preventing crime and
other forms of harm to victims, with greater ability to
use intelligence on how resources get organised and
deployed.
It is also recognised that there is an increasing demand in direct orates such as CID, as the m ajority of BPS resources are placed within uniformed
front-line response roles (240 officers, or 60 per cent
of service), and this will be strategically rebalanced.
The BPS will also create the opportunity to
utilise civilian posts more effectively to support oper ational policing. To progress this reorganisation, a
comprehensive review of demand is now being undertaken to assess the yearly average of calls for the
service types: emergency and risk -to-life and crime in
action; non -emergency call —crime reports and other
service issues; the workload profiles for officers and their specific departments.
Upon examination of the foregoing findings,
new processes will be implemented in which demand
will be balanced and times and effor ts will be ma naged differently. The opportunity will be taken to use
the THRIVE assessment, the process identifying
threat, harm, risk, intelligence, vulnerability, evidence
for calls for service to identify the relevant response. This will result in a dif ferent service as opposed to the
current process of each and every single call going to
911 and a police responding to all matters. This pr ocess change will be achieved by the delivery of a new non-emergency contact number (where there is no
risk to life o r a crime is not in action). There is a greater capacity of resolving matters via telephone and the
provision of diary cars where the public will be seen
via appointment [within 24 hours].
Additionally, the BPS will seek ways to manage overtime allocation through alternative resourcing models (like using private security companies) to support events such as Cup Match and Bermuda Day. The aforementioned work will build a new
BPS structure with a new and ambitious resource al-location profile across the service, aligning resources
against a revised (and better managed) demand pr ofile and investing in new functions or growth, increasing community policing resources, a greater number
of generic and specialist crime investigation capabil ities (i.e., vulnerabil ity, financial crime and anti -
corruption), intelligence and tactical resources.

I will just remind the listening public
that we are now just listening to the heads for the N ational Defence. And we are covering all of the Ministry of National Security, which is Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25,
27 and 45. We are presently on Head 7, Police.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, with your
leave I would like to move to Head 12, Customs.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

HEAD 12 —CUSTOMS
Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the current
budget allocation for Customs will see an increase of $250,000 to $17.2 million. There will be a change in
airport arrivals shift patterns resulting in a cost sa vings. And this was approved by staff and will see an improved quality of life for staff. Export Control initi ative will combat money laundering. Staff levels will
remain static. We will see— we hope to see major
drug [and cash] seizures at the airport.

Mission (page B -290)

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the mission
of the Customs Department is Protecting Bermuda’s
border and [ promoting] economic development.

Strategic Plan

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Bermuda Department of
Customs, they have worked a strategic plan. The str ategic plan sets out the goals and ambitions of this
year, and everything is dovetailing as a result and is in
line with the strategic plan. The Custom Department’s
vision is to be a modern, effective and efficient customs administration offering professional service to all
stakeholders, using international best practices, maximising revenue collection and protecting the borders
of Bermuda.
To make this vision a reality, specific strategic
goals have been set for Customs.

Strategic Goal 1: Staffing, Stability and Training

Hon. Wayne Caines: In order for C ustoms to carry
out its mission, the department will need to focus on
providing a stable work environment which is free
from corruption and/or bribery. Maintaining the de3324 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly partment’s integrity as a respected law enforcement
arm of the government is vital to performing our enforcement functions. With the reduction in recent
years of staffing levels, the department is hard -
pressed to maintain the level of service to the public it
once enjoyed. The reduction has forced the depar tment to streamline some of its legacy processes by
either eliminating them, providing a limited service
window or amending legislation to allow for simplified
procedures in some processes.
We believe that our staff are our greatest asset and are an essential part of the department’s mi ssion. While we strive to provide new or refresher trai ning, our allocated funds have been reduced. This r eduction in no way [prevents the needed training].

Strategic Goal 2: Legislation and Operational

Hon. Wayne Caines: The department recognises its
responsibility to manage and monitor daily operations
to achieve our mandate of facilitating legitimate trade,
assessing and collecting the government’s revenue
and interdicting drugs and contraband. The ability to
operate in an environment free from obstacles and
barriers while complying with Customs Laws is the
ultimate goal. Hence the goal is to provide new legi slation which will support the department’s operational
needs both present and future.

Strategic Goal 3: Policy, Procedures and Future

Hon. Wayne Caines: While the department’s policies
and procedures are a vital portion of its foundation, the consistent revision of these documents will pr ovide a more positive work environment.

General Summary (page B -290)

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Customs budget allocation
for 2020/21 is $17,195,000, which is $250,000 more
than last year. At the business unit level, the numbers
are consistent, with three notable exceptions:
1. Business unit 22030, Airport Arrivals —
Travellers budget allocation has increased by
$2,119,0 00;
2. Business unit 22040, Airport —Shift B budget
allocation has decreased by $2,120,000; and
3. Business unit 22080, Administration—budget
allocation has increased by $251,000.
Madam Chairman, you will have no doubt
noted that the first two of these changes f or all intents
and purposes cancel each other out, and this is no
coincidence. During the fiscal year 2019/20, the Customs Department had in place a memorandum of understanding with Customs staff, as represented by the
BPSU [Bermuda Public Service Union], pertaining to shift work carried out at the L. F. Wade International
Airport. This MOU was scheduled to expire in March 2019. Customs staff communicated via the BPSU that
they did not wish to renew the MOU.
Amongst the reasons given for non- renewal
[was that] the MOU involved working long shifts and
antisocial hours. It was suggested that the long shifts
left staff physically and mentally drained and impeded
on the quality of life spent with their families. Cons equently, Customs management was tasked with
providing an alternative that addressed staff concerns, but did not incur excessive overtime expenditures.
The solution put forward by Customs management involved merging two business units responsible for
this work at the airport and reorganising the staff into
a three- shift pattern. Each shift would have a smaller
number of staff, but they would be required to work for
shorter periods and fewer night shifts.
This revised shift went into place on April 1
st,
2019. After working the revised shift for some weeks,
the staff raised some objections and some concerns
regarding the new shift arrangement. Senior management of Customs have taken these concerns ser iously; however, after a number of these discussions,
there continues to be some disagreement regardin g
the interpretation of the Collective Bargaining Agre ement, and the matter is in a process for arbitration.
The increased budget allotment in business
unit 22080, Administration, is related to the Customs
Department’s role in combating money laundering and
the terrorism financing. As you are aware, Madam
Chairman, in recent months the Caribbean Financial
Action Task Force (CFATF) has reviewed Bermuda’s
effectiveness in this area, and we were all undoubtedly heartened by its findings that we reported earli er
this year. Bermuda received the highest rating of any
jurisdiction, with 39 out of the 40 recommendations
[being] compliant or largely compliant . The Customs
Department played a major role in the success of the
review and continues to play a vital role in fighting
against money laundering and terrorist financing.
While a successful review was important to
the achievement, we cannot afford to rest upon our
laurels; criminals adapt to evade the laws. So we must
adapt to enforce our laws. In this vein, we the Cus-toms Department have a budget allocation which has
increased by $250,000 [to fund a new initiative—
Export Control].
The Customs Department is known for its
work in enforcing Bermuda’s laws with respect to i mports; however, it also has an important role in mon itoring the flow of funds and valuable assets out of
Bermuda. To more effectively combat illicit imports, a
more holistic approach to the inflows and outflows in
Bermuda is required. It is only logical that the import ations of firearms and illi cit narcotics are paid for
somehow; however, if we ignore that fact by focussing only on the interdiction of illicit imports instead of look-ing at the complete picture, we are unnecessarily limi ting our option to combat the activities that harm our communi ty. Additionally, the funding provided to CusBermuda House of Assembly toms will help it develop a world- class system of e xport control. To get to that point, though, will take a
number of steps , including amending the legislation,
the development of policies and procedures, staff
training, communication with the public, and the adap-tation of IT systems and other infrastructure.
Customs has also made significant strides in
recent months towards receiving advance passenger notification information [PNR] from airlines in alignment wi th international standards. PNR information is
the generic name given to detailed records created by
the airlines flight and passenger books. Access to advance PNR information will assist Customs in addressing two objectives —of improved compliance with
Bermuda’s laws and faster clearance of low -risk pa ssengers. Currently, both Customs and the Department
of Immigration use [advance] passenger data [API] to
help them with their respective border control strat egies. API is related to who the passenger is, for instance based on their passport. While API data is helpful to identify a specific person, often a person we already have information about, such as a name
which is on a watchlist — for Customs there is a gro wing need to have access to the more detailed PNR
information in light of the threats of security world over.
PNR data is extracted from a person’s booking and describes their journey where the person is intending to travel or where the person has been.
PNR data is typically used by border control agencies
for risk assessment, to notice any suspicious trends,
relationships and travel patterns. To lay the ground for
receiving PNR information, the Customs Department has partnered with the World Customs Organization to
implement the Global Travel Assessment System
(GTAS). GTAS is a free -of-charge real -time passenger screening system that allows customs administr ators to use API and PNR data for risk -assessment
purposes.
The Government Information Technology D epartment has built a dedicated [virtual] server for the
GTAS system, and Customs and IDT are in discussions with Collins Aerospace regarding an [ARINC] border management solution to meet Bermuda’s specific border management requirements in addition to
supporting secure communications of data between the airlines and Customs.
The GTAS system and the submission of
PNR information will shortly be entering a testing phase and is due to be fully operational by the end of
this month. Within Customs, this data analysis will be
handled by JIU (Joint Intellige nce Unit). [And this is
the intelligence hub of the Bermuda Customs Depar tment. The JIU was created in 1992 and functions to
supply Customs, the Bermuda Police Service and
other law enforcement agencies with intelligence.] It is staffed by the Customs and the Bermuda Police Service, who monitor inbound and outbound passengers at all ports of entry. The JIU is tasked with detection and preventing illicit crossings at our borders, transportation of cash, and the bearers of negotiable i nstruments.
The JIU is also responsible for various other
passenger monitoring and a review of functions. The
liaison and cooperation functions with bodies such as
the Financial Intelligence Unit, the World Customs
Organization, the Caribbean Customs Law Enforc ement Council, UK Border Force, the Canada Border
Services Agency; and US Customs and Border Pr otection agency daily.

Subjective Analysis of Current Account Estimates
(page B -291)

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, if I may direct your attention to page B -291, I would li ke to take
a few moments to outline and describe to you how
that additional budget allocation of $250,000 will be
spent. You will note that the three object lines that will
see an increase are Repairs and Maintenance,
$100,000; Uniforms, $100,000; and Materials and Supplies, $50,000. As I described earlier, these add itional funds will be used to support the Export Control
Initiative. Due to the time constraints in the prepar ation of the budget, we will see these funds, and obv iously the codes as described.

Employee Numbers (Full -Time Equivalents)
(page B -291)
Hon. Wayne Caines: The department has 237 approved positions. At the time of preparing the budget
estimates, the department had 192 members of staff.
The department does not anticipate recruiting staf f to
work in the fiscal 2020/21.

Revenue

Hon. Wayne Caines: In addition to its role in protec ting Bermuda’s borders, Customs plays a vital role in
the collecting of revenue. It should be noted that whilst
the Ministry of National Security assumes the accountability of the Customs Department budget and
border -control functions, the revenue collection and
reporting functions fall within the remit of the Ministry of Finance. The Minister of Finance will therefore pr esent the substantive brief on the revenue collected by
Customs. I would like to take a few moments to hig hlight Customs’ achievements in this area. It is estimated that the Customs Department will collect taxes in excess of $238 million. To put that in perspective, for
every dollar that we spend on Customs, they collect
$13.84.

Performance Measures (pages B -292 and B -293)
Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the performance measures that have been established for the
3326 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly department are shown on pages B –292 and B -293. I
am pleased to provide the followi ng results measured
against the output measures:

Business Unit 22020— Airport Commercial

Hon. Wayne Caines: Since [June] 2016, the Airport
Commercial Operations Section ceased to operate;
therefore, there are no forecasts and targets.

Business Unit 22030— Airport Arrivals, Travellers

Hon. Wayne Caines: For the year 2018/19, the Ai rport Section collected forced duty in the amount of
$77,705. It is forecasted that during 2019/20 forced duty in the amount of $70,000 will be collected. The
target for 2020/21 is $50,000. For the year 2018/19,
the Airport Section seized illicit items on 158 occ asions. The forecast during 2019/20 is that this section
shall seize [illicit items on] 150 occasions. The target
for 2020/21 is 100 seizures. Illicit Items seized, from drugs—cocaine, cannabis, MDMA (Ecstasy), heroin,
fentanyl —to guns and gun parts, mace (pepper
spray), slingshots and brass knuckles; those were
items that were seized this year.
Recently, the media has reported several
large seizures of illicit drugs and t he interception of
persons attempting to smuggle quantities of undeclared cash [and negotiable instruments]. Drug seizures, with a street value of just over $2 million, cash
seizures in various currencies of over $200,000, and
undeclared or undervalued goo ds have been intercepted and seized over the past few months.
In one notable example in December last
year, several employees at an aviation service were
caught by Customs in an attempt to smuggle a large
quantity of a controlled drug into Bermuda via the E xecutive Jet Facility at the L. F. Wade International Ai rport. The drug was imported on arrival in Bermuda on
a flight from the US. The smugglers tried to get the
drug through and entirely circumvent Customs control.
Happily, the drug was discovered by a trainee Customs officer acting on his own initiative and with no
prior intelligence given to him. Suspicious of the interactions between the passengers and the air service
agent, the colleague checked the interior of the at-tending air -side shuttle and found a number of sui tcases filled with drugs. The Bermuda Police Service is
to be commended for their subsequent raid on the
local residence, resulting in the arrest of two passengers who arrived on the [aircraft]. The drugs seized
have an estimated street value of just under $2 mi llion.

Business Unit 22050—Investigations/Audit

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Investigations/Audit Section has played a leading role in the new initiative establishing a risk management unit. In recent months, the Caribbean Technical As sistance Centre
[CARTAC] provided advanced post clearance audit and risk management training to a select group of
managers and Customs Officers. CARTAC provided
Customs with a comprehensive report outlining a number of steps to be taken to build capacity i n risk
management and to strengthen overall management
of the department. The establishment of a risk management unit will comprise two or three officers who
will initially work full- time on risk management activ ities, with a focus on gathering and analysi ng information about trade, profiling significant companies, monitoring their activity and assessing them for risk,
and conducting research into specific areas. The benefits of this initiative are to do more with the finite r esources allocated to Customs b y focussing on areas
that are of greatest concern.

Business Unit 22070—Hamilton Commercial Ops

Hon. Wayne Caines: During 2018/19, Hamilton
Commercial Operations complied with the prescribed
quality service levels in 95 per cent of all 53,000 declarations submitted. In 2019/20, it is forecasted that
Commercial Operations will meet the quality service
levels 90 per cent of the time and process 60,000 declarations. And similar levels are targeted for 2020/21. In connection with my comments on the Investiga-tions/Audit Section and the risk management initiative,
Commercial Operations intends to leverage this to
work more efficiently and provide a better service to
all of its stakeholders. The risk management initiative will allow Commercial Operations to create a programme of enhanced facilitation to manage the impor-tation and the implementation of a Trusted Trader
Programme. Qualifying trusted traders, those impor ters deemed low risk and with a proven track record of compliance with Bermuda’s Customs laws, shou ld see
a simplification of the requirements by Customs. This
in turn will allow our officers to focus their efforts on
areas of greater risk.

Business Unit 22090— Vessel Clearance

Hon. Wayne Caines: In 2018/19 Vessel Clearance
prepared and issued invoices with the value of just
over $1 million, $162,000 to the Services to Ships, Container Fees and Light Dues. In 2019/20, it is for ecasted that they will have a value in excess of
$960,000.
The current Vessel Clearance Unit is preparing to conduct its duties in connection with the upcoming Newport -to-Bermuda race. As in previous years,
this section is determined to contribute to its succes ses by providing round- the-clock coverage and ensuring that Bermuda’s laws are upheld during the exciting
activities to be held during the race.
Also, with the cruise ship season starting in
April, the vessel clearance team will be busy servicing


Bermuda House of Assembly the arriving vessels. In addition to processing leaving
and returning to the cruise ships, acting upon received
intelligence, the vessel clearance team inspects cabins and storage compartments for concealed illicit
items.
Following direction from the Ministry of Health,
Customs officers at the cruise ship ports and other
ports of entry are on the lookout for individuals who
may have the coronavirus. Customs officers ask a
series of questions including whether the traveller has been at any at -risk countries within the last 21 days.
Officers also observe the demeanour of the traveller,
and if they appear to be unwell —if they have a temperature or if they look sick in any overt or obvious
manner —if they appear to be sick in any way, they will
refer the traveller to the Port Health Officer. If the Port
Health Officer is not onsite, then the traveller will be
provided with a mask and isolated from others while
arrangements are made for them to be transferred to
hospital.

Business Unit 22100—Interdiction
Hon. Wayne Caines: In 2018/19 the Interdiction Section made 284 seizures and had an 88 per cent success rate. The interdiction section i ncludes the Canine
Unit. During this financial year, the Customs Depar tment decided to increase the Dog Detector Unit. Two officers were selected to travel to Indiana for canine
selection and drug dog detector handler training. The
officers have become act ive in this work in January
and February 2020, increasing this unit from one c anine and one handler to three canines and three handlers. This has given the effectiveness of this unit an
incredible boost, as it allows them to deploy an inva luable and unique resource. And it is usually needed
and is a valuable resource. As part of the national a nti-money laundering compliance, it is essential for
Customs to obtain a currency detection dog to patrol
our ports of exit and entry. During the upcoming financial ye ar, Customs will select another canine handler
and send this officer and canine overseas for training.

Business Unit 22110— Seaport Enforcement Team

Hon. Wayne Caines: In 2018/19 the Seaport E nforcement Team, or SET, inspected and reviewed 94 per cent of import cargo manifests and used the
Hamilton Docks Gantry X -ray scanner to scan 100 per
cent of containers imported into Bermuda. In 2019/20,
it is forecasted that SET will meet these same high
standards. During this financial year, SET played the major part in the detection and ultimate break -up of a
criminal conspiracy where fake importers were bringing counterfeit products to Bermuda and breaking
Bermuda’s laws in Bermuda with reference to trade-marks and copyright.
Additionally, SET was kept busy with t he
BELCO North Power Station development. This was a major construction project for Bermuda, and the pr oject will have an important impact on the economy and social well- being of Bermuda for years to come. SET
worked closely with BELCO staff to ensure that everything imported into Bermuda was in order from a Cus-toms standpoint. They reviewed and examined all
containers and non- containerised imports associated
with this project.
I invite you . . . Madam Chairman, with your
leave I would like to move to Head 25, Corrections.

HEAD 25 —CORRECTIONS

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, it is my
pleasure to present Head 25, the Department of Corrections. The proposed budget for the general oper ations of the department is reflected at $25,582,000. It
is the mission of Corrections as an operation of humanity, To protect the public and to provide rehabilit ation services. It is impossible to speak of this depar tment without considering the persons impacted by its
service:
• the staff, who are the greatest asset to the
department;
• the inmates, whose rehabilitation is entrusted
to the department; and
• the community, whose safety we guard and
whose family members are placed in our care.
The Strategic Plan 2018 –2020 has served as
a guide to fulfil this mission. And some of the targets
met for fiscal year 2019/20 within the specified goals
include the following: s taff development and training;
in 2019/20 over 2,684 staff training hours for the year ;
management team conducted training for new div isional officers, principal offic ers and a senior nursing
officer; and over 121 officers trained in CPR and First
Aid.
There were programmes that were training
with rehabilitation programmes for the upgrade of the
Computer Lab. There were programmes, the Life Minus Violence for violent offenders. Introduction of
Harmful Sexual Behaviour programme for sex offenders. The Life After Incarceration programmes [initiated
in partnership with] the Women’s Resource Centre for
the women at the Co- Educational Correctional Facil ity. Two staff members were trained as facilitator trai ners in Thinking for a Change. Three staff members were trained to become facilitators in National Centre Construction Education Research [certification cour ses]. Forty inmates were certified in CPR and First Aid. Five inma tes were successful in obtaining their GED.
The Use of Force training was given to 133
members of staff. Staff were training Use of Force trainers. There were CCTV upgrades to the farm and to Westgate. New CCTV was installed at the Co- Ed
Correctional Faci lity. High -risk offender management
programme. Razor -wire fencing was [replaced] at the
Westgate.
3328 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Operational Efficiency —reductions to purchase food and chickens at the Prison Farm. Co- Ed
has produced over 6,800 eggs to date. Over 9,000
pounds of produce was produced by the farms and
distributed to [the three facility kitchens.]
Physical Plant Upgrades —Madam Chairman,
I am going to deviate from my notes, which is atypical,
for a second. Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to
go to the Westgate Correction al Facility. I went for an
official visit with the CEO of the Turks and Caicos. When I arrived at the facility, I was stopped by the inmates. And when I got there, they demanded to see
me, and they demanded to meet with me. And when I
got there, they took me into E -2 and E -3. And when I
went into the facility, they (who are listening now,
Madam Chairman) showed me some of their concerns. They showed me the mould in the facility.
They showed me the leaks in the facility. They showed me a number of concerns t hat they had with
reference to a number of the issues that they had in
the facility. I was able to meet. I gave the prisoners the undertaking that I will meet with the prison leadership, that I will meet with the Permanent Secretary,
that I will meet with the Minister responsible for Works
and Engineering, that we will put together a plan, that
we will accelerate the plan, that the safety of the pri son officers is paramount, that the health of the prison
officers is paramount, that the prisoners who are wit hin our charge are important to us. We do believe that they should be living in a mould- free facility, working
in a mould- free facility.
I was able to speak yesterday with the Mini ster of Works and Engineering. And he gave me a doc-ument yesterday. And the document is as follows:
“Leaks in the kitchen and the pantry: Access
was made to the ceiling last week and the area to allow plumbers access to the area to fix the leak.
Plumbers are assessing the job to gather their mater ials and will make the repair tomorrow.
“Repairs to the communal showers and janit orial closets: Materials are being prepared. Some of the
items are not available on Island. We are attempting
to use universal fixes available on Island where poss ible.
“Replacement of water fountains: One out of
eight of the water fountains is working. Many have been vandalised to the point where they are inoper able. Institutional fountains are specially being ordered
and are being sourced.
“Faucet repairs in cells: Replacement faucets
are being sourced.
“Awaiting two water pumps. One will replace
the inoperable pumps on the grey -water flushing sy stem. The other will replace the potable water pump. These are being purchased through Corrections, and
anticipating delivery later this month.
“New 12- inch butterfly valves for the water
tanks have arrived. We are waiting the extension poles before the valve installation commences. One pole was shipped; awaiting the shipping of the second
pole.
“Boilers: The contractor is scheduled. The
boiler systems will be on Island the fourth week in
March. Installation will foll ow immediately once on
Island.”
I have had the opportunity to speak directly
with the Minister of Works and Engineering. I asked him specifically about those concerns. And he has
highlighted the up -to-date information of each one of
those concerns. We are working to address those.
And so whilst I wanted to go through the information
which was given to me in the update from the Ministry,
I also wanted to give a document that I received yesterday, because, as the prison officers listen, as the
prisoners listen, Madam Chairman, I wanted to reassure them that this is something that has my full atte ntion. I wanted to give an honest, transparent view that
we know that the prison has concerns with referenc e
to the physical plant.
The PS, the Permanent Secretary, has it as
his full priority. The Minister of Works and Engineering
has it as his full priority. And it has my full priority.
There are budgetary concerns, but we accept that this
process has not been fast enough. And we will rap the
knuckles of those who have not been working [fast]
enough. I went to the prison, Madam Chairman. It is
unacceptable for prisoners, for our inmates. It is unac-ceptable for the prison officers who have been wor king in thes e conditions. I will say that from this floor. I
will say that without reservations. And we will work, and we must work to make it better. That is something that has to be said by the Minister. I will not read all of
the things that we have done without sa ying that the
things that I saw last week are not acceptable!
Efficient and prudent management —provided
for training and budget managers; completed an audit of materials and supplies; established a system of
monitoring to address those with excessive sic k leave.
While working toward the goals of the strategic plan,
the department is governed by the following legisl ation:
The Prison Act 1979, the Prison Rules 1980,
the Young Offenders Act 1950, the Senior Training
School Rules 1951, the Prison Officers (D iscipline,
Etc.) Rules 1981 and [Sections of the Criminal Code
Act].
Madam Chairman, there are 12 cost centres
within the Department of Corrections. However, I will speak directly to the major cost centres. The current
expenditure, which is found on page B-294 is estimated to be $25,582,000, which represents an increase
of $500,000 in the budget of this year.
The 2020/21 budget provides funding for 236
full-time employees, shown on page B -295. In addition
to full -time employees, it will fund facilitator s and
teachers to the inmate programmes. At present there
are 194 full -time staff with an authorised strength of
250. Over the past year we have experienced delays


Bermuda House of Assembly in hiring civilian staff and nurses due to the current
processes. In addition, it has been d ifficult to achieve
the recruitment numbers for male officer candidates.
Cost centre 35000, Headquarters, represents
$4,393,000, or 17 per cent [of total budget]. Corrections Headquarters, under the general direction of the
Commissioner, Assistant Commiss ioners and Pr ogramme Director, provides directives to a decentralised organisation and is responsible for strategic
planning. This budget will fund salaries and operating
expenses for Corrections Headquarters. Strategic Planning has increased under the dir ection of the current leadership regime. The senior staff are committed
to working with staff to restore morale through better
communication and improved working environments.
The Headquarters has operated at a deficit for
over two years due to the reassi gnment of the Commissioner. Although the Assistant Commissioner was
appointed to the acting position, some elements of
their position have not been transferred to those ac ting in the Assistant Commissioner position. Madam
Chairman, we believe that this wil l be rectified in the
first quarter of fiscal 2020. We believe that we will have a confirmed person in the post of Commissioner.
This has caused some ripple effect as persons assuming more than their role of the job to meet the
basic requirements of the department, and at times
has impacted normal operations such as not completing vendor payments and other roles.
Madam Chairman, in addition to Corrections
Headquarters, there are three correctional facilities, each one fulfilling the mandates specific to the popul ations they house. The cost centre 35020 of the Farm
Facility represents $3,288,000, or 13 per cent of the
total budget. The Farm Facility is an adult male minimum -security facility with a capacity to house 93 i nmates. Inmates must have completed their core sentence plan requirements to be classified as minimum
(or low -risk) to be housed at this facility.
Inmates are also involved in work release
programmes, charity programmes and other ongoing
projects within the facility. This year 15 inmates wer e
enrolled in the work release programme, and 10 i nmates participated in the charity work programme.
The plan for the upcoming fiscal year is to increase
the number of inmates on work release and charity, with the charity work programme being geared more
to facilitating requests from government departments.
This will be done in an effort to provide cost savings to
the Bermuda Government as a whole.
The Farm Facility garden has supplied all of
the facilities with fruits and vegetables. Crops included beets , onions, lettuce, carrots, corn, kale, pumpkins,
mustard greens, collard greens, sweet potato, brocc oli, rutabaga, turnips, Swiss chard, cauliflower and ba-nanas. In total, the Farm Facility gardens reaped a pproximately 9,000 pounds of produce, and this has
contributed to a significant cost savings. The highlights from the 2019/20 Budget i nclude the following:
The Animal Programme was very successful
and will continue in this budget year. Chickens were
introduced at the farm, and to date they produced 6,800 eggs. The Farm Facility will continue all of the
current initiatives and introduce the second phase of
initiatives introduced last year including the Farm C ooperative— a therapeutic programme where animals
owned by local farmers will be tended to by the inmates until such time that they have matured. The
inmates are gaining skills in animal care and farming.
The facility currently has goats and chickens.
The pre- release programme will continue. It is
designed to focus on improving the inmates’ emplo yability, social and human relations skills in order to
facilitate a successful transition back into the comm unity.
Cost centre 35030, the Co -Ed Facility, repr esents $2,694,000, or 11 per cent of the total budget, and will provide funding for 31 staff and operational
costs. This facility with a capacity of 56 cells has sep-arate and distinct provisions to house 40 adult f emales and 16 young male offenders between the ages
of 16 to 21. In addition it houses the department’s residential substance abuse treatment programme, The
Right Living House. Educational and vocational pr ogrammes are offered based on the needs of the i nmates and trainees, who are identified through the
case management process.
During the 2019/20 budget year, two inmates
participated in the work release programme. A chic ken programme has been established at the Co-Educational Facility. The purpose is two- fold: (1) to be
utilised as therapy in that the inmates take care of the chickens; and (2) reduce and eliminate the need to
purchase eggs from outside agencies. A small garden
has provided various herbs and peppers, which have
been used in the facility’s kitchen.
During this budget year, inmates participated
in therapeutic yoga classes to assist them with coping
with stress. The Women’s Resour ce Centre was contracted to provide Life After Incarceration where i nmates participate in group sessions which are aimed
to assist them with reintegration back into the com-munity and also provide them support upon release.
Both the yoga and Life After Incarceration will conti nue into fiscal 2020/21.
Other initiatives for the 2020/21 budget year
are to operationalise the computer lab, allowing for
vocational and educational distance- learning pr ogrammes and offer graphic design classes to the i nmates. In addition, the Co -Ed Facility will reintroduce
the mentoring programme for female inmates and carpentry for the male inmates.
Madam Chairman, cost centre 35060, Wes tgate Correctional Facility, represents $10,480,000, or 41 per cent of the total budget. The Westgate Correctional Facility is an adult male establishment with the
3330 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly capacity to house 208 prisoners, classified as max imum, medium and minimum security, as well as a
remand prison. The majority of the assessment and
treatment programmes for male inmates t ake place at
this facility.
During this budget year, a number of inmates
participated in their core offending behaviour pr ogrammes, such as Thinking for a Change; Life Minus
Violence, a violence reduction programme; Life Minus
Violence Harmful Sexual Behaviour, which is a sexual
offender programme; and Drug and Alcohol Treatment and Education. Additionally, educational and voc ational courses were offered to inmates.
The Westgate Correctional Facility will conti nue the charity programme, which allows inmates to give back to the community. The department partners
with other government departments and community
organisations such as Parks, Works and Engineering,
WEDCO and the Packwood Home, assisting with
small projects.
While each of the facilities fulfils different
mandates for inmates based on the classification le vel, age or gender, they have shared some of the same
challenges in the past year. There are significant i nfrastructure problems with each facility due to ageing
facilities and less -than- robust maintenance care. The
Farm Facility was built in 1951, the Co- Educational
Facility was built in 1985 and the Westgate Correc-tional Facility was built in 1994. Best practice states
that a facility condition assessment should be conducted every 20 years.
Mould, rusting doors, inoperable windows,
faulty plumbing and poor ventilation plague the facil ities. The Westgate Correctional Facility has been
without hot water for over two years. Replacement
boilers were scheduled to be on the Island for instalment on March 13
th. During the past fiscal year, outside cleaning companies were brought in to clean areas unable to be addressed through a normal cleaning regime; however, the recognised results were short -lived due to the leaks and plumbing issues.
These conditions result in an unsuitable working env ironment for staff and unsuitable living conditions for inmates.
There was one major inmate- targeted assault
on staff and two minor assaults this past year, resul ting in staff injuries.
All facilities were impacted by labour disputes
with the Prison Officers’ Association. The dispute i ncreased the overtime budget as payouts had to be
made to the Bermuda Police Service for assistance
with security and escorts. The Right Living House
programme regime was changed due t o staffing
shortages, and many programmes such as GED, m otor mechanics and other programmes were suspend-ed.
Whilst the overall population is not at capacity
at 183 (sentenced and on remand), the make- up of
the current offender population creates challenges. Those serving life sentences now make up 26 per
cent of the total sentenced inmate population. Many of
those serving life must complete at least 30 years of
their sentence prior to parole eligibility.
In addition, the Corrections Department has
seen an increase in inmates with mental health issues
such as depression, anxiety, panic disorders and ot her trauma- related issues. There appears to be a gro wing number of inmates presenting with neurosensory conditions such as Autism and Asperger’s, and lear ning difficulties such ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). We have instituted basic mental health training (Mental Health First Aid) for all staff to give
them some help in managing these persons in a correctional environment, even though it may not be a
suitable environment for many of these persons. Staff shortages for shift coverage and i ncreased inmate visits to King Edward VII Memorial
Hospital and Mid Atlantic Wellness Centre have been
factors in creating overtime at the facility. Oftenti mes
these visits last days, and depending on the risk level
of the inmate, some may require 24- hour monitoring
by two officers. The $500,000 additional in the budget
will be used to hire officers.
Madam Chairman, cost centre 35090, Ther apeutic Community C entre, or the Right Living House
[RLH], represents $1,287,000, or 5 per cent of the total budget. The therapeutic community centre, also
known as the Right Living House, is located at the Co -
Ed Facility and is a segregated residential substance
abuse progr amme with a capacity to house 18 res idents. The programme was developed for adult male
offenders with a history of substance abuse and ass ociated criminality. The goal of the therapeutic comm unity is to return residents to the broader community with an inc reased potential for a life free of drugs and
crimes, by providing them with the opportunity to rea lise their potential for change, as well as the inherent potential for growth and health and success in every person.
Inmate services and programmes are designed to meet the needs of inmates with their indivi dual case plans. The programme team is multi -
disciplinary and provides various services and pr ogrammes including psychological, social and case management, health, educational, vocational, recreational and chaplaincy. Funding for inmate services is
also necessary, and the programmes provide tools
and resources for offenders to assist them in returning to society as positive, productive and contributing cit izens.
It is recognised that currently there are not
sufficient programmes running in the department to
meet the mandates of the increased lifer population
and those serving long sentences. Maintaining qual ified vendors has been an increased challenge, and
the budget does not allow the resources to find fulltime staff facilitators.


Bermuda House of Assembly Cost centre 35105, [Psychological Services]
represents $444,000, or 2 per cent of the budget. The
funding provides for salaries for three psychologists,
who provide psychological services [to offenders at
each of the] three facilities: Westgate Correctional
Facility, Farm Facility [including Therapeutic Comm unity Centre] and the Co- Ed Facility. It must be noted
that currently the department has only one psychol ogist; however, despite recruiting challenges, [we will
try] to fi ll the other posts.
The psychologists complete various asses sments on offenders, including assessments of crim inogenic need and emotional well -being. In addition to
these assessments, the psychologists focus on the
provision of interventions. Interventions can include, but are not limited to, substance misuse programmes,
alcohol prevention, drug and alcohol treatment, vi olence reduction, Sexual Offender Programme and psychotherapy. Psychologists bring an evidence -
based approach to working with offenders and assist
with more objective risk -focused decisions. The ps ychologists also support the Training and Recruitment
team to better assess basic officer applicants, as well
as provide training to recruits and custody and pr ogrammes staff.
Cost centre 35106, [Social Services and Case
Management] represents $859,000, or 3 per cent of the total budget. Funding provides for staffing of two
social workers and five case managers/assessment
officers and contracted specific providers. The department’s two social work ers who are members of
the Multi -Disciplinary Team assist inmates and trai nees with offence- specific associated problems, and
help to address behavioural, social [and financial]
problems. The social workers assist inmates in securing employment and housing [prior to] their release.
Additionally, they facilitate family support and intervention meetings.
Madam Chairman, cost centre 35108, Educ ational Services, $252,000, or 1 per cent of the total
budget. The allocation provides for salaries and educational s upplies. Educational Services provide educational programmes at all correctional facilities to
those inmates who wish to pursue their general ed ucation, or GED programme, as those who wish to strengthen basic numeracy [and literacy] skills. Edu-cational Ser vices are designed to enable inmates to
achieve a higher level of education and activity who
wish to prepare themselves for a vocation. Approx imately 38 inmates have been actively engaged in e ducational classes. During the fiscal year, four persons
achieve d their GED. During this fiscal year, the Education Department plan to introduce secured Internet
to allow inmates access to additional educational and
technological programmes to assist those inmates
who require an alternative style to educational lear ning.
Madam Chairman, cost centre 35109, Voc ational Services, represents $319,000, or 1 per cent of the total budget. Vocational Services functions as an
integral part of the programmes and services afforded
to inmates and trainees. These services are desig ned
to assist inmates and trainees in pursuing vocational interests. Funding for this allocated cost centre pr ovides for staffing and vocational programmes.
During the 2020/21 fiscal year, inmate [will]
enrol in various programmes at the facilities, whic h
included yoga, life skills, sewing, art, motor mechanics at Westgate, as well as horticulture and carpentry at
the Farm Facility. A new partnership with Longtail School will result in computer coding and software
instruction.
Vocational programmes and s ervices will be
offered in this fiscal year at Westgate, the Farm and Co-Educational facilities, based on the population,
and includes carpentry, autobody/welding/mechanics
and classes that will lead to certification in the National Centre for Construction Education and Research
(NCCER) courses. Three staff members and one vendor were trained to facilitate the NCCER core curriculum, which is anticipated to begin in April 2020 at the Westgate Correctional Facility.
The Vocational Services, in conjunction wi th
the Educational Services, have commenced upgrad-ing the computer labs at all facilities, and an upgrade
of the Westgate computer lab was completed in the 2019/20 budget. And it is anticipated the computer labs at the Co- Ed and Farm Facilities will be com pleted in the 2020/21 fiscal year. The aim is to be able to
offer distance- learning programmes as well as provi ding access to online testing and workshops and services.
Madam Chairman, [cost centre 35107,] Health
Services, represents $1,476,000, or 6 per cent of the
budget. This funding will provide for staffing and
health care services for the inmates. Health care services include, but are not limited to
• physical examinations ;
• dental treatment ;
• chronic disease;
• physiotherapy ;
• mental health ;
• chiropody ;
• HIV/AIDS counsel ling;
• nutritional consultations ;
• phlebotomy ;
• drug detoxification ;
• drug screening;
• suicide prevention; and
• counsel ling.
Some of the targets for Health Services this
year are as follows: implement inmate health service
handbook; increase inmat e health education sessions
by 50 per cent (This was not achieved last year due to
staffing shortages); to continue the implementation of
an electronic medical records system.
3332 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Madam Chairman, the department’s performance measures are outlined. The average daily i nmate population forecasted for the fiscal year is 180,
with 59 of the admissions being first -time offenders
who received a custodial sentence.
Madam Chairman, despite the challenges
faced by the Department of Corrections, staff remain
dedicated to seek ways to address them including
working with union representatives and other stak eholders and partners in order to achieve the mission
statement and mandate.
Security breaches remain a concern, and
there have been breaches to the outer perimeter that
have been intercepted by corrections staff. Recently,
persons have been utilising drones to attempt security breaches. The department has been working with
government and external agencies to address this
challenge. The physical plant deficiencies have impacted both staff and inmate morale. These conditions
create an environment which is not conducive to r ehabilitation. The department will continue to work with
government and partner agencies to bring the facilities
into acceptable standards.
Maintaining staffing levels due to resignations
and retirements —the department has taken advantage of the legislation which allows officers to defer their retirement, based on the needs of the de-partment.
The Department of Corrections will undertake
the following initiatives for the 2020/21 budget year:
• Continue to conduct a legislative review so
that our legislation meets current standards;
• Recruitment to fill various vacant posts including civilian and custodial staff;
• Continue to implement the s trategic plan;
• Implementation of new shift cycles to allow
the best use of our staffing and work regimes.
This will assist our facilities in becoming more
financially beneficial to our operating budget.
• With the introduction of amended legislation to
the Criminal Code Amendment Act 2018 (Sex
Offender Management), the department will
work closely with other government depar tments as part of an Offender Risk Management Team to ensure supervision, rehabilit ation and monitoring of sex offenders during
and upon release from pri son.
It is the vision of the department that if these
objectives are obtained, then the people of Bermuda, staff, inmates and community members will appreciate
that the Department of Corrections makes an effective
contribution to public safety and the rehabilitation of offenders.
Madam Chairman, with your permission, I
would like to move Head 45, the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service.
HEAD 45 —BERMUDA FIRE AND
RESCUE SERVICE

Hon. Wayne Caines: The mission of the Bermuda
Fire and Rescue Service (BFRS) is, To serve and pr otect; to provide adequate fire protection and emergency medical services for all areas of these islands; to
extinguish fires ; to protect life and property in case of
fire, road accident, or other calamity as defined by the
Fire Service Act or subsequent r egulations ; provide
aircraft rescue firefighting at the L. F. Wade International Airport.
To support this mission, there are six main objectives:
1. implement Home Fire Service P rogram me;
2. implement the Fire Safety Act 2014;
3. continue re- certification in aircraft firefighting
for personnel attached to the Airport Oper ations Division;
4. introduce core competency skills training pr ogram me for all firefighters ;
5. continue leadership training courses for mi ddle managers ; and
6. continue training courses for succession planning for senior managers.
Madam Chairman, the total funding for the
Fire and Rescue Services for the coming year is $14,377,000, which reflects an increase of
$1,249,998.
A $1.25 million increase is attributable to the
recruitment for 12 new firefighters and the associated
costs. The new recruits start in April 2020.
The responsibility for the Training Section is to
create an educational scheme that will ensure EMT,
structural certifications and leadership training cour ses are up to international standards. The budget on page B -302 has a budget of $302,000, which is an
increase of approximately $189,000. This section has attributed to [the education of] the following:

New Recruits

Hon. Wayne Caines: The new recruits are training at
Airport Fire Emergency Services Training Institute in
Toronto. Bermuda does not have a training facility,
and the firefighters have to train and travel ($12,000) to Canada, to complete the courses ($65,500) in Canada. There is an anticipation of 12 firefighter s at the
annual salaries, the total cost $842,442 a year, with a
per diem of $37,000. The international standards for a
firefighter have morphed into an arena [that prepares]
the fireman psychologically ($7,000) to combat many traumatic events that they encounter in the field. They
need fire retardant and durable uniforms, special -
grade foot coverage for all terrain. Their kit costs
$12,000 per firefighter.
The firemen will have to be chaperoned by
experienced officers from the Training Division to e nsure that they are equipped to learn the EMT and
structural segments. The specialised course will tax


Bermuda House of Assembly their endurance and mould them for the rigours of the
fire hazards and emergency and medical emergencies. Transportation and van hiring will be at $2,600.
This is required to get our firemen from one command
station to another. This training is vital for the betterment, safety and care of our community towards our
mission. And that is to serve and protect .

Other Training

Hon. Wayne Caines: Some of our troops w ill be sent
to Dallas, Texas. And they will be recertified in Aircraft
Rescue Firefighting. Emergency Medical Services
Recertification. Continuing Education Units. A dvanced Emergency Medical Technicians.

Past Accomplishments in 2019/20
Hon. Wayne Caines: Succession planning sent by
Divisional Officers Taylor and Denkins. Completion of
the International Brigade Command Course. Mechan-ics—Mr. Honore completed the Rosenbauer Truck
Maintenance training. Firefighters DeCouto and Bailey completed Watch Commander recertification in Texas.
Caribbean Chief’s Conference, CFO Burchall. Crea ting Collaborative Fire Department Plan for support
after natural disasters. Human Resources, Mr. Mar-shall—upgrade for all of the human resources certif ications.
Madam Chairman, the Ministry of National
Security has approved $1,145,004 of capital acquis ition funding for the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Ser-vice. This funding will allow the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service to continue with the acquisition and
the build of the Turntable Ladder Truck that takes nine
months to build; the replacement of a water ladder
tender, fire hoses nozzles, an ambulance (three
months to build) and fire extinguishing materials
(foam). Final stage of procurement process for the
breathing apparatus is under way; $669,000 has been
budgeted. The apparatus is used for dangers such as
fires, confined smoked- filled places and hazardous
materials. Our department is in the process of selec ting the product which provides the best value for go vernment. Funding is also provided to acquire a life raft
for water rescue capability at the L. F. Wade International Airport.

Cost Centre 55190, Emergency Dispatch —
$762,000

Hon. Wayne Caines: The cost centre that provides
emergency dispatch coverage for 911 emergency calls cov ering all parishes, the total complement of the
911 emergency calls is 14 personnel.
Emergency calls made were 4,791 including
1,149 medical calls and 66 transports involving medics. Ten emergency calls were answered for KEMH
[King Edward VII Memorial Hospital], 5,529 including 904 for transports. Due to retired and resigned full -
time employees, the budget has increased to accom-modate new staff from $639,000 in 2019/20 to
$762,000 in 2020/21, which represents a 19.25 per
cent increase.

Cost Centre 55060, Central Emergency
Fire Service —$6,594,650

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Central Emergency Fire
Service cost centre covers the provision of Fire and
Emergency Services from Hamilton, Eastern, and
Western Fire Stations. The stations respond to fire,
road traffic accidents and hazardous material inc idents. With the consolidation, the cost centre now
consists of a total of 56 personnel providing 24/7
emergency coverage on a four -shift system. This will
increase to approximately 73 personnel after the
graduation of the next cohort of recruit firefighters.
The onboarding of new firefighters will have a signif icant effect on overtime that is currently being exper ienced due to staff shortages.

Cost Centre 55080, Other Services Central —
$868,000

Hon. Wayne Caines: This contains vehicle repair
services and maintenance personnel. The personnel
were consolidated under this cost centre as a result of
the review of administrative processes. Funding has
been provided to increase the repair and maintenance
budget to ensure that the vehicles are fully serviced
and available for deployment.

The Fleet

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service operates and maintains 42 vehicles strategically deployed across the islands with three fire st ations. With the exception of a pumper truck which was
acquired in 2017, the average age of our nation’s fire
trucks is 16 years old. Further, the oldest operational
vehicle in the fleet is 34 years old. Yes, Madam
Chairman, the oldest of our fire trucks is 34 years old.
This is in cont rast with a recommended end of service
life for a fire truck —the recommended is 15 years old.
How was this longevity accomplished?
Firefighters are resilient by nature, they have
a can-do ethos that is evidenced by the longevity of
our fleet to date. Over the years, they have provided
the best value through regular care and regular maintenance of the vehicles. They are supported by a
small team of four service technicians. Two of the
technicians have undertaken specialist training at two
of the vehicle manufacturing plants in the United
States. In addition, they have undertaken bespoke
training, and the Fire Service receives periodic visits by factory representatives, who share the best practices with our staff.
3334 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly What do we need to build resilience with our
fleet? The Strategic Leadership Team of the Fire Services has determined that a consistent vehicle r eplacement programme is required. With the average service life expectancy of 15 years, it is an Ideal situ ation that all vehicles should be replaced, but that is
unlikely. Instead, an incremental approach is a more
realistic scenario. It is strongly recommended that all
vehicles in the existing fleet be replaced at a rate of
1.5 vehicles per year for the next 15 years. If this approach is taken, all 20 vehi cles will be replaced in 15
years.
What are the challenges of replacing the veh icles? The primary challenge of replacing vehicles is cost and construction time. The average replacement cost of a fire pumper vehicle is just south of $600,000.
Again, Madam Chairman the average cost of an average fire pumper vehicle is just south of $600,000. With [a build time] of 250 days to build. These are specialist
vehicles that have to be made specifically to fit Bermuda’s roads. And we have a unique road network, and they have to be made to be fit for purpose for
Bermuda.
The Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service have
put together a contingency plan. Recently, questions
were asked about the operational readiness and reli ability of the Fire Services fleet, following a well -
publicised residential fire in the City of Hamilton. Questions were asked about the government services. Are we ready? And these questions are always
welcomed. However, it should be noted that in this
particular case of the incident in Hamilton, operation al
readiness was never compromised. The response
time to the fire was seven minutes. It should be reassuring to know that the Fire Service prepares for every
eventuality and always has redundancies built into its
operational planning. The Fire Service responds to
100 per cent of calls for assistance.

Cost Centre 55170, General Administration —
$3,089,000

Hon. Wayne Caines: Funding for the cost centre represents the consolidation of the administrator’s sal aries, insurance and uniforms from across the Bermuda
Fire and Rescue Service. This involved an increase from seven to twenty -one full -time employees and an
increase in budget from $990,000 to $3,089,000 to
reduce funds normally allocated to overtime.

Cost Centre 55200, Airport Fire Station —
$2,548,000

Hon. Wayne Caines: The cost centre provides ai rcraft emergency rescue and firefighting services at the
L. F. Wade International Airport, as prescribed by the Overseas Territories Aviation Requirements, part 140,
and the Bermuda Department of Civil Aviation. T he L. F. Wade International Airport operates as a Category
9 Airport.
Promotions. There were two people promoted
to the rank of crew commander, Mr. Bramwell and Mr.
Bailey. The four firefighters promoted to the rank of Sergeant in Operations Division wer e Mr. Mundy, Mr.
Lowe, Mr. White and Mr. Robinson.
This cost centre has 17 personnel in total, a
reduction in full -time employees of 100 per cent due to
people retiring or to people resigning. The budget for this section is $2,548,000, an increase of $33 6,000.
This is attributed to manpower shortages to be filled
by new recruits and training recertifications.

Manpower

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, the full -time
complement of the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Services is expected to increase from 113 to 128 in
2020/21. The new complement represents the posts
to be filled by the new recruit course.
Madam Chairman, a review was conducted of
the BFRS Payroll/Administrative practices in order to streamline these processes. Due to the constant
movement of the firefighting personnel between the
Central, Eastern and Western Divisions, it was found
to be more prudent to consolidate all the firefighter
salaries and overtime under the Central Emergency Services cost centre (55060). Examples of this are
demonstrated in the variances between the cost centres, Emergency Services Eastern, Emergency Ser-vices in the West, and Emergency Services. All to come under a centralised cost centre.

Capital Development Funding, P age C -7

Hon. Wayne Caines: Madam Chairman, In order to
comply with the requirements of the MOU between the Bermuda Airport Authority and the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service, $350,000 of Capital Development Funding has been provided for the remediation
works at the Administration Building, Main Fire Hall
Building and the Training Room/ garage building.
Madam Chairman, revenue forecasted for
2020/21 is estimated at $400,000. Under the strategic
heading of implementing the Fire Safety Act 2014 ,
[the BFRS] conducted 402 meetings, risk asses sments, routine inspec tions and final occupancy i nspections. The revenue generated from fire certificate
applications during this period was $124,691. New fire
inspection software will increase the efficiency and frequency of inspections, therefore increasing the re venue of the next fiscal period. Construction industry —
conducting 453 Fire and Life Safety construction doc-ument reviews.
Under the strategic heading of Home Fire
Safety Visits: the community received fire safety literature, inspection guidelines. The Fire Safety Aw areness Week was


Bermuda House of Assembly conducted at preschools to high schools. There were
home safety visits to help the elderly, and the hearing
and the sight impaired. Provided Firefighting and Rescue Operations to the L. F. Wade International Airport
in accordance with Over seas Territories Regulations
mandated by the Bermuda Department of Civil Avi ation for Cedar Aviation.
Revenue (PPRs), Prior Permission Request
generated from airport operation during this period
was $188,300 for the Executive Jet Facility stand- by,
critical care med flight and for the air ambulance.

Supplementary Estimates 2018/19

Hon. Wayne Caines: The Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service has historically required supplementary funds
in the aftermath of hurricanes or major incidents to
cover operational expenses such as overtime sal aries/wages, gas/fuel, food supplies and emergency
supplies.
Madam Chairman, as this Honourable House
will be aware, the fiscal period 2020/21 will be a cha llenge. In accordance with our main objectives, there
was a need to implement a Home Fire Safety Pr ogramme. The fire service has met its mandate and
initiated this programme. This will also allow for the
volunteer firefighters to be trained in assisting the full -
time staff in delivering this programme. The future of
the home safety visits will assist in meeting the needs
of the new demographics in our country; reducing the
community risk; enhancing fire safety; providing conf idence in the community with the fire service capability and response to emergencies.

Volunteers

Hon. Wayne Caines: The St. George’s Volunteer Fire
Service has been upgraded to the Bermuda Fire and
Rescue Volunteer Fire Service. The volunteer fire service has seen a period of decreasing numbers in r ecent years. The Fire Chief saw a need to put an effort
into increasing the numbers and to modernise the volunteers. The first effort was to allow the area of r esponse to be increased not from only the eastern end
but Island- wide. The second change was to have the
role of the volunteers to expand to training and to o perational responsibilities. They now will be trained to
operate the high- volume pumper in order to supply
high volumes of water when required at major fires.
The volunteers will be trained to operate other specia list trucks in order to support the efforts of the full -time
staff, especially during hurricanes.
After engaging in an effort to recruit volunteers, the number of volunteers which were on record
and training has increased from three in January 2020
to 26 volunteers who train every Tuesday night at the Hamilton Fire Station. Our department sees a new
volunteer service that is growing with enthusiasm and
gives Bermuda’s youth another choice should they wish to volunteer their time and service to this country.
The future of the new volunteer service will see: Supporting the Bermuda Fire Depart ment with an Island -
wide service; conducting support with water supplies
and foam, as well during major incidents; rendering refreshments and food supplies, along with the refil ling air supplies for sustained firefighting or hazardous
material incidents.
Madam Chairman, the Dundonald Street fire
and the Dockyard marine fire have shown that greater
emphasis needs to be placed upon community fire education. This can all be accomplished through our
Community Risk Reduction Programme. Fire safety
and prevention visits, radio commercials and social
media can be used to help us reach mariners, bus inesses, insurance companies, private dwellings and schools. The Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service will, however, endeavour to continue to provide emergency services at a high standard of operational efficiency.
The dedication of all personnel has been confirmed on a number of occasions by letters of apprec iation from members of our community for the services of our emergency operations, and the communities
have lauded our community service efforts. Thank
you, Madam Chairman.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank
Chief Fire Officer, R. Lloyd Burchall and the members
of the Fire Service for their continued efforts on behalf
of the people of Bermuda.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Yes. We will now adjourn for lunch
and return at 2:00 pm.

Proceedings suspended at 12:3 3 pm

Proceedings resumed at 2:02 pm

[Ms. Leah K. Scott, Chairman]

COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2020/21

MINISTRY OF NATIONAL SECURITY

[Continuation thereof]
3336 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly The Chairman: Honourable Members, we are now in
Committee of Supply for further consideration of the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2020/21, Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25 and 45 of National
Security are to be debated.
And we have three hours and four m inutes
remaining in this debate, Minister.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Good afternoon, Madam
Chairman.
We have finished our Heads and we would
now like to open the opportunity to my colleagues in
the Opposition to ask us questions.

First, I would like to thank the Minister
for the information that he presented this morning.
Obviously, the Ministry of National Security is an extremely important Ministry, it covers so many different areas, specif ically a lot of the service areas. The pr otection of our citizens, the overall feeling of safety in our country, is based off of a lot of the department
Heads that are in this particular Ministry.
The Minister did a really good job of laying out
a lot of t he challenges that are faced when you have a
situation where the budget does not always allow for
covering all of the items that we would need, but it is
important that we highlight some of the areas where
there is potential weakness which we would want to
see more finances given to.
With that I would like to start with Head 6, D efence. That will be on page B -280.

I am actually going to start on page
B-281 under 16005, Recruitment.
The Minister mentioned that there was a total
number of soldiers that would be necessary to have a full complement in the Defence Department, but he
also mentioned that we actually have a number presently that is significantly lower than that number. We
have been through a transition over the last couple of
years since we made the adjustment to not have co nscription, which, obviously, is going to have an impact.
And as we are going through the process of figuring
out whether the recruitment each year is able to meet
the demand, I will say that I was a Regiment soldier in Bermuda. One of the things that is missing by not having the conscription portion is the overall interaction of
Bermuda that was forced, but it actually opened up an opportunity for people from different walks of life to
actually have to work together.
As we go through some of the challenges that
we are having in Bermuda today, it is important to
note that this was something that was helpful in giving that opportunity to people from different walks of life to
actually have to work together as a team.
And with that being said, can the Minister
speak to if there is any way for us to continue to try to bring that into the process of recruitment? I know it is
difficult because before there were people who would never have signed up to be in the Regiment who were
in the Regiment. I know that there are several people,
even within this House, who would have moved up the
ranks within the Regiment, but if you asked them
would they have signed up in the beginning, the a nswer probably w ould have been no.
So, now that we have the situation where we
are not forcing people to be in, are we missing out on
the opportunity to have people of that level in the Re giment? I know that the people that are in there now
are working hard, that they ar e trying to make the
Regiment as productive as they possibly can with the
constraints that they have under this new system.
One of the things that I would specifically like
to ask is: With this recruitment that we are doing on an ongoing basis, is there a ny focus on bringing female
membership into the Regiment? As you look worl dwide, we have, you know, issues with making sure that we are being fair across the board, but som etimes there are challenges with keeping that level of
male/female in. So, I just wonder if the Minister can speak to if there is any specific focus into bringing f emales into the Bermuda Regiment. Now, under 16080, still on page B -281, this is
Marine Operations. So, obviously, this is a big highlighted point because we have been talking for quite
some time about getting a Coast Guard into Bermuda
and what the potential impact of having a Coast Guard in Bermuda would be. In previous budgets we
took money which was for overseas camps and put it
aside so that we could implement the Coast G uard,
and it did not work out in previous years. So, now
there has been money specifically put aside to have
the Coast Guard, but I have some specific questions about what that is going to look like and that process,
as we implement this new programme.
So, in having a new Coast Guard system, the
first question I would like to ask the Minister is: How many boats are going to be necessary to have a
Coast Guard? If we have boats presently, what is the age of the boats? If we have boats that are over a certain age, what is the expected lifespan of a boat that is
used for this particular service? Are the boats tested
for seaworthiness? If the boats are tested for seaworthiness, how many of the boats that we presently have
have actually passed that test?
So, as we go down this path of trying to bring
in a Coast Guard, we have to start off with the tools


Bermuda House of Assembly that allow them to actually perform the duties that we
are expecting of them.
The Minister spoke of the range of 12 miles
that is the coverage of the Coast Guard. Still, spea king to the fact that we are going to have the usage of
boats, do we have boats that are specific for inshore
and boats that will be used for safety in the area off of
Bermuda out to 12 miles?
There are also incidents which will happen
outsid e of that range that may come under other d epartments, but will there be coordination with the
Coast Guard to potentially give them an opportunity to
work together for that area that is outside of the 12
miles where the training that is being provided to o ur
Coast Guard might come into the option of helping in
that area?
The Coast Guard positions that are being
brought in, there are nine positions, and the service is
going to be 24 hours, so are these positions being
brought in full time or part time? And are they falling
under the same line under where the rest of the Reg-iment is, for which there is no overtime, so is it going
to be a set rate for the people that are going to be in
the Coast Guard? If he could give some clarification
as to whether there is going to be any difference between the Coast Guard and the rest of the Regiment
when it comes to the contract that they will be signing on to.
Presently, a lot of the duties which are done
for our marine policing are done by the police. So, by
bringing i n the Coast Guard there is going to be some
crossover that is going to happen. Originally, I believe
that the Coast Guard was going to take over these duties. Can the Minister give us some details of who is
going to be covering what area and who will be in
charge when that kind of conflict potentially happens,
you know, when two people are showing up to a sc ene, who is in charge of it?
You know, obviously, the police have one way
of doing things, they have a different set of duties,
they are going to have certain standards that come
under [the] police, and then the Regiment forces are
going to come under a different standard with a differ-ent set of rules. So, bringing arms into an incident,
boarding boats, if he can give us some clarification as
to what that is going to look like and who will be in charge in those situations.
When there is a situation where a boat potentially has been identified where searches are going to be needed to happen, who is going to be responsible
for that? Is that a situation where the Regiment is just
going to be watching or will they be the ones actually boarding the boat? Will they be the ones doing the
searches? Could we get some idea, as we are going
through this transition, what that will look like?
The Minister also mentio ned that there are
some parts of this that are dealt with by the Fisheries Department when we are dealing with the licensing
and, obviously, people fishing in non- fishing zones. So, the Coast Guard, being on the water and policing
the water, obviously, wil l have some area to deal with
in this. So what will the coordination look like between
them and the other departments to make sure that this
is covered? And, once again, who is going to be in charge in those particular situations?
Presently, there have been some parts of the
Bermuda Regiment under the Boat Troop that have been helping and supporting the police. Is it possible
to have some statistics on the ticketing that has happened on the water, specifically, from this group so that we have an idea as we move towards having a
Coast Guard and some of these responsibilities will be
taken over, what it is that we can expect from the policing of the water by the new Coast Guard?
As we bring in this Coast Guard . . . and I di scussed the fact that we would lik e to get some information on how many boats and how old the boats are.
Is the Minister able to tell us who will be maintaining
the boats? Is that something that is done presently by
the Boat Troop? Do we have all of the tools and the
specific people in place to make sure that we are making our boats seaworthy so that not only is the
Coast Guard able to perform the task that they are
asked to do, but they are also doing it under the safety
for themselves, so that we are protecting the comm unity as well as th e people from the Regiment that we
are expecting to perform this service?
Moving on to page B -282, I have a question
around Energy. Can the Minister please give us a
breakdown of what the energy cost is for this Head in
Defence? So, it is actually found on page B -282, it
comes right under Insurance, there is a line for Energy. Can he give us a breakdown of what that is? And
let us know whether there has been any analysis of
using renewable energy and trying to reduce the cost
of energy when it comes to thi s particular department.
The Minister has spoken about the change in
the communications and, obviously, that was done
overall because it is going to reduce the cost of dealing with the communication system. If he could give
us a little more specifics when it comes to the Regiment and any positive impact this change might have
with the new equipment.
Just quickly going back to the Marine Oper ations under 16080, if there is a major incident on the water where there is fire, particularly, and you are
having multiple agencies on the water at the same
time to deal with an incident, once again, if we could
have some clarification on who is going to be responsible, who is in charge, because part of the issue is, you know, when you are going to have multiple chief s,
you can run into some conflicts. So, if we could have
some clarification on who is going to be in charge in
that [situation], it would be helpful.
On page B -283, when we are looking at the
employee numbers, it has been noted publicly that we are going through the transition of commanding officer
and this, obviously, happens on a routine basis. With
3338 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly the changes in recruitment into the defence, previously there would have been kind of steps where ever yone comes in as a private, different people are moved
into different areas with different levels of training, and
then you are going to move up through the ranks based off of that training.
Can the Minister give us any indication on
whether those lines are in place for us to be progres sing people through the ranks that are going to allow us
to continue to have Bermudians in those higher roles in the future? Because as you move people with expe-rience out on this kind of routine basis, sometimes it
means that the people behind them have to have
been trained and prepared to take over that role.
But the starting point is going to be that we
actually have to have enough people to go through
the process to be prepared and to be certified in the
level that it is going to take to take over that role. So,
just making s ure that we have people in that position
so that we do not end up in a situation where, when
this commanding officer moves on and you move someone else up that we do not leave the cupboard
bare. So, just some clarification on what those steps
are so that w e can make sure that we continue to
have Bermudians in those roles.
On page B -284, Performance Measures, just
a quick question looking at . . . under the business unit
. . . it actually lists 16020, 16030, 16040, 16075 for
Training and Support. The actual piece that I want to
look at is, Percentage of soldiers who passed their
military standard tests. So, in 2018/19 it was 50 per
cent; and the revised forecast for 2019/20 was 65 per
cent.
If the Minister can speak to the percentage of
pass rate for the people participating in passing the
test, which, obviously, is going to mean that this is the group of people that we will be training forward to try
to move up the ranks, if the percentage of them that
are not passing the test is still quite high, this is no t
boding well when our overall numbers have been r educed so significantly.
And I bring that specific point up because
when you look at Training and Validation, the percentage of soldiers who passed overseas courses is
100 per cent. So, the training and st andards that are
being done locally we are having a hard time getting
everybody to pass, but I guess, the select few that are
being pushed off to overseas are passing. Maybe we
could come up with an idea of how we can make that
[local] number a little higher because presently the
target outcome is still 65 per cent.
And with that, on this particular one, I will take
my seat, and if anybody wants to ask questions on it
or I would look for responses from the Minister on this
particular Head.

Okay.
Minister?
Hon. Wayne Caines: We should just prepare to a nswer those all at the end when we have all of the
technical officers there. They are in the back. The
Regiment officer is not here to answer those questions, so we are just going to ask to proceed and we will answer all the questions and move all the Heads
in the end.

You have the floor.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I am following up on what
my colleague has asked in terms of page B -284.
You are talking about the percentage of soldiers who passed their military standard test and I
know that it was . . . originally it was 50 [per cent], we
hoped to get it up to 70 [per cent] and now it is for ecast down and targeted for 65 [per cent]. And I think,
from the perspective of the additional things which the soldiers are supposed to do and the whole question of
recruiting and getting enough people, I just wondered if the Minister is able to indicate, you know, what
things are in plac e to get them at a higher level rather
than just the 65 [per cent].
Originally you hoped to get 70 per cent pas sing. We have acknowledged that it is only 65. I would
have thought it would be quite important to get it to an even higher standard. And I think what I would be i nterested in, in terms of this outcome, [would be] is this
an accumulation of each one of the things that they
have done in terms of 65 [per cent] or each one of
those tests has a different pass rate and, therefore,
this is an accumulati on of passing all of them?
Am I clear? Should I make it . . .

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Yes, it is clear? Okay.

So, before I move on to Head 7, P olice, I would just like to say thank you to all the people within the Bermuda Regiment. A lot of times we do not
really give a lot of praise to the Regiment until we
need them —when a hurricane happens and there is
disaster and they are out immediately, out in the storm
cutting down trees and removing debris from the
roads, or when a disaster happens outside of Berm uda and they go towards that area to make sure that
they are helping our neighbours, and doing that on behalf of Bermuda. So, I would just like to make sure
that we thank them for their service and what they are
providing for Bermuda.

So, moving onto Head 7 for Police.
Over the last several years there has been a
significant change in what is expected from the Police because of the changes in our society. With the i ncrease in gangs and gang activity, obviously, the Mi nister has come to the House on several occasions and
spoken s pecifically to all of the challenges of dealing
with gangs in Bermuda and all the different pr ogrammes that are being put in place to try to not only
deal with the kind of end result when we are dealing
with a crime and the police are having to deal with
them, but also the programmes to try to curb this a ctivity from a younger age.
But, specifically for the police, they are the
ones who have to deal with this on an ongoing basis
with gun incidents and violent crime, obviously taking
on a lot of that extreme responsibility for the police. It
is also important to note that some of the community policing initiatives are actually doing a really good job.
That communication with the police and the community is helping to kind of break down some of the barr iers. T hat opportunity for the population to see the p olice in a different light is allowing for policing to take
place in a different way and have people comfortable
to come forward and speak to the police when inc idents happen is really important and it allows for
some of the convictions to happen because people
are speaking up.
So, starting on page B -286, 17190, Training
and Development Department, is this the area where
the recruiting of the next officers is going to come from? Is this the group . . . is this the area that will be
responsible for training the next set of recruits?
Obviously, I have spoken publicly that when
you look at the initial number and there is a $4 million reduction to the police, it is a shock when we actually
are going through a lot of things presently in Bermuda
where you are going to need the police. So, the r e-cruitment part becomes really important to make sure
that we are bringing people in.
What you do not want to have is that any kind
of reduction ends up meaning that the recrui tment of
new officers does not happen or gets pushed down
the line because there is going to be burnout, there
are going to be issues within the police because of the
high intensity of the job that they are having to do. So,
that number —the big number that kind of shocked
people —means that somewhere there is going to
have to be some give and take when it comes to the police.
One of the things that I would like to know is
that after the recruitment process is over and they have actually become a police offic er, is there a continued set of courses available for police officers so that they can maintain, you know, policing at the level of the world today? Because, obviously, things are
changing and they are changing quickly. The kind of
criminals that we have has changed. Obviously, we
are going to have to keep up to date in what we are
doing. So, just making sure that the training and de-velopment of these officers is continuous.
And, what access are we giving them to
whatever tools they might need? You know, w hether it
is forensics, or whether it is dealing with gangs, or it is
how you deal with people on an ongoing basis, there are different areas which are important so we make sure that we are giving them the tools so that they can
actually protect the countr y and, potentially, prevent
some of the crimes from happening.
And in the context of this training, if this trai ning is happening, can the Minister let us know whether most of that training can happen locally? Or is it
something that has to happen overseas ? Are we ha ving to . . . or is it a situation where potentially we can
train Bermudians to be able to come back and then
give the training to everyone else so that you are
keeping that momentum happening, but you are also doing it at a local level?
Is it possible for the Minister to let us know
what percentage of the Bermuda Police [Service] is actually female?
You are going to see a little bit of a trend here
with me. I am just making sure overall that when we are making decisions about employment that we are
doing it with equal opportunity across the board to
make sure that we are giving [the same] op portunities
to female officers that we are giving to male officers
that we are recruiting, and if there are challenges and
differences that have to be dealt with, that we are
dealing with that to make sure that we are evening the
playing field between our male officers and female
officers.
Moving on to 17120, still on page B -286, this
is under Marine and Road Policing.

Sorry, that is not the right one.
Yes, 17120, correct, Marine Policing. So, with
the introduction of the Coast Guard, obviously there is potentially going to be an impact on the policing that is
done by the Marine police. So, what impact is that
having on the Marine police unit? Are those officers
being moved to a different part of policing? Or are they still there because they are going to be suppor ting what is happening with the Coast Guard as we are
going through the transition? If the Minister could give
us some details of what that impact is and what changes, potentially, are going to happen within the
Marine policing unit.
If the Minister can give us information on how
many boats the Marine policing unit has, how old they
are and what the lifespan is of the boats that the p olice have? Have those boats been tested for water
worthiness and have they passed the testing?
And once again, who is responsible for the
maintenance of the Marine policing unit? Because if
we are going to be having a crossover and there are
going to be boats from the Coast Guard and boats
from the Marine policing, maybe there could be some crossover on how we are going to deal with the
maintenance of them.
Now, on 17130, Garage and Workshop, I
gather that this is the area that is going to be respon-sible for the servicing of the police vehicles. I believe
the Minister might have given us some information on the total [number of] cars and v ehicles that are used
by the police. But could he just kind of follow up and
give us detail on how many vehicles there are? I
guess my specific question is: When we are looking at
the fleet overall, these are cars that are actually having . . . vehicles th at are being used daily —multiple
times a day —by potentially different people using
those cars. And the wear and tear that happens when
you are having to use a vehicle this way . . . has there
been any specific analysis about the cars that we are
purchasing to make sure that we are getting true va lue for money?
Rather than just buy a car because it looks a
certain way are we focused on a car that is going to
be able to handle that wear and tear and be able to
work for what we are going to use it for? I think most
people would agree that they have to have these v ehicles, but I think people are going to want to know that the vehicle that they are buying is going to be something that is purposeful for what they are using it
for.
The Minister spoke specifically that there is
$150,000 that has been put aside for vehicles. Can he
break down how many vehicles that potentially is going to provide [and] at what cost? The Minister might have spoken to this . . . I
am moving on to 17140, the Special Investigations
Department. There seems to have been a significant
drop in the Special Investigations Department. If the
Minister can speak to the specifics of that, was that based off of investigating a specific case that was
costing more money that now is not happening and
that is why we are now seeing the reduction? If he
could just give us information on what that is.
[Business unit] 17170, Intelligence Division,
has there been any further discussion on drone tec hnology for the Bermuda Police Service? Obviously,
the technology in drones has become very specific
and important across the globe and it allows for poli cing, specifically, at a level that you cannot always get
with normal methods of trying to gain intelligence. Is
this something that we are continuing to look at ? And
is this something that potentially can help our police
force? And there might be an initial outlay in cost, but
it actually may reduce costs later because the man
hours change when you are using technology to act ually get to the result.
So, under 17220, Reserve Police, the Minister
spoke specifically about the reduction in the number
of people that were participating in the reserve police
force and some of the changes in the roles. Has there
been an analysis of the people who have left? Or any
kind of idea on what changes we have to make in or-der to make sure that we are bringing more people
into that particular area? Obviously, having them as
support to the police reduces some costs, but at the
same time allows manpower to be moved in areas where it actually can be used at a higher level for be tter reasons.
On page B -287, Salaries. I guess the question
that I want to ask is based off of a number that you
hear a lot, that there are a large number of overtime
hours that are spent [by] the police force. I guess the
question overall becomes . . . you have this balancing
act where you have a staffing number that says that this is the number of staff that you are able to provide
in the budget, but then you have to use that same
group of people past the amount of time that is normal
in their job, which then adds an added cost of overtime. Has an analysis been done which would provide details on, if we actually added two more staff we
would cut down on that overtime number, which is
actually less expensive, an d, at the same time, we are
creating an environment which means that the officers
are actually getting more down time?
They are getting . . . you know, having a high
stress job means that they are going to have mental health issues, that they actually have to be taking care
of themselves. And it is not just that; it is going to be
physical, there are all the other pieces, seeing your
family . . . there is an understanding that in certain
fields within the overall National Security, there are
high levels in certain jobs when it comes to divorce
rates, when it comes to sickness, because of the high


Bermuda House of Assembly stress level. And when you add in doing extended
hours over an ongoing period, that is a recipe for more
of that same unhealthy outcome.
And with the overtime, is t here also an option
where officers are able to take time in lieu instead of payment? And if that is the case, how is that lined up
when you end up banking many hours of time that you
cannot use? Obviously, if you are understaffed they
cannot take the time and then, eventually, you are
going to have to pay it at some point.
So, moving on to Professional Services, which
is also found on [page] B -287, can the Minister give us
a breakdown on what those professional services are
and what the impact is of the changes in the budget
when it comes, specifically, to that line item?
Repair and Maintenance, also on that page,
the Minister talked about some of the changes in mov-ing different departments and trying to fix up, I believe
he said, the Prospect Building. Can the Minister give
us some details on how many people, potentially, can
be moved once that project is complete? I know he said that it is probably not going to happen within this
year because there is not enough money in the budget to actually complete the project, but would it be
possible for us to know, once that project is complete,
how many people can move to that area? And then,
what the cost savings will be once they are able to move?
And under Energy, can the Minister give us a
breakdown of where that Energy number comes from
and, once again, has an analysis been done to find
out whether renewable energy can be used in order to
reduce the cost of our energy for this department?
So, with the total number of officers (this is on
page B -288), is the Minis ter able to provide to us
whether the total number of officers that we presently
have matches the number of officers that is actually
requested? I ask this, once again, because, obviously,
there could be an impact on the overtime number. It is
also important to be able to figure out whether we
have the full coverage.
We have some initiatives that have been
brought in recently with sobriety checkpoints. I believe
that the sobriety checkpoints are working for a lot of
reasons. Potentially, this area has allow ed the police
to focus on specific areas when it comes to drinking
and driving. Some of the feedback is that because we
are telling people when we are going to have it, it
does not have the full impact that it would have if, on
an ongoing basis, people did not know where and
when this was going to happen. That, potentially, curbs the behaviour more than people just behaving badly most of the time and then changing their beha viour on just the weekends when we have sobriety
checkpoints.
So, going back to page B-286, 17010, Human
Resources, I have a question regarding . . . the public
will have been aware that there has been an increase
in gun incidents in Bermuda over an extended period of time. It is always unfortunate when you have the
opportunity to speak t o the fact that we did not have
any murders last year and we seem to have moved in
a direction where the gun incidents have gone down
and then we end up having this surge that happened. The result of that surge seemed to have been that the
police did a ver y public display, kind of being in areas
where potentially there were incidents which seemed
to have an impact. Obviously, this was done along
with the conjunction of the Gang Task Force and Pastor Bean, and there was a lot of coordination to kind of stop this kind of back and forth that was creating a lot
of uncertainty in the Island and a lot of fear.
My question is, when you have to have that
kind of surge to push back, what is the cost of that? Is
that a different cost than what would be happening for
normal policing?
So, if that surge is going to increase the cost
to the police budget, what does that look like if, after
that period of time, they are going to have to start to
cut back and then the gun incidents go up and now
they are going to have to do that surge again? If that is the context and you have lowered the budget for
police, how do they cover that surge in cost to the
budget the next time around? Somewhere something
is going to have to give in order for them to be able to
cover all of the th ings that they need to do at a level
that is going to work for the country.
There also seems to be something that obv iously happens when you have complicated crime
happen. You know, if there is gun violence, obviously
the police officers who are attending to it, who are dealing with that case, are going to have to do very
specific things, but then they are going to have to go
back and do admin attached to that. And then, if they
are able to apprehend somebody and then go through
that process, they are then going to have to take that
all the way through the court system. Well, all of that
is going to mean that those particular officers are spending more and more time dealing with that admin
side.
When that happens, it is obviously going to
have a knock -on eff ect that somewhere you are going
to have a shortage because your most experienced
. . . they are obviously going to try to send out the officers that they know have all of the details that are
needed to deal with that kind of crime. If that person is
now s pending extra time on the admin side, how do
you balance that?
So, if it is not a manpower issue, potentially, is
there something that we can do to kind of offset the
admin that they are having to do so that those people
can be on the front line? I do not fully know what the
real answer is to that, but if the Minister can give
some details, specifically on what that looks like, because as those officers are having to spend that extra
time and have to pull themselves in multiple direc-tions, it goes back to my mental health position.
Right? When you are extra stressed- out and you are
3342 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly spending extra hours and you are dealing with it on
this kind of intense basis, that is going to have an i mpact on the lives of those officers. So, if we can get
some details on t hat, because we need to make sure
that the police unit in Bermuda is supported. Because
most of us do not really think about the police until we
need them, and we want to make sure that they are
going to be there when we do need them.
With that being said, I just want to make sure
that when we reduce the budget, specifically for this
group, even if it is supposed to be in a particular area that is not going to impact, we all know that if som ething comes up they are going to have to shift things
around in or der to cover what they now . . . what has
now become the priority. So, even though today it
looks like it can be covered, what does it look like
down the road? And what are they actually going to
have to reduce in order to cover all the things that
they ne ed to do?
And with that I will take my seat, see if there
are any more questions, and hopefully some answers
from the Minister.

You have the floor.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Ma dam Chairman.
Madam Chairman, I am hoping that . . . I was
sort of in transit, and I am hoping the Mi nister has not
covered the specific question that I am going to refer
to. If he has, he can just let me know.
But I had a question in respect of the police
budget on page B -287 under the Subjective Analysis
of Salaries. There is an estimate for 2020/21 of
$47,312,000. Now, the question that I have here is: We have been advised within . . . you know I Chair the
Public Accounts Committee. And one of the questions
that we have requested of the department is if they
could give us some indication in respect of the ex-tended leave that some officers have been able to
stay on the force and some of them, apparently, for
extended periods of time, not just like a short term, but
they have been on an extended leave for an extended
period of time.
Obviously, when we are looking at the public
money we need to ensure that those questions are
answered so that if there are recommendations that
can be made to be able to create further efficiencies
then, obviously, you want to be in a position to do so. And we have yet to rece ive the responses. These
questions have gone out probably nearly two months ago, and we have yet to receive a response in respect
of those questions.

Yes?

Hon. Wayne Caines: The questions were asked by
the Deputy Speaker of the House with r eference to—
and please let me know if am not answering them correctly —with reference to sick days, suspensions, people that were on leave, people that were out on gardening leave, all the people that are on pay, specific
to your question, two weeks ago wer e asked by the
Deputy Speaker of the House.
Last week there were acts written and all the
responses were turned in last week as written questions that list categorically the [number] of people that
were on leave, the amount of money that has been spent on leave, how many people on suspension, all
those questions were given as a written answer last
week and were submitted to the House in response to
Parliamentary Questions.

Thank you, Minister.
Member? Pat Gordon- Pamplin.
Hon. Patricia J. G ordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Ma dam Chairman.
Madam Chairman, I think that . . . and I thank
the Minister for that, because I was unaware of what
the responses were. I did know that there were some
questions that had been asked and that responses
had been pro vided on a written basis. So, we did not
have the opportunity to really look at them at that point
in time, through no fault of the Minister. It is just som ething that I think was overlooked.
But I believe that the Public Accounts Committee, as a separate entity and a committee of this
Honourable House, when questions are asked of the
department and the commissioner and whomever else was responsible to respond, they are expected to r espond to the Public Accounts Committee. So, I will
definitely have a look at the responses that came
through to see whether we can utilise that information
and work from them or make the determination as to
whether there is anything else that is needed in order to fulfil the queries that the Public Accounts Commi ttee are requir ed to undertake to ensure that we have
all the answers.

Member, I understand that they are
contained in the minutes of February 28
th.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: I will definitely
have a look, because I do remember the Speaker . . .
I think the questions were actually still on the Order
Paper and the Speaker did specifically ask whether
they had been responded to. And the Minister indicated that they had been. So, I am quite satisfied. I just was not aware of the nature of the questions that had


Bermuda House of Assembly been asked. So, I will go back and do that necessary
research, and if there is more information that is r equired, I will certainly drill down on it.
But I think it is still important to point out that
when the Public Accounts Committee asks for i nformation, the Public Accounts Committee has the right
to receive that information, even though it is made
available somewhere else.

Right.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: So, I think that is
just [an important point] to be made.
I also want to go to Defence, and that is on
page B -284. No, let me just stay on Police first. And
that is in respect of . . . and this is on page B -287 under Subjective Analysis on Salaries. Is there any
methodology by which officers are incentivised other
than just their regular salary, especially if they have a
shortage of officers, they have got to double- up, they
have got to do extra time, double- time? Apart from
just the fact that they may get paid overtime for doing the work that they do, is there something that would
encourage them to take up the opportunity, other than
just the money?
But is there something that is human, som ething that we feel, something that we know that these
officers are being looked at as a valuable part of our
defence strategy to ensure that there is some incentivisation that they may receive?

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: This is Police; I
have gone back to Police. So, I am going to finish the
Police first.
And when there are officers on extended
leave , who will make the determination, or who makes
that determination in terms of whether they are r etained on the payroll?
I think we have seen fairly recently there was
a . . . somebody who was acting ultra vires their a uthority and responsibility and it w as serving, in the estimation of the commissioner, to bring the service into
disrepute. And this, obviously, is an isolated case. I do
not want for one second for anybody to think that we think this is going on, on a wholesale basis. But the
question begs: At that point in time, if somebody is
deemed to be acting outside of their authority and
they are pulled on the carpet as a result, who is it that
makes that determination as to whether they are r etained on the payroll and whether their salary will continue while they were being investigated? Or once
they get . . . I am just trying to understand what the
process is there.
I was made to understand, under the Public
Service Commission, what the process is in terms of
other officers that we have investigated under the PAC. But I am just wondering what the procedure is
as far as the police are concerned.
Also, is there any particular reason why sobr iety testing has been decreased? That was just a
question that came to mind. So, that takes me through my questions on the Police. But I also have some
questions in respect of the Regiment.
One of which comes from page B -284. When
we look at Performance Measures under business unit 16020, 16030, 16040 and 16075, Training and
Support, item number three on page B -284 in dicates
the Percentage of soldiers who passed their military
standard tests. And that is a 65 per cent anticipated
. . . I am not sure if somebody already asked that
question?
[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Okay, all right,
fine. I just wanted to make sure that the individual under A, B, C, D and E, that we have the percentages of
each of those areas. Because it is fine to aggregate [and say] that 65 [per cent] have passed, but we want
to make sure that we are getting at least a satisfactory
passing percentage on each of the categories. I would
like to see 100 per cent on some of these things, certainly with physical fitness and personal fitness tests and annual fitness tests. It would be nice to have 100 per cent, but that is bei ng unrealistic.

Could I ask MP Rolfe Commissiong if
he could come, please?

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Also, there is one
other question that I have.
What happens to retired weapons in the service? I think it is important to find out because I think
that we have had information fairly recently in respect
of weapons being made available (even though they may not have been operative weapons) and people,
individuals, being able to come into possession of
such weapons in their own private environment. And I
am just wondering what happens with respect to r etired weapons and how well secured they are? If the
Minister can talk us through that particular aspect, that would be useful.

[Mr. Rolfe Commissiong, Chairman]

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: And it looks like I
may have tread on some toes here, Mr. Chairman,
thank you for engaging me in this question.
And the other question I had was —

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Decommissioned
weapons, yes, and how the y are secured because,
notwithstanding we may have weapons that are
3344 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly deemed to be put out of commission, some of them,
with the installation of an extra pin or with the install ation of something else could actually be reengaged as
a dangerous and effective weapon.
Now, I do not know an awful lot about guns. I
am absolutely terrified of the things, so I do not know an awful lot about it. However —

[Inaudible interjection]

[Ms. Leah K. Scott, Chairman]

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Terrified. But with
that said, I think I know enough and have seen
enough TV shows and enough movies that would let
me know that this could, conceivably, be an issue.
And we want to make sure that the security of our
public is not compromised when these so- called
weapons have b een retired, and I think it is important
to know.
I think that those are the questions that I have
for the moment and, if I have anymore, I will certainly
come back and ask those at an appropriate point in
time.
Thank you, Madam Chairman.

Thank you, Member.
Is there any other Member who wishes to
speak to Head 7, Police?
I recognise the Member from constituency 19,
Jeanne Atherden. You have the floor.
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you.
And if the Minister will grant me the latitude
since my colleague went back to Defence for a m inute, if I can just go there and then come forward?
This is on page B -284. There is an indication
that the operational strength of the Regiment as a
percentage against the establishment was forecast at
85 per c ent, it is down now to 75 [per cent], and it is
targeted to go forward at 75 [per cent]. I guess my
concern is recognising that there is a real concern as
to whether the Regiment is going to be able to live up to all of the requirements. What is being done to, if
you will, to try and get more people into the Regi-ment? Because I think that was a real concern.
And if you go down to the next page, the
“Percentage of soldiers passed their period of mandatory service,” it used to be 75 per cent. So you had
peop le who were in there, they had the knowledge,
they would stay around for a while and, if you will, be some of the officers and the other people to be the core. The revised forecast is down to 50 per cent, the
target is up to 55 per cent. Is there anything being
done to try and get those up to larger numbers? And
the reason I ask is because I know at one stage there was a suggestion that with some of the perks that you
could get by being in the Regiment, that you might get people deciding to stay in longer a nd become career
soldiers, et cetera.
So, it is disappointing to see these numbers.
So, I just did not know if the Minister could indicate
what is being done, what is being planned to try and get that number up, because we all want the Regiment to be at t he level and we all want good soldiers
to be there to be protective of us.
If I can then just switch over to Police, this is
page B -289, the Performance Measures which are
there. There is a target outcome for 2020/21 and my
question sort of relates to eac h one of the targets.
“Percentage change and community satisfaction with
the Bermuda Police Service,” you are anticipating a
3 per cent percentage change. But without knowing
what target you had, it is hard to know whether you will meet it. And it is even harder for anybody to know, you know, how far off you are in terms of, if you say
you wanted everybody to think that the satisfaction is
100 per cent and you only got 97 [per cent], then you
came within 3 per cent. But if you only want it to be
85 [per cent] and you came to 85 per cent, then it is
up.
So, each one of those things might have a
different percentage. Because if we say “percentage
change in the public’s perception of safety about Bermuda’s roads,” I think a lot of people would realise
that the y have a real concern, so maybe the safety
level is lower and a 3 per cent change would be fine.
But maybe the percentage that you targeted for in
terms of how fairly the police treat the citizens, maybe
you want that to be 100 per cent or 90 per cent.
So, what I am saying to you is without knowing the targeted satisfaction, those performance tar-gets, are not going to be—

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
Just finishing out on the Police, still on Head
7, I just have a question when it comes to the emplo yee numbers. So, on page B -288, is the Minister able
to provide to us the number of, I guess the average
number of, retirees per year just so that we can have
an understanding of how many people are leaving the
force each year so that we can determine whether we
are actually bringing in enough officers to match the number that are leaving the force? Because, obvious-ly, we want to make sure that the number is going to


Bermuda House of Assembly be sufficient to cover all the duties that the Police
[Service] has.
Before moving on to the next Head, I would
like to take this opportunity to thank the Police [Service] for all that they do in keeping our community safe, for the work that has happened when they are
investigating the crimes locally. A lot of the work that
they do is not . . . it is a thankless job. They are going
to be in neighbourhoods, a lot of time they are asking
questions which make people uncomfortable, a lot of
the tasks that they are being asked to do are not go-ing to be the popular jobs, but at t he same time, we
know that their job is important and it is something
that actually makes the country feel safe and allows
us to be a productive society.
So, thank you to everybody involved with policing in Bermuda.

So, I am going to move on to Head
25, the Department of Corrections.
And I am just going to start with a question on
page B -294, 35000, Headquarters. I just wonder if the
Minister can give us some details on exactly what that
particula r group does within prisons —where they are
located, what the rental is of the facility. This is for the
Headquarters of prisons. And what that unit is responsible for overall in the prisons.
Now, moving on to 35050, Westgate Correctional, I have a couple of specific questions for the Minister to start with. The Minister has the ability and
opportunity to request searches at the prison. Can the Minister tell us how many searches he has been able
to order at the prison? Can the Minister list the items
that w ere potentially found during those searches? If
an item was found on a certain prisoner, have there
been follow -up searches of those prisoners?
The reason I ask the questions is because
there have been incidents where there were certain items that were b eing used by prisoners, for instance,
cell phones that they were sending out messages and
talking to people. And it really sets a bad example that this is supposed to be a high- security facility and allowing this kind of device to be in there shows that there is some breakdown in the system that allows for
that to happen.
On top of that, there is quite a bit of drug use
within the inmates. So, somehow, that is getting from outside into the facility. Obviously, searching the i nmates on an ongoing basis, sear ching their cells, letting them have . . . at least forcing them to change
whatever system they are using because the routine
of searching them is happening on an ongoing basis
that is going to disrupt that activity.
I spoke just now about the potential of people
using cell phones. So I am wondering if there is a sy stem in places that jams the cell phone signal. And if
there is a system, is it operating? Is that something that is working within the facility now that prevents the
inmates from having access t o outside when it is not
something that is in a controlled environment? They
are, obviously, not supposed to have cell phones, but
if they are having access to it, potentially having some kind of system that prevents them from being able to
reach outside of the facility would be important. If they
are not using a cell phone they are going to be using
the public phone. So I believe that there are specific
details around people having access to the phone call.
Right?
So, the phone calls are monitored. Can th e
Minister let us know whether that system is in place,
operating, and whether the continued access to that
information has been given to the police?
Earlier, when the Minister was giving his i nformation, he spoke specifically about a couple of things. And he read out some details about a meeting
that he had with the prisoners because he went to visit
the facility at Westgate. I have a couple of questions
specifically around what he said during . . . that kind of
offset of the statement that he was giving. So, the first
thing is, it seemed to be a lot of the information that
the prisoners gave was a surprise. And seeing first
hand, the Minister was able to see some of the issues
at the facility.
So, my first question is: Did the prison officers
provide any of these questions at some other point? Did the prison officers ask for help in certain areas of
the facility? And I will be specific to that. There was,
obviously, mention of having some cleaning when it
comes to mould at the facility. We just had a school
recently closed down because of some of the mould
issues. So, has testing been done of the mould in the
facility? And, if the testing has been done, what are
the results of those tests? And have there been any
tests on the impact to the respiratory health of not just
the officers, but also of the inmates, that are potential
effects of being in an environment over an extended period of time, breathing in spores from the mould?
If the prison officers had requested details on
certain things that they felt needed to be changed, can the Minister please let us know what the things were
that the prison officers were asking for to be changed
the way that he has been able to now list what the prisoners were asking for?
I believe that at some point in 2019 the Mini ster spoke to the fact that there was no hot water at the
facility, and promised the prison officers that the hot
water was going to be rectified by the summer of
2019. And here we are in March of 2020 and there is still no hot water. The Minister talked abo ut all of the
issues that now have come to light with trying to get
Works and Engineering to bring certain things up to
the level that is expected, and the Minister stated that,
you know, the level has been . . . it is quite disgusting,
the level that they are having to deal with.
And we have to understand that although the
prison is to incarcerate people who have broken laws,
3346 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly they are still people. They are still family members;
they are still sons and daughters. Right? So, the issue
is we cannot simply sa y that we want to keep them at
a sub- level and, on top of that, the people that are
there to make sure that they are staying within that incarceration are also having to be in that same env ironment. So, we have to understand that those people
are also bein g affected by it.
And when you take that a step further, you
know, my understanding is that the plumbing issue is
a real one. Most of us only have to deal with dipping water when a hurricane happens and the power goes
out. Well, at the prison this seems to be something
that they are doing on an ongoing basis. Most of us
get frustrated within a short amount of time when the power is out and we are having to dip from a tank. If
you had to do that on an ongoing basis in your job,
that would be a different situation.
So, the question is: Why is this particular
group being treated differently than other parts of Bermuda? So, those officers, obviously, will have some frustration with that work environment.
Moving on to 35105, Psychological Services.
The Minister s poke to the fact that there seems to be
an increase in the number of inmates who need some
kind of attention from mental health [professionals].
My question is: Can he give us a number? So, out of the total prison population, how many of those i nmates actually have to have that kind of service? B ecause when you move in that direction, what is expected of the prison officer is going to have to change.
So, with that, how do they identify people who
are going to be in the need of those services? Who is
responsible for identifying? Is that the prison officer?
What training have they been given so that they can
identify this need? Once it has been identified, what
kind of training has the prison officer been given for
them to deal with people who have these issues?
Because if we actually have inmates that
should be in the Mid- Atlantic Wellness Institute and
they are actually in the prison, and the prison officers
are not actually trained to deal with those incidents,
but they are having to deal with it on an ongo ing basis
because that is just the way the system is working . . .
you have to remember that somebody can be in pri son for 5, 10, 20 years, but at some point they are go-ing to come back into the population. And if we have
not done a really good job of tryi ng to change whate ver it is, whatever they need, to come back and be a
proper member of society, if that is not happening, we
are just pushing it down the road.
In the end it becomes worse, because now
they have been in an environment not getting the
treatment and dealing with the fact that there is no hot
water, that there is, you know, all of the mould and all
of those other issues with them and they are incarcer-ated. So, now they come out and they are bitter and
they are angry, and that is the person that we are now going to have to deal with in the future, which then
makes the situation worse.
In the cases of people who have mental
health issues, sometimes there are going to be issues
that are going to happen where those particular kinds of inmates are going to have to be restrained or there
is going to have to be medicine given to them. Well, if
this is supposed to be dealt with in a more medical
setting and it is not, it is happening in the prison, what
training has been given to the officers so that t hey are
going to be able to deal with the restraining? And who
is going to be responsible for the changes that are
needed for this kind of inmate? If the number of i nmates is increasing that are in this particular area,
then we need to be mindful that we s hould be increasing how we are going to deal with them.
The Minister stated that the person respons ible for doing the . . . I guess, the psychological perspective within the prison . . . there is only one person,
and there is supposed to be three. The issue is that
this has been the case now for several years and the
answer seems to be that there is a problem with the recruiting, of getting people in. What is it about that
process that means that we are not getting somebody
to do the job?
And if we can identify what that problem is,
then what are we doing to rectify it so that we can actually fill those posts so that this particular area is be-ing dealt with? If the number of people that are in
need of these services is increasing and we still have
only one person, I would probably say that really the
three number was probably okay when the number was lower, but if the number is increasing, the three
number should have moved, [but] instead, actually,
we are [still] at one.
So, how are we going to deal with this issue?
Because the prison officers are being expected to do
more with less and, potentially, not trained to do the
things that they are being expected to do.
On the Educational Services at 35108, there
were several programmes that were identified in the
statement from the Minister. I go back to this point that we have young people that are now being put in pri son and they are being put in prison for a really long time. You know, you potentially are going in now for 10, 20, 30 years, so a young 20- year-old could be getting out at 50 years old. Well, each year that they are
in there the outside world is changing significantly.
Right? The difference between what a phone looks
like over the last 10 years has been drastic.
So, it is not just the book education, it is ma king sure that we are giving this group the tools to con-tinue to progress as they are going through this incarceration so that we have a better chance of bringing
them back into society when they are a 50- year-old
that has not been part of all of the changes that are going to happen while they are there.
You know, a lot of people are feeling, maybe,
safer because the length of incarceration has i nBermuda House of Assembly creased, but we have to understand, at some point, all
of these people are going to come back into the country. And if we have not really done a good job of rehabilitating them and giving them skills for them to come
back, this problem is only going to get worse because a lot of the issues are actually based on issues within
the society. So, if they were not educated properly
prior to going into prison, that situation is just worse.
And the Minister spoke specifically to some of
the challenges that they are finding with these i nmates. These were probably real issues that these
young people had that were causing them to be un able to perform in school, which then made them angry,
which then put them in a situation where they moved
in an unsavoury direction, not because they wanted to, but it is almost by necessity. Right? They cannot
join in because they have these deficiencies, they
have these issues which are not being dealt with, and now we have incarcerated them and we are still not
dealing with them.
So, I understand it is difficult, but we have to
somehow figure out how we are going to deal with all
of these issues that we are having within our prison
system.
Recreational Services, 35110, so, a lot of
people will go, Well, recreation, what is the big deal?
But the truth is, when somebody is incarcerated over
a long period of time, we actually have to do t hings to
challenge them, to teach them how to work with each other and not against each other. And a lot of those
things, there is detail to it and how it is done. So, do
we have somebody who is in place, a coordinator,
who actually is going to coordinate that recreation?
Or, once again, is this something that is being
left to just the regular officer who does not have trai ning in dealing with it and they are just doing the best
that they can while they are being stretched to do all
these other things that they are being expected to do
in an environment where prisoners have changed? Understanding that we now have the same separation
that we are seeing out in Bermuda, where people
cannot leave the west part of the Island or they cannot
come to town. That separation is still going to happen in the prisons because those people are still not ge tting along with each other. So, there are ways of figur-ing out how you are going to get them to be able to work within a recreational environment that, potentially, can he lp to break down some of those barriers, but
you are going to need an expert to do that.
So, can Minister let us know whether som ebody is in place to do that, whether there are thoughts
of putting somebody in to do that kind of initiative and, if so, what will be the cost of bringing that in?
On page B -295 under Salaries, once again,
my question is going to be about the overtime of the prison service. The prison service, specifically the overtime issue, is something that we have to be mindful of. If you hav e people who are working in a very
stressful environment —more so than maybe any of the other service industries because, remember, they
are locked in with the inmates. So they are spending
long periods of time in that same confinement. And if
we do not hav e the overall numbers that are necessary to run the prison, what happens is those same
people are being expected to work more time.
So, in certain industries you are going to have
guidelines that are going to tell you . . . you know, if
you are a pilot, if you are a stewardess on a plane,
they land and there is a certain amount of time that they have to be able to rest so that they then go on and do their job the next time because of the safety
and all the things that are needed for that industry.
Well, in prisons is there a similar guideline
which says that this is how many hours these prison officers should be working, this is the amount of time
that they should have for rest? Those prison officers are then going to have to go home and, hopefully,
spend some time with their families and kind of r echarge because they are going back to an environ-ment that is very difficult. And it is an environment that
is not just difficult because of the people that they are having to deal with on a regular basis, but it is also the
environment that they are in with, obviously, the
mould and no hot water and all the other pieces that I
have already mentioned.
My question is: What impact does the need
for continuous overtime have on the morale of the prison officers? What impact does it have on the
health of the prison officers? Because if they are not
getting the down time—the necessary sleep, the necessary opportunity to actually work on their mental health away from the prison—then, the question is: Do
we end up with longer sick time? Do we end up with
people who actually have to be away from the job?
Well, think about the impact of that. If they are
getting sick because of the respiratory issues with the mould, or the stress level, and not having down time,
you have actuall y impacted the situation and made it
worse because now others are going to have to pull
up even more slack because we do not have enough
prison officers in the first place.
If the number of prison officers is supposed to
be 250 and we are at 180, that is a big difference. And
it means that on a regular basis people are going to
have to continue to come back to work and they are
not going to be able to take that time off. So what then
happens is, a lot of times they are taking the time that
they are supposed to have . . . it is building up and it is
building up and they are not taking it. And they are getting unhealthy. And that impact is going to show up at some other point.
Have we done an analysis or had some kind
of survey on the health of our prison offi cers—the
mental health, the physical health— what impact this
kind of job is having under this environment and how can we improve it? Not just with the improving of the facility, but also improving the support that it is going
to take for this group.
3348 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly So, in that same area there is a line for Trai ning. So, as I was talking about earlier, having the
change in the inmate population means that there are
more things that the prison officers are having to deal
with. In that context the training opportunities should be increasing so that we can diversify the knowledge
of these officers so that they can deal with all of the
changes within the prison population. If we are expecting more of them, then we should be giving them
more opportunities to get improvement in t he skills
that they know to make them better in their job, which also is going to help the overall morale of the prison
officers.
Under Communications, is the Minister able to
tell us whether the new communication system which
has been implemented also cov ers the prison officers
and whether there is a way that they could be part of this change? Is the same positive impact that is given
to the other services available for the prison officers to
help them to do their job better?
Still on page B -295 under Prof essional Services, with some of the incidents that have happened
to prison officers . . . so prison officers are being attacked in the prison. And we have also had a highprofile case where a prison officer was attacked outside of the prison. This is a dif ferent job environment
than what most people in Bermuda have to deal with.
So, if something traumatic happens to somebody in
their work environment, there is usually going to be
some kind of mechanism for them to be taken care of
from a therapy standpoint so that they are able to go
back to their job. I believe that there was a role put in
place for a wellness officer.
Can the Minister speak to whether this pos ition has been filled? And can the Minister speak to
whether he believes that this is an important role for
us to support our prison officers as they are doing more with less —working long hours, dealing with a
work environment that is below standard for ever ybody else in Bermuda, and coming under attack in the
prison and outside of the prison? Would it be important for us to have a role that is going to support
our prison officers with a wellness officer?
Next is Repair and Maintenance. The Minister
spoke quite a bit about the changes that are being implemented since he was able to have that meeting with the prisoners. So, now there have been conversations with Works and Engineering about doing
some of the changes that need to be done in order to
bring the maintenance level up in the prison. Is it possible for the Minister to let us know who is doing the
ongoing maintenance at the prison? Is that somebody
that comes from Works and Engineering on an ongoing basis? Is it the prisoners? Who is responsible for
that? And is that being done at a level that allows for
us to maintain the prison on an ongoing basi s or are
we continuing to fall behind because it is not being
given the attention that it needs? Has there been an overall look at the facilities
to determine what changes need to be made, not just
in this budget, but in upcoming budgets, in order for
them to bring the level of the prison up so that not only
our prison officers but also the prisoners can be at
least accommodated at a minimal level rather than
below normal life standards?
My next question is under Energy. Can the
Minister give us a breakdown of the energy costs?
And is it possible for the Minister to let us know
whether an analysis has been done to use renewable energy and the impact that renewable energy could
have on the overall reduction in the cost of power and
on our overall footprint?
With that, I will take my seat and others can
ask questions and, hopefully, the Minister will start to
answer.

What page, Member? I am sorry.
Hon. Michael J. Scott: [Page] B -294, Inmate Services.
I suppose all of the services from 35105. I
suppose that a debate . . . and, as the Honourable
Member Smith has sought to make and put questions
to Minister Caines ab out the setting of a corrections
setting, we always debate and engage in a debate in
contemplation of the continuing and the continuation
of this dehumanising setting. And we are talking about
men of age.
I heard the Honourable Member Mr. Smith r efer to t he younger ages they are found at the Co- Ed
facility; we are talking about women at the Co- Ed faci lity; we are talking about human beings in a constit utionally different set of [circumstances] than we find is normal. They have no liberty. It is dehumanisin g. But
[it is] wrapped in a bow of “Inmate Services” to try to
ensure that we are approaching some type of humanity for persons in incarceration settings.
And I am asking and noting and underscoring,
if I may, that I look forward to the day when prison reform addresses these issues. We are talking about
largely black men and women. And the Output
Measures, if you look at them, I mean, we project 235
for 2019/20 inmates —men and women. The original


Bermuda House of Assembly forecast was 221. And we will see them discharged,
Mr. Smith, my colleague, the number who are to be
discharged, projected in 2020 to be 230 —all human
beings.
Now, the setting for inside is the Farm, Wes tgate and the Co- Ed Facility, all with this artificial a ttempt at humanising with education and training and ensur ing that we reduce and keep to a reduced figure,
craziness, people assaulting one another —and I have
had to deal with it as an attorney —or people assaul ting the carers, the prison officers. So, that is the setting at these three facilities in our country . . . and it is
a worldwide phenomenon. The Kamala Harris ca mpaign and the Cory Booker campaign have brought important focus to it in the United States, but it is no less important here.
Now, the feeder programmes are The Ordinary [People] Society of Bermuda, the Brangman
Home, Observatory Cottage, the Psycho- Ed Pr ogramme, [these] have been absorbing and sponging
up the really difficult collapse into real problem chi ldren and young people and, in some cases, adults in
our country. Again, these are the effort s to address
the members of our society who have issues in their
homes, have psycho- educational and psychological
and psycho- traumatic injuries and impacts on their
lives.
And so, I am hoping my Members and fellow
colleagues in this House are understanding that it is
fair to talk about prison reform earnestly. And I hope that we begin to address it urgently, because to continue in this House as policymakers to contemplate
this revolving continuation of an incarceration set-ting—and it has been going on since Satan was a
child, across the world and certainly in Bermuda—it is
time we address it. Because we are producing persons who are not going to be good fathers, and we
are producing mothers and single mothers, already
mothers, who finally ended up in the cri minal justice
system and down at the Co -Ed Facility out of desper ation. And having regard to the dehumanising debate
we had just last night at the motion to adjourn about
things that must not be said about humans, we must not be compared with insects or animals.
We have an obligation, I know . . . and I know
that the Minister Caines is sensitive to it, his budget is directed at this whole question . . . and I am advocating that there be a line item soon, I pray, that deals
with the prison reform so that he does not, Minister
Caines or any future Minister of National Security, former Minister of National Security, Mr. Dunkley, too
. . . I know he had to grapple with it. So that we do not,
in future years, have to be assigning continuous considerable budgets at maintaining this ribbon and this
wrapping up in ribbons a matter that can be a ddressed with better humanisation and a reduction of
numbers in the prison population and finding a new
way of dealing with reducing entrance into the correc-tions and prison f acilities, having bumped into or collided with the criminal justice system.
So the numbers, as far as my memory can
take me—

Member, what particular line item are
you on?
Hon. Michael J. Scott: I am still on [2505], Inmate
Services, and the Performance Measures on page B -
296.
These projected numbers of inmates in our
country in incarceration facilities have been at the 200 level. I have seen it. I remember when Commissioner
Lamb was in charge. I used to look at them in budget
debates with the same concerns. But my assessment
and analysis are maturing, and I think I want to underscore the need for us to cease and desist from treating this particular line item in the budget as a matter
that we contemplate as going to continue, and that the
best way that we can bring this kind of discussion and
point it in a different direction is with meaningful, as-sertive, and radical prison reform. And I look forward
to this kind of policymaking going forward.
Thank you.

Thank you, Member, for your contr ibution.
Is there any other Member who wishes to
speak?
I recognise the Honourable Patricia GordonPamplin from constituency 23.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. Thank you,
Madam Chairman.
Madam Chairman, I just had a quick question
in respect of page B -295 on the Subjective Analysis
for Expenditure under Insurance. And we note that the
2019/20 estimate was both $500,000 original and r evised, and the 2020/21 has gone down to $200,000.
And I am just wondering if the Minister would be good
enough to give us some kind of explanation in terms
of why [there is] that 60 per cent decrease in that particular line item.
The other question was in Training. We went
up from an original estimate of $51,000 up to
$112,000; which is an increase of 120 per cent, while
the overall difference in the department was
$500,000. It is important to note that these are sort of,
what I call, swings and roundabouts, so you had some
significant numbers in the Salaries going up by $617,000 and other numbers going up , Professional
Services $187,000 and the like, but you also had off -
setting decreases, which kind of brought the number down to $500,000.
So, in the overall scheme of things in terms of
overall percentages, a 2 per cent differential may not
necessarily be significant. However, the individual
numbers that make up that net 2 per cent need some
3350 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly further exploration. So, if the Minister can just advise
us in respect of the insurance number, the decrease
of $300,000, and the increase in Training [of] $61,000
it would be appreciated.
Thank you.

Is there any other Member who wis hes to speak to Head 25, Department of Corrections?
Just one second, Member.
Minister, we have an hour and 25 minutes left,
I believe, in this debate, and you do have several
questions that have been asked. Would you like to
start to address some of those now or —

Hon. Wayne Caines: No, we are just going to move
all the Heads at the end.
Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.
On page B -295 I just have a couple of questions for the Minister i n the . . . there are multiple facil ities available within prisons and we have the emplo yee numbers. Is he able to provide us with the numbers of the inmates within each of those facilities? And with
that, is there an international standard that states what
the ratio of inmate to [prison officers] should be so that we can understand whether we are matching that
number, whether we are below it or above it?
Finally, I just have one other issue under the
employee numbers. Worldwide there is an issue right
now—a pandemic —with coronavirus. The reason I
bring that particular subject up is because the service sector that we have when we are talking about pri sons, for instance, if we have an issue where the number of prison officers that we have is below the number of prison officers that we need—they are overworking by doing lots of hours, and we already have
prison officers that are on long leave for sickness —
what impact would that have on being able to keep
our prisons secure if 10 prison officers ended up being
sick if this virus does come to Bermuda at some
point?
This is not doom and gloom. It is really . . . we
have to understand whether we are prepared for that
kind of thing. And what is the preparation from a pri son standpoint if somehow a prison officer has tra velled on vacation, gotten sick, and then taken that v irus into the prison and now in the contained environ-ment we are going to have multiple people that are going to be sick because of it? Do we have a plan in
place for what that looks like? How we deal with it? If the Minister can give us some details on
whether that is the case and what is in place for it.

Madam Chairman, mindful of the
time, I am going to speak to Fire now. And then, I am
going to try to be as brief as possible because there have been a lot of questions that have been asked
and I want to give the Minister time to be able to give
responses to those questions because, otherwise, we
just asked a bunch of questions.
So, on Head 45, Fire Services, 55150, Trai ning, my immediate question is this (it is going to be, once again, a numbers game; it has been that way
when we looked through each of these Heads): So, if
you have a certain number of people who are retiring
each year, you are going to be reducing your overall
number. What happens with Fire Service, Police, [is that] you end up with a group that has come in at the
same time.

So, you end up with a situation where
everybody came in in the same recruiting class. So,
they are all going to reach their retirement around the
same time, depending on whether they decide to stay
in or they are only going to do their minimum requir ement.
So, my question is: Are we bringing in enough
recruits on an ongoing basis to match the number that
is leaving? Because that issue means that we are going to continue to compound our problem. If we have
a number that is below what is necessary for the Fire
Service to be at their optimum level, and we are losing people each year through retirement, how are we go-ing to then get our number to match? We are chasing
something that we cannot actually catch up with.
With that Training what I am also looking at is
how do they move up the ranks? Because the issue becomes, if you are not bringing in enough people in
the base, it is difficult to actually move people up the ranks because, as you do that, you are removing
some people from t he group that you are going to


Bermuda House of Assembly need to be on the trucks and, you know, doing specific
jobs within Fire [Services]. So, as you go through that
process, is the Minister able to explain to us what that
process looks like? If somebody is going to become a
sergeant, moving up to being a sergeant, what is that requirement? And then how are we filling in that role
below if we have not taken in a recruiting class?
Because we . . . there is a process that it
takes to actually get those recruits into the Fire Ser-vice and it takes an extended amount of time to do
that and it has to be budgeted for in advance. So, we
are playing catch- up and we are having people that
have to move up and it is not lining up. So, if the Mi nister could speak to how we do that, and can the Minister let us know whether there is a plan in place that looks overall at what that looks like?
What are the positions that are available t oday? What are the positions that are going to become
available when people retire? How are we going to
move peopl e into those areas? And then, how many
recruits are we going to need to fill the base again so
that we can move forward?
Also, in Training, I am just wondering whether
there is any specific focus on trying to bring females
into the Fire Service. Can the Minister let us know
how many females we have in the Fire Service presently, and if there is a focus to bring more females into the Fire Service?
Moving on to 55100, Emergency Medical Services, can the Minister please provide details on the
ambulance servi ce provided by the Fire Service? How
many ambulances does the Fire Service have presently? Where is the ambulance located? What is the decision on which ambulance is selected to go to an
incident? If an ambulance from the Fire Service is s elected, can the Minister provide us details on what the
cost to a person who needs the ambulance is from the
Fire Service? And then, is that the same as the price
for an ambulance that comes from the hospital?
We have an ageing population. We have all
heard it, multiple people in the House have said it.
Which means that a lot of the incidents that the Fire
Service are actually dealing with are having to go to houses because we have a population that, potentially, has medicine they need [but] cannot afford. They
are having to call in EMTs so that they can get kind of
minimum service because of the issues that they
have. Is the Minister able to give us details on how
many of the calls that the Fire Service are attending to
are actually from our senior citizens in the Island? And
have they seen a rise in the percentage of the calls that are actually for that particular group?
Before I take my seat, I am going to follow on
with the same thing that I just said under prisons. So,
we have a situation, once again, where we have a
numbers issue. And that same coronavirus that we are all hoping does not come to Bermuda . . . but we
have to be honest. The potential for it to come is high. The question becomes: When you are at
home with the coronavirus and you make that phone call, th e expectation of Bermuda is that the Fire Service is going to send their Bermudians into that house to protect you. What is our plan for that? Do they have all of the equipment that they are going to need to
deal with that kind of issue? Presently, are we set up
with a proper plan of how that is going to be dealt
with? Have we trained all of our Fire Service people
so that they can deal with it?
We need to be fully prepared for the potential
of this virus to come to Bermuda so that we can take
care of our citizens and take care of the people that
are going to service our citizens.
With that, I will take my seat.

No.

[Crosstalk]

Hon. Wayne Caines: I just want to deal with the . . .
Madam Chairman, I am just going to through the
questions as they were asked.
The question that was asked by the Shadow
Minister was: Is there any way for us to improve the
recruitment process in the absence of conscription?
The answer is: All legal residents are able to
join the Bermuda Regiment, therefore reflecting a
broader diversity than duri ng the years of conscription.
In other words, the Shadow Minister was sa ying that when he was in the army there were people from all walks of life in the Bermuda Regiment. You
actually see the same thing now. But the difference is
that you will see females . So, at this recruit camp, you
have people that were there, there were people from the Dominican Republic, there were Jamaican nation-als, there were females, there were people from all
walks of life in the Bermuda Regiment. There was a
schoolteacher; there were a number of different people. Yes, you had five people that were from Cayman,
but there was also a diverse array of Bermudians from
different walks of life.
During the days of conscription, you had men
from the ages of 18 to 32 who were in the consc ripted
pool of men. Now you have people that are not con-scripted who are volunteering based on where they
are in their life, wanting to commit to Bermuda. These
are people that are in Bermuda living. These are pe ople that are in Bermuda that are coming up on a vo lunteer basis and oftentimes it does include women,
3352 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report
B ermuda House of Assembly and we are seeing a diverse pool of people that are
coming in.
The second question is: Are we—
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon- Pamplin: Just a point of
clarification, Madam Chairman.

Yes, I recognise the Honourable Pat
Gordon- Pamplin.
POINT OF CLARIFICATION
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you.
Just in respect to the Minister’s response that
he has just given, we only have a 75 per cent against
the 420 targeted outcomes . So, notwithstanding that
people are eligible to go into the Bermuda Regiment,
if we are only having a 75 per cent success rate, the question is: Are we enticing people sufficiently in order
to make that step without conscription?
Hon. Wayne Caines: That was not the . . . my understanding of his question . . . I thought we were talking
about diversity. This question was talking about diver-sity of conscription, i.e., getting a one . . . the question
centred around a particular type of person. In other
words, when we were in the Regiment, we had people from all walks of life in Bermuda. The question was specifically dealing with, now will we still be able to get that . . . because when we had conscription we were
getting a bit of everyone. It was done so randomly. The question was will we still get that random sa mpling of Bermuda through this process. The answer we were saying is yes.
The next question is: Are we missing out on
the opportunity to gain a more diverse population? It is
the exact same answer that I said before on diverse
population.
Is there any focus on getting—

I would agre e with what the Minister
is saying. I guess to be more specific on what I am saying is that during conscription there were people that were trying to run from conscription, people that would never be in the Regiment. And what I mean by
that is that there are people that, moving on in life they
would be in IB, they would be lawyers, they would be doctors, they would be in those kinds of roles. That is the group that used to be rubbing shoulders with peo-ple from all walks of life. That group, it might be harder for us to attract [people from] that group in now. The Chairman: Minister?
Hon. Wayne Caines: That is fact. The reality of it now
is that with the stratification of our society it is highly probable that me returning . . . when I returned, Madam Chair man, I was a lawyer. I was just finishing law
school and I came back home and I was conscripted into the army —with a very young family. I had a threeyear-old at the time. If given the opportunity now to
return, as much as I was committed to Bermuda, if I
was not drafted at that time, the likelihood of me r eturning to the Bermuda Regiment would have been
slim to nil. Because basically where I was —
[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne Caines: Absolutely. But the reality of it is
that you cannot argue that fact. But the difference of it is that we can catch people at a stage in their life
where they can commit, where they can have diverse experiences. And there is opportunity there, if you look at the calibre and the nature of people that are coming to the Regiment. I disagree and I agree.
On this recruit camp there is a diverse type of
Bermudian that is there. They are very young. What the Regiment will do with the young men that are coming in at a very young age, they will learn a lot
more leadership skills. They will have the opportunity
to be catapulted into different realms of leadership.
And so, because the gentlemen are coming in at a
young age they will have some different life exper iences and, we believe, that this generation . . . they
do not stay in jobs for life, for long lifespans as we did and as the generations before us did. And we believe that with the lessons that they learn in the Bermuda
Regiment, they will indeed go on to better careers as
a result thereof because of being in the Bermuda Reg-iment.
The next thing that you learn about the conscripted soldier is that the majority of conscripted soldiers would do their three years and two months and
they would leave the Bermuda Regiment. The soldier who volunteers . . . even though we are in the genesis
of this period, the statistics will show that when you are dealing with a volunteer soldier, the volunteer sol-dier will do a long period of time. And so, you are se eing a different type of soldier with reference to the amount of money that you will spend to recruit.

Mm-hmm.
Hon. Wayne Caines: If you do an overseas camp for
a year, you are dealing with a soldier that is having three years and two months. And if a second- year
soldier goes away to the camp and he is doing all the training for HADR (Humanitarian [Assistance] and Disaster Relief), and he goes away for a year. You have one year, you are training a soldier for one year

B ermuda House of Assembly because the last year of service, so that is a number
of money you are spending—$500,000 on an overseas cam p—and they are going to have that benefit of
that soldier for one year.
And now, with volunteer service, you will see
the benefit to the country of having that soldier for a long period of time. So, we have to look at what the
actual benefit is, the value for the money, for the soldier.
Is there any focus on getting any more f emales into the Bermuda Regiment? I think that you
will see more numbers for the first time. But, Madam Chairman, we had a drill instructor, I think it was, that
was a female this ye ar—Colour Sergeant Shante A rnold. This was the first time we saw a female on the
square for Pace Stick, which was phenomenal. And so, whilst that can be a focus going forward, we are seeing an increased number of females that are rep-resented in the Warwick camp.
The Commanding Officer of the Bermuda
Regiment has said that he is seeing an ever -
increasing application by females. He, the Command-ing Officer designate, has said that he has a priority of recruiting female officers into the Bermuda Regiment.
The question with reference to Marine Oper ations: What will the implementation of the Coast Guard look like?
The answer: The Coast Guard is a platform
for enforcing all of Bermuda’s maritime laws, thereby supporting other agencies that will hold these responsibilities. In an incident which requires expertise of
another agency, the Coast Guard will transition from the lead agency to the supporting agency. This has happened effectively in other national incidents and this will continue to be the policy of the Royal Berm uda Regiment and the joint agency framework.
How many boats are necessary to meet the
objectives of the Coast Guard? The answer: The cur-rent forecast is to [have] eight multi -[purpose] vessels,
two being larger in capability. The Coast Guard has
eight vessels. All have been surveyed within the last
12 months. Six are certified as seaworthy. The r emaining two are being upgraded. The upgrades will be
primarily conducted by the Coast Guard officers and certified by an outside authority, as has happe ned
effectively for decades. This has been a successful process for decades and also represents effective use
of taxpayer money.
If we have boats presently, what are the age
of the boats? The answer: The boats range in age
from 4 to 24 years, but the older ones have been completely refurbished. As the Coast Guard develops its capability, it will purchase vessels which are fit for
purpose, exploring potential vendors and exploiting
where surplus platforms may be available from other jurisdictions within the US and the UK.
In particular, the Coast Guard will ensure that
the primary vessels for operation outside 12 miles will be suitable and the best value for money without compromising operational effectiveness. In the interim, they will be working with the Marine and Ports to
provide support when they require to deploy outside
the 12 nautical miles.
What is the expected lifespan of the boats?
[The answer:] The lifespan varies depending on the usage and maintenance.
Are the boats tested for seaworthiness? The
answer: . . . How many of the boats have passed
seaworthiness tests? Answer: We will have to get that answer.
Considering the range of coverage of the
Coast Guard, do we have boats which can reach that
range? [Answer:] The coverage of the Coast Guar d is
12 nautical miles. Yes, we do for inshore waters.
However, new purchases are necessary for greater offshore response. If we need to go to the offshore response, we will connect with Marine and Ports to use those boats if we have to go for marine purposes
outside the 12 nautical miles.
Is there an opportunity to partner with other
departments to assist the Coast Guard in reaching
longer range? [Answer:] Yes.
Are the positions being brought in full -time? Is
there any difference between the Coast Guard and
the rest of the Royal Bermuda Regiment in terms of contract? Answer: The new hires are full- time without
overtime. There is no difference between the Royal Bermuda Regiment, i.e., they have the same terms and conditions of service. But let me say this, the
Royal Bermuda Regiment had a boat troop. The Bermuda Police Service [Bermuda Police Service] had a marine section. As it stands now, both of those units have been combined right now to make the Coast Guard. In 12 months, we are going to combine those
units to make the Coast Guard. We believe that the
Coast Guard as it stands now will have nine full -time
posts. But you will still have people who will be a part
of that sub- unit which will be people who will form part
of the sub- units that will be on a p art-time basis. But
the full -time entity will be nine full -time personnel.
POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Point of clarification. So, speaking
specifically to what you just said, that was the crux of my question. Because, obviously, the police of ficers
have a different contract for how they get paid. The Regiment officers do not have overtime; a completely different contract. When you bring them together and hire nine, what is that going to look like?
Hon. Wayne Caines: The actual rubric of this process
is being ironed out now. So we have an implement ation team that is working on the plan now. As we know, we have recently formed the Coast Guard. We have a team that is actually in the process of working through the actual plans for this now. It is just past the
3354 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly embryonic stages. We are looking at what the plans
are for actually developing this.
Many of the duties are currently being performed by the marine section of the police. Will the
Coast Guard take over these duties? Answer: As per the Act, y es. It is the ambition of the Ministry for this to
fully transition to the Coast Guard by April 2021. The
Coast Guard will work with the Bermuda Police Service and other agencies to enable them to carry out
their roles and their responsibility.
Who is re sponsible when there are searches
of vessels? Is it the Royal Bermuda Regiment? What will that look like? Answer: At present, the Bermuda
Police Service is responsible. It will transition to the
Coast Guard in line with the Coast Guard Act. As you know, we have the PACE, Police and Criminal Ev idence Act and the Bermuda Police Service have been trained in gathering evidence and they have the rights
of arrest. There are specific things that they do. The
number of the Bermuda Regiment soldiers have been
traine d and have become special constables. We believe that the training . . . over the next year or so the
Coast Guard will have the requisite training and they will be able to collect evidence in accordance with
PACE, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
Who is taking charge of fisheries? Answer:
The Department of Environmental Protection is currently responsible. Similar to police matters, the Env ironmental Protection will be supported by the Coast Guard to enable them to conduct their duties.
What will we expect in terms of policing on the
water with the new Coast Guard? Answer: More vis ibility, a stronger stance in enforcement of laws pertaining to water safety and a provision for 24/7 search
and rescue capacity. This will allow us to meet the
internation al maritime organisational inspection later
this year.
Who will be maintaining the boats? Do we
have the tools and people in place to repair the boats?
The answer is . . . I will have to come back to that.
What are the energy costs? [Answer:]
$180,000 i s the cost of energy at [Warwick] Camp.
$50,000 for the new Coast Guard at Watford House.
The Bermuda Regiment spent $194,000 on fuel and
propane gas.
Has there been any analysis done on using
renewable energy? [Answer:] Yes. Solar was explored
[with] th e Ascendant Group and another vendor. It
remains a possibility, but initial costs prove to be pr ohibitive.
Is there any positive impact on the Royal
Bermuda Regiment in terms of the new radio equi pment? [Answer:] The new equipment has not been rolled out to the Regiment; however, it is expected to
yield a cost savings of $24,000.
If there is a fire on the water, who will be in
charge? The answer: The initial response may be the
Coast Guard. However, as soon as the Bermuda Fire
and Rescue Service can be brought into the matrix, they will take primacy support in the operation if necessary by the Coast Guard.
Employee numbers. What is the succession
plan in place for the Royal Bermuda Regiment to en-sure that Bermudians take over the head roles? A nswer: Ber mudians are the head roles. Currently, the
commanding officer designate is a Bermudian.

[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Wayne Caines: Currently, the commanding officer is a Bermudian. The two IC, the second in command, is a Bermudian, the Regimental Ser geant M ajor is a Bermudian. The adjutant is a Bermudian. The
director of music is a Bermudian. All soldiers are r equired to pass developmental programmes to ensure they are suitable for promotion.
In other words, there are persons who are in
the Bermuda R egiment that are non- Bermudian, but
the majority of the key roles in the Bermuda Regiment
are held by Bermudians. We have the Promotions
Board and the Defence Board that are entities that are responsible for promotions. The Bermuda Regiment is
one of the organisations that to get to the next level, if
you are a private soldier, you must do what is known
as the corporals cadre , and the corpora ls cadre is the
entry level that you must take in order to go to the next level. And to become a sergeant you must do an
examination. These are merit -based exams that you
must pass in order to get to the next level.
If you look at this, more so than any other organisations in the uniformed services, there is an op-portunity for you to be trained by Bermudians, to be
developed by Bermudians, and to come back and to
be in your area of expertise, giving that same training
back to people who are indeed Bermudians.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne Caines: Yes, Ma’am.
For the recent post of commanding officer,
four Bermudians and two spouses of Bermudians
were considered. A Bermudian, Colonel Dez was selected. As you know, Major Ben Beasley was chosen as the next CO, commanding officer, of the Bermuda Regiment. He will take over in a matter of weeks. Ben
is a Bermudian. H e will matriculate from major to l ieutenant colonel in a few weeks, and he will take over as
the next colonel of the Bermuda Regiment.
Performance measures, training and support.
The question: [What is] the percentage of soldiers
who have passed the milit ary test? Answer: With
standard recruits recently coming to the Regiment, we
observe higher standards of physical fitness. A review
was conducted and the result was a higher standard
was implemented. The data result was seeing a lower
number of passes due to assessment being made more difficult.


Bermuda House of Assembly In other words, when you had volunteers, the
test was actually a really easy test. And you literally
just had to show up. As you wanted people to pass
the basic physical test, when you became a volunteer
Regiment a nd you could be a little more choosy with
the people that the Bermuda Regiment got, they act ually made the test more difficult. With the tests becoming more difficult, we have seen the pass rates become a lot lower. Obviously, the Bermuda Regiment
would li ke to see people have higher standards. But
the tests in the earlier phases I think have to be higher
and the standards continually have to be pushed. We
are talking about personal weapons test, personal
fitness test, first- aid assessments, and rules of engagement.
The question was . . . the Member from constituency 23 asked could we have those numbers split
into categories. [Answer:] That is something that I
think that we will not be able to do in this exercise but
it is something in future years that we can have it
spread out to basic fitness test, weapons handling test
to get a better understanding of the type of soldier and
the level of the pass and fail rate that we can do in
future years.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Just a point of
clarificatio n. If the Minister could just explain —

Can you repeat that for the benefit of
the Minister?

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes.
If we don’t have the individual bits to say what
comprises the whole, how are we satisfying ourselves
that the r evised forecast of 65 per cent is the appr opriate con glomerate number, as well as the projected
for 2021?
Hon. Wayne Caines: I apologise, Mr. Chairman, for
not being clear. I am saying it exists; I don’t have it.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Oh, oka y.

Hon. Wayne Caines: I am saying it exists; I don’t
have it.

Continue on, Minister.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Question: What is the percentage of soldiers who pass overseas training? [Answer:]
All soldiers are required to pass the prerequisites and
standards before attending overseas training. A higher
standard is used before deploying on overseas oper ations.
Can the Minister advise what is being done to
get the pass rate increased from 70 per cent? [A nswer:] The Royal Bermuda Regiment has inc reased
the entry standards. The first revised annual testing
includes rehabilitation [and] retraining modules for
those who do not pass. As a result, we see soldiers being returned to the necessary standards or being
discharged from service.
What is the process for disposal of retired
weapons? Answer: Ex -service weapons. There is a
robust process for disposal and destruction of retired
weapons.

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Wayne Caines: The question was asked . . .
there is a robust process for the di sposal and the destruction of retired weapons.
Clearly, Mr. Chairman—

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. Wayne Caines: Clearly, Mr. Chairman, this has
been asked for a specific reason. We can deal with
that head- on.
There are specific allegations that have been
made with reference to some weapons and the Ber-muda Regiment with a senior member of personnel.
This matter is still under police investigation. Once this matter has been dealt with, this matter will be dealt
with in the public domain.
There is nothing that the Bermuda Regiment
will not deal with head- on. This is an organisation that
deals with honour and integrity, and everyone who
wears that uniform —from the private soldier right up
to the l ieutenant colonel —will be held to account for
their actions.
The Bermuda Regiment has a plan and a pr ocedure for dealing with weapons from the time you
have one in your hand, when it is given to you as a
private soldier, to the day that that weapon is decommissioned. Those procedures are outlined, they are
clear ly annexed, and everyone knows the procedure.
3356 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Anyone acting not in accordance with that plan, and
the outlined procedures and the law is doing so and is
in breach of the law if they do anything contrary to the
procedures of the Bermuda Regiment and will ha ve to
be held [accountable] in law if they go contrary to the
law.

Member from constituency 23, you
have the floor.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I just wanted to make sure that
I understand. Aft er decommissioning of a weapon, is
there something that says that they are held in a s ecure area? Or are they . . . I mean, I do not know exactly what is entailed in the decommissioning. But my
question is, If you say that this is . . . you had it from,
you know, Pat Gordon- Pamplin had the weapon from
the time she entered the Regiment, she has now come out so therefore that weapon is decommi ssioned from her perspective. Is there something that
happens, presumably it may be passed on to person
B and then the y do it.
If the weapon is now no longer serviceable by
normal standards, is there some level of security that is undertaken to ensure that this weapon is not r ecommissioned in a nefarious kind of way?

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman—

Yes, Minister.
Hon. Wayne Caines: I will feel comfortable to say that
there is a secure process for doing so. I believe there
are certain matters of national security and I believe this is one of them. I would feel safe to say that there
is an outlined plan that the Bermuda Regiment has for
securing weapons. The plan is outlined by the chief armourer and the regimental personnel and there is a
specific plan that is outlined for securing decommi ssioned weapons.
That programme is outlined to the regimental
personnel, specifically the chief armourer who is r esponsible for dealing with that. If anyone goes with
disharmony or is not in accordance with that plan, they should be held to account. There is an investig ation that is ongoing. When that investigation is m ade
complete, we will be notified and decisions can be made accordingly.

Thank you. Continue on, Minister.

Hon. Wayne Caines: What are we doing about r etaining soldiers? [Answer:] Retention is high. The
training model has been redesigned t o be more flex ible, to meet personal commitment, to meet the current
personnel. The auxiliary has been implemented to
retain recently retired soldiers on a limited basis to provide specific skill sets or for a MASS [ Marine Air
Support Squadron ] Enduring Operation.
So, we look at the numbers, Mr. Chairman,
and everyone remembers the days of the Bermuda Regiment when we had 400 or 500 soldiers. Those days are over. The persons who want to harken to the
days when we had 400 and 500 soldiers, and we had
people all over the place in Bermuda going to key
points, those days are over.
We have redefined through a plan in 2014; a
Government recommissioned and wanted the Berm uda Regiment to look at what their purpose was. The
Bermuda Regiment clearly redefined what t heir pu rpose was. Humanitarian assistance and disaster r elief, and MACA ( Military assistance to the civil author ities), we now look at those things. So we have clearly
defined roles.
The Bermuda Regiment has ––they have re aligned their priorities. When the y go on operation, they
have key focus. So when we use soldiers, they are
being used in a totally different manner now. If we go on operation . . . and we saw it during the hurricane.
We were able to be effective with the troops that we have on the Island because we use them in a more
disciplined manner. They are being trained more e ffectively. If there is a need we are bringing something
in tune, I think we have 297, and the number that we are trying to achieve is 400.
We are having another recruit camp i n July.
The Bermuda Regiment is activating something called
the Auxiliary. The Auxiliary is what I would call . . . so
let’s call it the Auxiliary. But to give an example, it is
what we would call a reserve unit. So the Auxiliary is somebody like myself, Mr. Chairman, somebody who
has left the Army, who still has all his skills, who still is
as fit as a butcher’s dog —

[Inaudible interjections]
Hon. Wayne Caines: —who is still as fit as a butc her’s dog, and he has all of his military skills, knows all his weapons -handling skills, and he would like to
come back once or twice per month.

Order. Member, pleas e do not bring
the House into disrepute.

[Laughter]

Hon. Wayne Caines: He can come out and we believe that the Auxiliary is an excellent opportunity to
take older soldiers who still have their skills and use


Bermuda House of Assembly the Auxiliary a couple of weekends, one or tw o weekends a year, and have an Auxiliary and create a service.
So what does that mean? That means that we
have men and women who are not going to be able to commit a lot of time but we have an Auxiliary (my
words), we can use it as a reserve. That is something
that we need to accelerate and bring forward. And I
believe when we start in the next few months, when
the Bermuda Regiment starts pushing the Auxiliary,
we will get the numbers up. What are the key elements that the Bermuda
Regiment wants to do? [ Answer:] The Bermuda Regiment wants to make sure that we have a firm founda-tion. The firm foundation is we redefined what the Bermuda Regiment looks like, the humanitarian and
disaster relief ; military assistance to the civil authority.
And so we kind of r edefined what our role is in the
country.
We have done something different this year.
We have asked for more money and [with] the more money that we have used we have changed it, Mr.
Chairman, and we said we have created a Coast
Guard, nine new posts. We are going to use it . . . we
are surrounded by water. We are going to start to cr eate new jobs, new opportunities, to create a new Coast Guard. So that is what we have to share with people in our country. We have a new vision for what
the military in Bermuda looks like, what National S ecurity looks like.
[Inaudible interjections]

Continue on, Minister. Thank you.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Is the Royal Bermuda Regiment
at appropriate strength? [Answer:] The Royal Berm uda Regiment currently does not meet the traditional
number required for large and enduring national
emergencies, and it has been taking on risk versus
the likelihood. However, the Royal Bermuda Regiment
training and the Bermuda Police Service and the UK
service partners over the last few years means that
person for person they are better trained and are
more competent than in previous decades.
The Royal Bermuda Regiment is multi -skilling
their swords to provide an agile more adaptable force
that can be used for a variety of purposes. Sub-units
will have a limited defined capability. All soldiers may
be required to respond to the incident normally not
associated with this specific trade. Generally, the
Bermuda Regiment is divesting in some ancillary roles such as Bailey’s Bridge erecti on or reducing some
time spent in conventional warfare such as cold war
and in favour of multi- skilling.
Mr. Chairman, I need to be clear. The responsibility for the Bermuda Regiment and where we are
going actually lies with the Governor and Government House. And if the numbers are low His Excellency is
responsible for those numbers.

Mm-hmm.

Hon. Wayne Caines: What we are looking at now is,
the challenge . . . they are saying that there is a cha llenge with the numbers and so the commandi ng officer is saying that we are about 100 soldiers beneath
strength. But the good news is that our soldiers are
skilled in diverse ways. So, pound for pound we have a soldier who is a lot better trained than the average
soldier. So a Bermuda Regiment band person is able
to, not only able to be trained in humanitarian aid, he
is also able to be trained in skill saw . He is able to do
a number of things, so we believe that our soldiers have a wide and varied use.
The Bermuda Police Service. Marine police.
The police team remains the same, transferred to the
joint Coast Guard. Eight vessels; six seaworthy, maintained primarily in- house; vehicles . . . $150,000 is not
for purchase of vehicles. It is for service costs and to maintain vehicles. Serious investigat ions, not sure
what the question is, however, our serious crime unit
deal with all serious violence, homicides, complex
crime. We are seeing an increase in financial crime,
and historic abuse cases.
Drones. The question was asked, Do we have
the use of drones and do we see the Bermuda Police
Service using drones? [Answer:] On Monday, we have
the national drones lead from the UK, Scott Bateman.
He will be in Bermuda to demonstrate a range of drone technology, options for the Bermuda Police
Service and Government. Mr. Bateman has recently
worked for the Turk & Caicos Islands who have purchased a drone technology which will address multiple
service needs, missing persons, maritime incidences,
operation events, public demonstrations and survei llance.
What percentage of the BPS staff is female?
Answer: The BPS profile: 70 per cent male; 30 per
cent female; 66 per cent Bermudian; 36 per cent nonBermudian.
Question: What impact is the Coast Guard
having on officers in the marine section? What boats
do the marine section police have? What is the age of
the boats? Have the boats passed seaworthiness
tests? Have the boats passed the test?

[Inaudible interjections]

Continue on, Minister.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Those questions, Mr. Chairman,
were answered in the Regiment part of this.
Question: Provide the details on how many
vehicles there are for the police. Has any analysis
been done on the vehicles that the Bermuda Police
Service buy? One hundred and fifty thousand dollars
3358 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly has been set aside for veh icles. Can the Minister indicate what number of vehicles and what they will buy
and what will they cost?

[Pause]
Hon. Wayne Caines: Just a second, Mr. Chairman.

Good.
And we are dealing with Heads under Natio nal Security. There are five hours allocated for this debate. Minister Caines is on the floor. We are dealing
with Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25, and 45.
And this debate will go through until five
minutes past the hour of five o’clock. There are 40
minutes left.
While the Minister is checking his notes, are
there any other Members who care to add any ques-tions in the meantime? Okay. All right.
Minister Caines has the floor.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Regarding the impact of the
overtime on the budget. What can be done to reduce
this? Answer: Re garding the question of overtime,
analysis can be done on overtime breakdowns. The
majority of the spending in regard to overtime is special events, Cup Match, Bermuda Day, which are on off peaks. Routine overtime does not take place in
relation to staff m embers. Additionally, a critical inc ident, such as seen recently with reference to the five
shootings, required significant overtime to mobilise to
get the Bermuda Police Service to respond.
How much did the search cost to respond to
the shootings with r eference to gang violence? A nswer: Regarding the recent shootings, the cost was
approximately $250,000 spent on Operation Nimbus.
[Pause]
Hon. Wayne Caines: Two seconds, please.

National Security, Heads 83, 6, 7, 12,
25, and 45. Five hour s were allocated for this debate.
Minister Caines has the floor.

Hon. Wayne Caines: [There has been] $150,000 set
aside for vehicles. I was asked, Can I indicate the number of vehicles and what will I buy and what will
be the cost? Answer: $150,000 was not for vehicles, it
was for maintenance.
I was asked, How will we get reserves? What
are we doing to maintain reserves and to keep r eserve police officers? There is a natural fall in volu nteering. However, we have an active group of volu nteers who provide s ignificant hours of service. There
are plans to place new recruitment campaigns and incentives for reserves with reference to a bounty b eing offered. In regard to the impact of overtime on the
budget, what can be done to reduce this? Answer: Regarding the question of overtime, analysis can be
done on overtime breakdowns. The majority of the spending in this regard is on special events like Cup Match, Bermuda Day, which are one- off peaks. Routine overtime does not take place in relation to staff
numbers. Additionally, it is a critical incident such as
seen recently with the five shootings that significant
overtime was spent to mobilise the BPS.
How much did the surge shooting cost? [A nswer:] $250,000. There were questions on serious investigations . . . oka y. We already [handled] this.
Does time in lieu still exist? Answer: Yes, but
it is down to the officer to elect this option. It cannot be directed. This is governed by the Police (Conditions of
Service) Order [2002]. Additionally, this needs to be taken at some point, and a significant accumulation of
leave with the BPS affects the ability to maintain operational resource levels.
A request was made for a breakdown in pr ofessional service. Answer: The BPS consultant budget
has been reduced by $284,000. Thi s represents a
reduced spend of over $500,000 in the past 12
months. However, it is noted that the BPS still needs
to retain specialist consultants in order to support ongoing complex investigations where the capacity and
the search specialist capacity wit h the service are no
longer available to support. Professional services in
the BPS budget are low. The previous budget for consultants was $827,000. Previously it was $1 million.
However, this has been reduced to $543,000 and the BPS is operating below tha t figure.
The repair and maintenance question. How
many people can be moved to HQ and what will the
cost savings be? Answer: If achieved, the estimated
cost savings will be $200,000 annually. Several Ber-muda Police Service departments will be able to occupy the space but current funding does not allow for
the works to be carried out in the next financial year.
What is the BPS doing in terms of the env ironmental friendly energy use? [Answer:] Incandes-cent and fluorescent lights are being phased out and
LED introduced. Lights are often on timers.
Roadside sobriety testing. Question: Why is
roadside sobriety testing not taking place as frequent-ly? [Answer:] Road sobriety checkpoints are regulated
by legislative requirements. There was a delay in the
latter par t of 2019 as the testing devices had to be
sent off Island for service calibration, [which was] part of the contract with the manufacturer.
Officers suspended receiving pay. Answer:
Officers suspended . . . there is no choice but to place
them in another role. However, it is important to note
that they remain innocent until due process is completed with the relevant findings. Despite this, the BPS
is now progressing special case hearings to acceler-ate the decisions to dismiss officers where there is


Bermuda House of Assembly overwhelming evidence that exists to make a dec ision.
Question: Are there salary incentives for police officers? Answer: There are no other financial sa lary incentives other than time in lieu.
Question: What are the performance
measures? Answer: 85 per cent of t he local popul ation are satisfied with the service of the BPS. Fifty -
eight per cent are totally satisfied and 25 per cent sa tisfied.
Question on BPS retirees. Answer: There are
approximately 14 retirees per year. However, many of
those are recruited back t o the BPS under post -55year-old contracts, thereby achieving their retention of
experience and reduced training costs.
Once you get through recruit camp, are there
additional courses police officers can take to stay current with international policing sta ndards? [Answer:]
Officers constantly do upgrading courses under a my riad of areas of specialities. Officers from the ASP course, officers do upgrade courses on a regular ba-sis. The average officer will do more than 10 to 11
courses within his lifetime. If an officer is to go to a
sergeant or any level, they are constantly evolving
with reference to courses, whether there is a CPR
training, if there are specialist courses, whether they
are in the marine section, whatever they are doing, whether it is driving courses and there are . . . it is one
entity that is constantly tested to ensure that the offi cers are having their standards raised.

We are on National Security, Heads
83, 6, 7, 12, 25, and 45. There are five hours for this
debate. We are moving into the last half hour of this
debate. Does any other Member have any other questions while the Minister is preparing these last tranc hes of questions?
Minister, would you like to yield while one of
the Shadow Ministers . . . could . . .
Mrs. P at Gordon- Pamplin, the Minister will
yield whilst he gathers if you had any additional questions.
The Chair acknowledges the Member from
constituency 23. You have the floor.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: This is just for fill,
Mr. Chairman, but I do have one extra, one legitimate
question and that is with respect to the health issue
and the coronavirus that the honourable Shadow a lluded to earlier in his questions. And that is, there are, as opposed to regular masks and the like, there is
such a thing called a PAPR which is a powered air
purifying respirator. I am just wondering whether some
of our frontline officers who might find themselves exposed—

Which one of the Head would that —
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: This was on both
the fire service, it was asked for, as well as the [Bermuda] Police Service in terms of sending officers in to
areas with the advent of this coronavirus. I am just
wondering whether PAPRs can be considered to make sure there is a safety element for those off icers.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Just following along with two questions in Corrections (before we start to get the answers from Corrections ). One, there were two fentanyl overdoses that
happened in the prison. I am wondering if the Mini ster—

Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, with the greatest
respect we deal with fact. There were no fentanyl
overdoses anywhere in the facility. And so we have to
be very careful when we use the words “fentanyl” and “overdoses” and things of that nature. There is nothing
to substantiate any use of fentanyl and overdoses in
the facility.

Minister, do you want to resume
your—

Hon. Wayne Caines: First things first, there is no way
I could be in the prison and meet with inmates without
officers present.
But let me be clear, over the last few years,
over the last year there ha s been an impasse with our
Ministry and the Prison Officers Association [POA]
and this is clearly documented. In order for this country to work well, we have to admit and understand that
there is a situation that needs to be fixed. The Berm uda Prison Offic ers Association have highlighted some
challenges within the Department of Corrections. They
gave a number of issues with reference to problems that they were having in the Department of Corrections. A number of those problems have been tackled,
but there are a number of other issues that have continuously been a work in progress.
I would say, Mr. Chairman, a number of those
issues just have not been fixed fast enough. And it has not been the fault of the leadership of the prison.
We have a challenge of ten times with the budget. And
3360 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly we now have to look at things and tackle them head
on.
What I can you is that the leadership of the
Department of Corrections has highlighted some si gnificant concerns. There are major issues which r equire budgeting. We are deal ing with ageing facilities
and all of that, ageing facilities. And so when we talk about wanting to go in and fix everything overnight,
we were not able to do so.
Last year we gave a planned, timed way to fix
a lot of the issues, and the timing in a lot of the issues were not agreed upon. A lot of the talks broke down
toward the end of the year and we were not able to
deal with this thing as effectively as we wanted to deal
with them.
What we are seeing now is that we again
have the issue of [obtaining] the boilers to heat the water. Well, they have been on order and there was
some issues with the procurement process and the
boilers were ordered last year. They are not here.
People deserve to get baths with hot water. You are not going to . . . we understand what the Mandela
[Rules] are.
Was I invited to the prison? I had been invited
to the prison on more than one occasion. I went to the
prison two weeks ago. I saw it for myself. I have been
to the prison on a number of occasions. I went and I did a tour of the prison. I gave my undertaking to the
officers present, to the leadership of the prison that this is something that we have to accelerate. I met
with the Minister of Works and Engineering. As soon
as I spoke with him, he got on it —not seven seconds
later, he got on it immediately. What I saw after talking
to him, this was something that his team was working on. This was not something that he had to get on top
of. He showed me the correspondence that this has
constantly been a work in progress.
We have schools, we have buildings, we have
a number of things in Bermuda, and we are working
through the process. What we have to understand is
that this is indeed a plan. We had the opportunity
when the gentleman from the prison inspectorate
came to Bermuda. It was I who ordered the prison inspector to come to Bermuda, so we can see the
standards that we were [having]. Did we give them a
couple of . . . February 11
th, the head of the Prison
Officers Association was given a copy of the report. It
was never hidden from them.
What do I believe? I believe that we have
come to a time where the POA, the Ministry, we all
need to sheathe our swords and get to the table and
try to work through these things. When I met with the
inmates, we have to work and continue to push t oward rehabilitation. We have to get in those rooms.
We have to get back into the rooms and we have to
figure this thing out and we have work through it. That is the commitment that we will continue to have, that
we have had all of this time. And that is something
that we have to work toward and continue to do so. At the end of the day, I am here in front of my
colleagues in this House to say that we have to push aggressively to continue to make the conditions in the
prison better than . . . [they are] not acceptable for the
inmate population. They are not acceptable for the
men and women working in the Corrections. I am not
afraid to say so and we must push to make it better.
Question: What is the routine required with
reference to the number of searches ? [Answer:] At
Westgate there are four searches of cells per unit, per
shift, equating to 72 searches per day. Further, there are 20 special searches per week. Four shifts per day
is the search of an inmate’s cell only. The 20 special
searches per week inc lude a search of the inmate and
his cell.
How many mental health clients do we have
in all facilities? Answer: Co -ed facility, 3; Farm facility,
5; Right Living House, 2; Westgate Correctional facil ity, 23.
Can you give the update of energy cost as of
1
st of January 2020? [Answer:] Energy cost totals for
all of our facilities, $455,427; propane gas, $40,000,
for a total of $493,700.33.
Why was there a change in health insurance?
Answer: The money for insurance was transferred to
inmate’s hospital. We do not have insurance for i nmates, so we have to pay the hospital out of pocket.
What training do corrections officers receive
for mental health? Answer: Mental health, first aid,
controlling and restraint training.

[Crosstalk]

Clarification?
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: I just wanted clar ity. The Minister just indicated about health insurance,
that we do not have health insurance for the inmates
and that they have to pay it out of pocket. The ques-tion that I was asking was on page B -295 with respect
to insurance. It was $500,000 from last year and it is $200,000 for this year, it is down $300,000.
My question was for an explanation as to wh y
that significant decrease, that 60 per cent decrease.
The number of inmates remains pretty static during the time so if it is health insurance, I am just curious
as to the response.

Thank you.
We are dealing with Head 25 with that question. This debate will go through to 5:05, it is now . . .
4:45, so we have 20 minutes remaining.
Minister Caines has the floor.


Bermuda House of Assembly The Chair recognises the Honourable Member from constituency 19. Mrs. Atherden has the floor.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: On Hea d 12, Customs.
The Minister had indicated that there was going to be
a change in the airport arrival patterns which will be nefit the shifts. I wonder if he is able to give any sort of
indication as to when that might be . . . having arrived
last night and seeing two airlines arrive at the same
time, and the Customs officers all there trying to figure
out what they are going to do. It would be interesting to know whether this is going to result in people not
having to stay so long and having all the Customs officers being there at the same time.

Continue on.
Hon. Wayne Caines: The shift change with reference
to Customs has already taken place.
At night there is the flight that comes in from
Miami. There is a flight that comes in from New York.
There is a JetBlue flight that comes in. There is a flight
from New York, there is a flight from Miami, there is a
flight from JetBlue. [And] oftentimes . . . if you had 50
officers at the airport with limited space there will be a
bit of congestion at a point.
We had to make a decision. Do we want our
airport to be thriving? At times there is a bit of a bottleneck. The shift has taken place. The officers have
been trained. We are dealing with a lot more questions now. You are going to see . . . and we have to
prepare people. You are going to see people waiting longer now. We are asking more questions. And so
we have to realise that you are now in a season
where our Customs officers are asking more ques-tions which will result in more delays.
When you come to the airport, we are asking
where you have been, where you have travelled to. We are asking questions about your health. These
few questions will add a minute or so on everyone’s
time. And this will cause a significant delay at the ai rport. So as we go into t he change as to what our
world looks like now, that will have the effect of you
being in the airport longer. And whilst that will be i nconvenient for some, we cannot apologise because
we believe the safety of our greater community will be
affected by us as king more questions because of the
health concerns of our community.
With reference to the insurance that was
asked by the Member from constituency 23, the answer: part of the monies had already been vi red to the inmate hospitalisation when the numbers went out
officially.

[Inaudible interjections]

We are dealing with National Secur ity. We have another 15 minutes remaining under this
Head. Heads 83, 6, 7, 12, 25, 45.
Member from constituency 23, would you . . .
You have the floor.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, thank Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Chairm an, in respect to Customs on page
B-290, under programme 1201, and cost centre
22080, for administration. There is an increase here of
$251,000, or 5 per cent. I am just wondering whether
the administration incorporates the computer utilis ation and whether in fact . . . and we have had some
difficulties over time in terms of the speed with which the system has permitted that department to process
travellers.
I am just curious whether that is part of the
administration increase, whether we are looking at any higher efficiencies in the system that permits the
clearance of passengers as we see airport arrivals
under 22030. We see that 22030 and 22040, it appears that they have merged inasmuch as we used to
have two shifts, and now we have the B shift and the normal . . . [220]40 and [220]30 seemed to have been
merged into just 4030 . . . I’m sorry, into [220]30. I just
3362 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly wondered whether the enhancements for the computer system were taken into account here. It may not
been but I am just curious.

Minister, you have the floor.
Hon. Wayne Caines: The computer system at the
airport on the arrivals when you come in and you go to
. . . that is actually the Immigration system. That is
actually Immigration.
But so that we . . . and we will do Immigration ,
we go through Immigration line by line next week and
we will talk about the eGate system that we have
been using with Immigration and what the investments
have been and will be of that system and what that looks like with the new egress in coming to the airport.
But when you come into the airport, that system is not
under Customs. It is indeed under Immigration.

Okay.

Hon. Wayne Caines: Question: On persons retiring
from the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service [BFRS].
[Answer:] Retirements are planned and proj ected in
advance. The Bermuda Fire [and Rescue] Service is
minimally staffed.
Question: How are promotions done? Answer:
Succession planning is the chief fire officer’s major focus.
Question on females in the Bermuda Fire [and
Rescue] Service. Answer: The recruitment process is not based on gender. It is based on aptitude. It is
based on passing the exam. It is based on fitness.
Question around the ambulance in the fire
service. Answer: There is only one ambulance in the
Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service whi ch is located at
the East End at Clearwater Station.
Who decides whether the Bermuda Fire and
Rescue Service goes on a call? [Answer:] When a 911 call is received, the location dictates the r esponse. For example, a call from the East End will cause the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service to r espond.
What is the cost of a Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service response? Answer: The Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service does not charge people.
What is the most common telephone call for
the Bermuda Fire and Rescue Service? A nswer: The
most common call is road traffic accident followed by
diabetic issues.
What is your plan for the coronavirus? [A nswer:] At present, training is taking place with presentations being conducted with all crews. FIT testing is being conducted for N 95 masks.
That is it for the Bermuda Fire and Rescue
Service, Mr. Chairman.

We will make an invitation. Does any
other Member care to speak to these Heads?
Member Atherden.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: I have a question on the
whole range. If you go back to police, which is . . .
Head 7. The Minister indicated that there was going to
be a change in how the police dealt with things. I think
he mentioned new emergency contact numbers and
using private security services for events. Is it possible
to sort of give an indication as to what impact this will have on the police budget itself, or how the police
then will not have to use as much of their services?

Hon. Wayne Caines: This is still in the genesis stage,
it has [just] been rolled out. But l et’s just whiteboard it.
Right now when you have a Cup Match event,
or when you have May 24
th, all of the services are
coming out. So you have to put everyone on duty at
overtime, or at double time. And that means the entire
service is out. Well, if you a re using private and sec urity . . . and literally they are at Cup Match or they are
at May 24th, and they are doing traffic. They are doing
regular duties.
If you are able to at Cup Match, or at National
Heroes Day, able to limit those and use private sec urity companies, you are actually paying a lot less. When
you are looking at calls, if you have a challenge in
your neighbourhood with a noisy kite, or if you have an issue in your neighbourhood and you call 911, well,
you do not necessarily have to call 9 11. You can be
given another number and you can arrange, because it is a nonessential emergency.


Bermuda House of Assembly And let’s be clear on that. 911 would always
be for significant emergencies. But there is a time
where you can arrange a time for an officer to come to
your r esidence and they can deal with you on opportunities that deal with nonemergency calls. And that is
a lot better way for you to manage the sets of circumstances. And so, what you are saying is, we are looking at for the last . . . so prior to us discussing the
budget, the pundits were saying, Well, listen, the p olice budget has been cut. They have slashed and they
have burned the police budget.
And we are saying, Well, hold on for a second. We went through this thing systematically. We
looked at how we mak e savings. We made savings
through negotiating a new contract. We looked and we used a scalpel and then we started to save. And
when we started to do certain things we saw the
budget come down specifically.
Well, the police service was operating at
around 425 [officers] for a very long time. We have
been, for the last 18 months, operating at about 410 police officers. And when we look at what the focus
has been, the focus has been on community policing.
Look at how the police commissioner is sa ying that h e wants to focus on a gang unit. Let’s focus
on looking at vulnerable people and domestic vi olence, and so the commissioner is saying, I don’t want
to necessarily focus on the police officers being and doing things that are not beneficial for the community .
I am going to take my team and I am going to look
and I am going to do some more investigations. I am
going to look at man management. I am going to look
at the hours we are spending in the field. I want to
come back to you, Mr. Minister, and I want to g ive you
a better understanding of how we give this community
better bang for the buck. I want to see how we can
take this overtime and I want to see how we can better police this community, making sure that we meet
the needs of this community.
So, the obj ect is that we have a budget that
has come down considerably, and that operational
policing will not be affected. Why? Because the cuts
that came from us looking at specific elements within . . . entities within the administration of the department
and doi ng and having contracts. The CCTV infrastructure was owned by a private entity. And at the end of the contract, that was brought in- house.
When it was bought in- house, there was hundreds of thousands of dollars savings to the Bermuda Police Service. The negotiation for the radio, the
handheld radio contract, [brought] over $1 million in
savings. So, when you start looking at those contracts with consultants and those things, you see there was
significant savings that have come back. And that
money was not put into something else. That was
money which was put toward the Coast Guard and other things within the Ministry.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have two
quick questions. One is under police.
So, as the Minister was just talking about all
the different savings, he also said earlier that the
surge by the police actually cost $250,000 over a
short period of time. Once we go back to normal levels of policing, if t hat need for a surge happens again,
obviously, the $250,000 gets spent again. So the
question becomes, if that is what is needed, how do
we fit that into the budget?
Secondly, under Head 45, for Fire, my question is specifically to the ambulance cost. Is t he Mini ster saying that if you take an ambulance which is run
by the fire service, there is no charge on your insurance for going in that ambulance?

Hon. Wayne Caines: That is not a question. I will answer the last question first. The Ministry of National
Security does not speak to costs and charges with
reference to ambulance uses, with the greatest r espect. I could not speak to how a person is charged
for using those services.

[Crosstalk]

A point of clarification. Earlier, when
the Minister responded to my question the first time he
said there was no charge. So the reason I am asking
the question again is, if you take an ambulance run by the fire service, from St. George’s, is there not going
to be a charge on your insurance. Or if you do not
have insurance, is there not going to be a charge?
Because it would make more sense for you to take
that ambulance than the one that comes from KEMH,
which definitely hits your insurance.

All right. With three minutes to go . . .
Member, [constituency 23] you have . . .

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, while the Minister is getting the
responses that he is waiting for, I just had one really quick question in respect of Customs, under Head 12.
And this would be under business unit 22090, Vessel
Clearance. This is on page B -293.
Initially there was an original forecast for pr eparing and issuing invoices to collect revenues from arriving vessels in excess of $900,000. Initially the
3364 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly forecast was $1.5 million, the revised forecast for
2019/20 has gone down to $960,000 and I am just
wondering . . . they have kind of targeted 2020/21
somewhere in the range of $960,000, being $1 million, and I am just wondering what is that significant differ-ential in terms of that decrease in that particular line
item?

With a minute and a half left, Minister,
you have a minute and a half left at your discretion.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Speaking with the chief fire officer, he shared that the MOU for the fire service and the ambulance is with the hospital. They do not have
a revenue share with the hospital. When a person gets in . . . their job is to get t o the scene. When a
person gets into the ambulance, and they take them
to the scene [sic], whatever happens after that, that is
actually a matter for the Bermuda Hospitals Board and not for the fire service.

Okay. With your last minute.
Hon. Wayne Caines: Mr. Chairman, I would like to
take the time to thank . . . as has been said by the
Shadow Minister, I would like to thank all of the people
within our ministries who go to work every day in ar-duous circumstances and work in behalf of the people
of Bermuda. I would like to thank all of the people in
all of our Ministries who work exceedingly hard. I
would like to thank all of the administrative staff who
have come to help us with this presentation today. We
appreciate the hard work and the l ong hours they
have put into making this presentation work.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

That concludes the debate on N ational Security. We will move into Transport, Heads
30, 34, and 35. We call on the Minister for Transport
and Tourism, the Honourable Zane De Silva.
Minister, you have the floor. Would you like to
move those Heads?

MINISTRY OF TOURISM AND
TRANSPORT

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, I move that the following
Heads, 30, Marine & Ports; 34, Transport Control D epartment; 35, Public Transportation be now taken under consideration.

It has been moved that Heads 30, 34,
and 35 be taken under con sideration.
Any objections?
No objections.
Minister, continue on.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, it gives me great pleasure to
present the budget for Heads 30, 34, and 35 of the
Ministry of Tourism and Transport. Whi le budget appropriation for the Ministry as a whole will total
$88,308,337, the Transport section is estimated to
total $49,480,373.
The departments which come under the Mi nistry’s Transport division include:
• Marine & Ports Services (M&P) –Head 30;
• Transport Control (TCD) –Head 34;
• Public Transportation (DPT) –Head 35.

HEAD 30 —DEPARTMENT OF MARINE & PORTS
SERVICES
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: I will begin with the D epartment of Marine & Ports Services, Mr. Chairman,
as found on pages B -204 through B -209 of t he Est imates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year
2020/21.

Mission

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: As stated on page B -204 of
the Budget Book, the m ission of the Department of
Marine and Ports Services is the regulation and safe operations of Bermuda’s mari time affairs including
marine border security, search and rescue and public transportation
Expenditure Overview

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the total
current expenditure for the Department of Marine &


Bermuda House of Assembly Ports, Head 30, is estimated to be $21,662,026 which
represents an increase of $383,728, or approximately
1.8 per cent over the 2019/20 budget. The increase
has been funded within the Ministry’s established cash limit through the reduction of the World Triathlon Series grant. The additional fundin g is being primarily
put towards the following key areas:
• salaries and wages up- lift due to cost of living
adjustment;
• security for cruise ship terminals, which has
increased in line with the increase in cruise
ship visits during the shoulder months; and
• IMO Instruments Implementation Code Compliance, which will see an increase in Lloyds
of London block fees with the implementation of a new safety management system for the
department’s high- speed ferries.
The Department of Marine & Ports Services’
expendit ures are set out under the following three
business units and can be found on page B -204 of the
Budget Book:

Programme 3006—West End (Dockyard)
• Navigational Aids, cost centre 40040 –
$750,803;
• Tug Service, cost centre 40140– $1,704,485;
• Tender Service, cost centre 40210– $397,018;
• Dockyard Maintenance, cost centre 40260–$3,387,103.
Programme 3007—Central (Hamilton)
• Ferry Services, cost centre 40090–
$7,907,784;
• Mooring and Boat Registration, cost centre
40150– $288,164; and
• Administration, cost centre 40220–
$2,630,455.
Programme 3008— East End (Fort George)
• Maritime Safety and Security, cost centre
40100– $2,638,300; and,
• Pilot Service and Offshore Search and Rescue, cost centre 40180 –$1,957,914.

Revenue
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Provided on page B -205 of
the Budget Book.
Mr. Chairman, it is anticipated that in 2020/21,
the Department of Marine & Ports Services will generate approximately $6,107,000. This will be realised
primarily through fees charged for the provision of:
• Ferry services;
• Tug services;
• Boat haulage;
• Pilotage fees;
• Boat moorings; and
• Port dues. Capital Expenditure

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Capital acquisition e xpenditure for the department, found on page C -13 of
the Budget Book, is set at $2,680,000. Set aside for
navigational aids is $250, 000. The capital budget for
the Vessel Traffic Management Information Systems
is set at $350,000. A new capital allocation is provided
for ferries in the amount of $2,000,000, and repr esents funds for the refit of a Serenity class ferry. Also, $8,000 is al located to the purchase of new computer
equipment.

Manpower

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The department’s full -time
equivalents [FTEs], found on page B -206 of the
Budget Book, have increased from 159 to 161. D espite the additional FTEs, the manpower budget for
the department remains the same as the additional
posts were already fully funded. Currently, there are
five fully funded, vacant positions which the depar tment will seek to fill within the next six months. These
posts are currently vacant due to the n ormal course of
contract expirations, retirements and resignations.
Compensation is estimated at $11,163,092 of
the departmental budget.
The department’s performance measures,
found on pages B -207 to B -209 of the Budget Book,
remain positive in that the department continues
meet ing the targets set in line with international
standards. Maintaining these levels continues to be
challenging with the rapidly ageing fleet that requires
extra maintenance. Nonetheless, the department continues to work diligently to manage these processes
and to ensure that the delivery of safe and reliable
services is maintained.
Mr. Chairman, the Department of Marine &
Port Services represents one of the most critical operational arms of the Government of Bermuda as it faci litates the movement of vital shipping commerce in
and out of Bermuda’s ports. During the fiscal year 2019/20, there were a total of 1,010 international ship
movements in Bermuda waters. The services the D epartment provides include: Pilot Boat (Search and
Rescue) ; Tug Boat and Tender Services; Harbour
Radio; Vessel Traffic; Radar and Surveillance.
Additionally, the department is responsible for
the coordination of International Search and Rescue
operations in this region of the Atlantic, and retains
oversight of overseas seaport security and marine border control in compliance with international stan dards. During the 2019/20 fiscal year, the department
responded to over 455 search and rescue cases assisting both ships and aircraft, locally and internatio nally.
Mr. Chairman, the Sea Express Ferry Service—another service provided by the department —
represents a comfortable and efficient means of public
3366 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly transport supporting the local commuter and visitor
markets. The dedicated team from the Department of
Marine & Ports continues to execute a well -thought -
out transportation plan contributing to the success of transporting thousands of cruise ship passengers ar-riving at our Dockyard port, while at the same time
providing regular ferry service for the commuting public in ac cordance with the established published
schedules.
The Boats and Moorings section is located at
the old Paget Post Office building and has a total of
4,645 boat registered moorings and a total of 14,800
registered boats. In the upcoming year, this section
will be closely monitoring the registration and use of
moorings to ensure that the principle of “one boat to one mooring” applies to all boat owners. So, if you
own one boat but have multiple moorings, please
know that the Boats and Moorings section is clamping
down.
Mr. Chairman, the 2020 cruise ship season
will see 193 cruise ship visits [to] Bermuda, calling at
the Royal Naval Dockyard, the port of Hamilton and
the port of St. George’s.
To address the lift needed, the department
continues to operate six high-speed catamaran ferries, three harbour ferries and one slow speed ferry.
Passenger load studies will continue in 2020/21 to ensure that more fuel -efficient ferries are deployed on
selected routes in line with previous studies carried out.
Additionally , Mr. Chairman, to accommodate
the longer cruise season, the department will provide a “supplemental” ferry service through November 2020 to ensure that sufficient passenger lift is provi ded during this period.
The Department of Marine & Ports continues
to work towards the IMO Instrument Implementation
Code (III Code) review, addressing all gaps identified
by the UK Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA) inclu ding supporting legislation for both port and coastal states ahead of the upcoming September 2020 Audit.
The department underwent a mock audit in
December 2019 which proved to be extremely helpful
in preparing for the final audit.

Output Measures

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the target
outcomes for Marine & Ports Operations for 2020/21
are to continue delivering the required marine services
in a timely and professional manner to ensure customer satisfaction. This will include providing addition-al passenger lift on the Dockyard to Hamilton and the
Dockyard to St. George’s routes to meet passenger
demands during the summer season and the shoulder
season. Passenger statistics collected on both routes
continue to suggest the vessel on the Dockyard to St.
George’s route is running at an average of 70 per cent
capacity, and with the deployment of the lar ger and more fuel -efficient ferry on the Dockyard to Hamilton
route, it is operating at an average of 55 per cent. The
information indicates room for passenger growth on both of those routes.

Major Policy Changes

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, m ajor policy
changes will be implemented based on the United
Kingdom’s Maritime Coastguard Agency’s (MCA) gap
analysis undertaken ahead of the upcoming Interna-tional Maritime Organization (IMO) Audit in September
2020. These areas of change will include oil pollution
control, ferry operations, off -shore search and rescue
and better control over the importation of dangerous goods through our ports, along with other areas ident ified in the gap analysis. Bermuda has made great
progress in tackling the identified issues highlighted in
the MCA gap analysis, and is currently in the process
of addressing the required legislative amendments to
ensure better oversight of all port operations in Bermuda.
The recent Red Ensign Group conference
held in February of this y ear strongly suggests that
Category I shipping registries will most likely be audi ted. Bermuda currently falls into this category and will
most likely will be selected.

Plans for the Upcoming Year

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Plans for the upcoming
year wi ll include:
• continued training of departmental staff to i nternational standards to ensure the depar tment provides our customers with safe, reli able and professional marine transportation
and services;
• continued progress with the department’s
succession pl anning to ensure highly tec hnical posts within the department are filled by
qualified Bermudians;
• providing training for the tug captains and engineers ahead of the arrival our two new tugs;
• undertaking a midlife re- fit of one of Berm uda’s fast ferries in a selected shipyard on the
US East Coast;
• renovation of Marine & Ports Hamilton wor kshop and then the relocation of the Dockyard
workshops to the South Basin Dockyard;
• undertaking much- needed repairs to our nav igational aids and off -shore beacons;
• installation of a new user -friendly online boats
and moorings registration system that will also
assist in a quicker response to search and rescue operations in and around Bermuda
waters; and finally
• review of the costs and fines associated with
the removal of abandoned boats.



Bermuda House of Assembly Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, that concludes the brief for the department of Marine & Ports
Services, Head 30.

Continue.

HEAD 34 —DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORT
CONTROL

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, the budget for Head 34, the
Transport Control Department (TCD), can be found on pages B -210 through B -213 of the Budget Book.

Mission

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The TCD’s mission is: To
Assure the Safety of All Roads Users.

Introduction

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the
Transport Control Department administers the oper ation of all motor vehicles and road users on Berm uda’s roads. The department monitors and regulates
the sizes, functionality, physical condition and quantity
of all vehicles by carrying out five core functions. The department:
1. oversees the management of the Vehicle Safety and Emissions Inspection Programme,
which has recently returned to the department
after having been outsourced for several
years;
2. administers the registration and licensing of all
vehicles;
3. conducts practical riding and driving examinations for all riders and drivers;
4. regulates traffic by monitoring drivers and v ehicles; and lastly
5. implements road safety initiatives.
Periodically, the department inspects public
garages, filling stations and rental mini -car and cycle
liveries to ensure compliance with the conditions of their respective permits. The TCD also issues special
permits, such as, one- day permits, which allows a
person to use an unlicensed motor vehicle, usually to
be repaired or to go to the TCD for inspection; and,
Sunday perm its for commercial vehicles.

Department Overview

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the
Transport Control Department is separated into five business units: Examinations, Registrations, Road
Safety, Traffic Enforcement and Administration.
The Exam inations team is responsible for
conducting all driving and riding tests to ensure that
applicants are proficient to operate vehicles on Ber-muda’s roads. The examiners also inspect all vehicles
that use public roads for roadworthiness, and write- off
privat e cars prior to their disposal.
The Registrations Section is responsible for
registering and licensing all vehicles, licensing all persons who operate vehicles, and collecting revenue for all transactions conducted within the department.
The Road Safety S ection is administered
through the road safety officer. The programme pr omotes road safety awareness through education,
training and public events, for example Project Ride.
The Road Safety Council advises the Minister regar ding transport matters pertaining to road safety, and devises strategies and programmes to address topical
and unsafe motoring trends.
The Traffic Enforcement Section is respons ible for the management and enforcement of road traffic laws, issuing moving violation and parking tickets
to offenders, issuing permits for the movement of
oversized (40 foot) containers with heavy loads, unl icensed vehicles and occasional Sunday permits. This
section also monitors the Electronic Vehicle Registr ation (EVR) system and works alongside the Bermuda
Police Service to support its traffic enforcement efforts.
Mr. Chairman, the officers in the Traffic Control Section also assist the Public Service Vehicles Licensing Board by conducting investigations on their
behalf and monitoring the use of Public Servic e and
Commercial Vehicles.
The Traffic Enforcement Officers are deployed
on street patrols to ensure that all vehicles operating on Bermuda’s roads comply with legislation. They are
also responsible for ticketing abandoned vehicles and co-ordinating with sister departments to organise their
removal and disposal.
The fifth business unit, Administration, is r esponsible for the overall operation and administration
of the Transport Control Department. This includes
professional services for the management of t he saf ety and emissions programme as well as external IT
support for the eTCD, the Driver and Vehicle Registr ation System [DVRS], the Appointment Management
System [AMS] and the EVR system.
All systems are critical to ensuring optimum
customer service. Cus tomers have the ability to manage appointments online through the AMS, and the
department has partnered with insurance companies
for the “real time” electronic transfer of policy information to the TCD’s operating system.
Mr. Chairman, the Transport Contr ol Depar tment continues to implement and maintain an effec-tive and convenient vehicle examination and registr ation programme which is exceptionally “user friendly.”
3368 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Interacting with today’s TCD is a far more pleasant
experience than in the past.
I think ev erybody would agree to that one, Mr.
Chairman.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the
Transport Control Department’s budget allocation of
$5,450,725, represents an increase of $75,725, or an
increase of approximately 1.4 per cent over the
2019/20 budget. The allocation for 2020/21 can be
found on page B -210 of the Budget Book.
Under the General Summary of expenditure
per business units, you will find that the estimates for
2020/21 for each business unit do vary somewhat
from the 2019/20 estimates. Although the core alloc ation of funds has not changed significantly from the budget of 2019/20, monies have been re- allocated
from certain business units to others to better reflect
the department’s changes in operational requir ements.
Mr. Chairman, it should be noted that of the
$5,450,725 departmental budget, $3,410,825 is all ocated to Salaries and Wages, and approximately
$375,000 is allocated for professional services, including external IT support for the EVR, eTCD, DVRS and AMS ope rating systems, all of which are critical to ensuring smooth daily operations and maintaining excel-lent customer service levels.
The remaining funds are used for general operating expenses such as utilities, repairs and the u pkeep of vehicles and equipment , printing and office
supplies and boards and committee fees, including
the Road Safety Council and Operation Caution.

Examinations —Cost Centre 44000

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the Exam inations Section’s estimated budget is $1,225,803.

Registrations —Cost Centre 44040

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the reques ted budget for the Registration section is $927,278 for
the fiscal year 2020/21. This is an increase of a little over $31,000, or about 3.4 per cent over the 2019/20
budget, and represents the salary uplift, overtime, the
filling of a much needed, formerly vacant post, offset
by a staff retirement.
Recruitment in this area is ongoing and critical
to remaining compliant with Financial Instructions’ mandate of the “segregation of duties” regarding both
the dispersal of funds and the reconciliation of rev enue collected. Maintaining customer service levels and minimizing waiting times are at the forefront of the department’s daily goals.

Road Safety —Cost Centre 44090

Hon. Zane J . S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, safety on
our roads remains a major concern. The budget for
this section has been increased to $489,536. The sec-tion’s grants have been provided within page C -19 of
the Budget Book.
Mr. Chairman, there were a total of 1,339 r eported collisions for the year in 2019. This was a slight
increase over the previous year. The main causes of
collisions remain following too closely and inattention, mainly due to distracted driving. Both of these two
poor driving habits are avoidable. Therefore, the main
focus of Operation Caution’s campaign this year will
be to educate the motoring public on the proper following or “hang- back” position and on how to stay f ocused whilst driving and/or riding. This campaign will
involve all forms of media advertisement.
With funding continuing to be allocated t owards bolstering the Project Ride and Operation Caution initiatives, the Road Safety Officer will be able to
enhance the already successful efforts to spread the message of making smart motoring choices.

Traffic Enforcement—Cost Centre 44110

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The estimated budget for
the Traffic Control section will be $584,399.

Administration —Cost Centre 44210

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the estimated budget for the Administ ration section will be
$2,223,708. This represents a decrease of $183,457.
The decrease is partially due to the re- allocation of
previous contract grant funding to the Examinations
business unit offset by the retention of monies for the
maintenance and updating of the vehicle inspection
equipment, including the upgrade and maintenance of the EVR and CCTV equipment, as well as rent for the
Rockaway and Southside satellite testing facilities.

Revenue

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Found on page B -211. Mr.
Chair man, It is anticipated that in 2020/21, the department will collect $31,064,200 in revenue. This is an increase of approximately $75,900 over the prior
year. This is due to an anticipated increase in the
number of new commercial vehicle permits, the rei nstatement of old and dormant permits and licensing
fees.
Capital Expenditures, there are none this
year, sir.
Manpower

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Found on page B -212. The
2020/21 estimates include funds for 48 full -time
equivalents.


Bermuda House of Assembly Plans for Upcoming Yea r

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the
Transport Control Department will continue to review
and update the Motor Car Act 1951 and make rec-ommendations for changes in consideration of vehicle
modernisation and road safety. The department will
contin ue to conduct research to assist with decisionmaking regarding the influx of new forms of transportation; for example, electric vehicles and electrically
assisted pedal cycles.
Also, TCD is particularly concerned about the
lack of availability of public s ervice vehicles. These
issues are well known, and are documented in the 2019 Transport Green Paper. The Green Paper ident ified three themes with respect to our transportation
services: (i) safety, (ii) reliability and (iii) the desire for
frictionless transportation experiences. The depar tment is working hard to develop viable solutions to
address the issues and concerns. The department will
focus its efforts on eliminating the unnecessary, long waiting times for transportation suffered by locals and
touris ts alike.
Mr. Chairman, the Bermuda Road Safety
Council will work in conjunction with the Road Safety Officer to continue the implementation of “Operation
Caution.” The focus in 2020/21 will be increasing the educational component for school children at all levels
of learning by organising additional meetings and assembly attendances.
The core message is “Plan your Drive; Drive
your Plan.”
Mr. Chairman, in 2019/20 the department
commenced an overhaul of the EVR system. That
upgrade has now been completed. The system, which
monitors unlicensed vehicles travelling on Bermuda’s
roads, has new cameras, antennae, wiring and sof tware and enhanced protection from tampering and
vandalism. Also, the EVR software is now fully int egrated with the DVRS which enhances the detection
rate. The installation of all new equipment was completed in the latter part of 2019. In the upcoming year,
TCD will be fully equipped with modern tools to detect and ticket offenders.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes the brief on
Transport Control Department, Head 34.

Yes, continue on, Minister. [Next is
Head 35].

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, Mr. Chairman, that is
correct. Department of Public Transportation, Head 35
is next.

HEAD 35 —DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC
TRANSPORTATION

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, I would like
to present the budget for Head 35, the Department of Public Transportation, found on pages B -214 through
B-217 of the Budget Book.

Continue on.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairm an.

Mission

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the Depar tment of Public Transportation’s Mission is: Moving
Bermuda with a quality public bus service.

Expenditure Overview

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the total
current expenditure, pag e B-214 of the Budget Book,
is estimated to be $22,367,620.
The Department of Public Transportation has
three business units: transportation, maintenance and
administration. The budget breakdown is as follows:

Transportation —Programme 3501
• Auxiliary Buses , cost centre 45000 –$137,991;
• Bus Operations, cost centre 45010 –
$10,627,520.

Maintenance—Programme 3502
• Repair Services, cost centre 45090 –
$5,624,428;
• Inventory Management, cost centre 45115–
$2,179,761.

Administration —Programme 3503
• Administration, cost centre 45120–
$2,904,021;
• Management Support, cost centre 45200–
$893,900.

Transportation
Auxiliary Bus Services

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: This section is responsible
for coordinating all un- rostered work on the public bus
schedule and providing daily service updates. The
current expenditure for Auxiliary Bus Services, cost
centre 45000, is estimated to be $137,991 for
2020/21. Please note, again this year, the department will not have enough buses to provide sightseeing
tours. The private minibus fleet c ontinues to service
this market.

I am minded on those tours that
Glenn Simmons, who passed away yesterday, was
one of those bus operators who provided tremendous
3370 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly service to our v isitors. I just wanted to make mention
of that as that has been a very valuable service, in
memory of Mr. Glenn Simmons.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, well, thank you for
that very timely reminder, Mr. Chairman.
If I can, I would like to take this opp ortunity to
join you and wish the family, and that is, first, his i mmediate family and his extended family at the D epartment of Transportation and, again, his extended
family at the Bermuda Industrial Union. Of course, Glenn was a very good friend of mine. We went a long
way back, as you know.

Amen.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: And we will talk about that
more because you and I were doing something else
this morning. And we will talk about that more on Fr iday, I am sure.

Bus Operations

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the current
scheduled public bus service operates 18 hours per
day, 7 day per week. The current account expenditure
for Bus Operations, cost centre 45010, is estimated at $10,627,520.

Maintenance
Repair Servicing

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the Depar tment of Public Transportation employs a team of pr ofessionals in Repair Servicing to repair and maintain
the fleet of public buses, support vehicles and equi pment. The current expenditure for Repair Servicing,
cost centre 45090, is estimated to be $5,624,428 for
2020/21, which is also unchanged from the previous
year’s budget.

Inventory Management

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Parts for vehicles and
equipment are procured, stored, controlled and issued by the Stor es Section, which falls under Inventory
Management. The current expenditure for Inventory
Management, cost centre 45115, is estimated to be
$2,179,761 which is unchanged from the prior year’s
budget.

Administration

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The Administr ation section
is primarily responsible for developing department
strategy, policy and procedures, ensuring that the people, processes and resources are available to deliver a quality public bus service. The expenditure for
Administration, cost centre 45120 , is estimated to be $2,904,021 for 2020/21 budget year, unchanged from
2019/20.

Management Support

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The Management Support
team is responsible for selling and processing bus and ferry fares, and, providing administrative servi ces for
accounts, procurement and human resources. The
expenditure for Management Support is estimated to
be $893,900 for 2020/21.

Revenue
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, it is antic ipated that in 2020/21, the Department of Public Transportation will generate $7,400,000. That can be
found on page B -215 of the Budget Book. This will be
attained primarily from fees charged for the provision
of fare media, that is, bus tickets, passes and tokens.

Capital Expenditure
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. C hairman, the capital
acquisition estimate for the department, as seen on
page C -13 of the Budget Book, totals $4,875,978.
This is primarily for the acquisition of new buses. A total of eight buses were delivered in 2019. An RFP for new appropriately sized, accessible and low emi ssions buses was issued in 2019 and the department is
finalising the procurement strategy for the continued
replenishment of the aged bus fleet.
The capital budget also includes Phase 1 of
the Digital Fare Media system which will facilitate app -
based ticketing with smartphones and tap- and-go validation. The Digital Fare Media project aims to provide
frictionless, convenient and secure access to public
transportation.

Amen! I like that.

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Yes, sir!
The automated bus washer is past its useful
service life. This will be replaced with a modern sy stem capable of washing the buses and large comme rcial vehicles.

Manpower

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the total
complement of full -time equi valents in the new
2020/21 fiscal year is 232, as recorded on page B -216
of the Budget Book. This is unchanged from last year.
The breakdown of FTEs by each section is as
follows:
• The number of full -time equivalents for the
cost centre 45000, Auxiliary Bus Services is
two.

B ermuda House of Assembly •Bus Operations, cost centre 45010, has 157
full-time equivalents.
•Cost centre 45090, Repair Servicing, has 50full-time equivalents.
•Inventory Management, cost centre 45115,
has been allocated four full -time equivalents.
•The number of full-time equivalents for the
cost centre 45120, Administration is five.
•And Management Support, cost centre 45200,
has 14 full -time equivalents.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: These are all unchanged
from 2019/20.
Major Policy Changes
Hon. Zane J. S. De S ilva: Mr. Chairman, the Depar tment is focused on replenishing the bus fleet and
modernising the public bus service. Sightseeing and
charter services remain suspended, as previously
noted, and the focus is on reliable delivery of the pu blic bus schedule and school bus services.
In 2019, with the support of Rocky Mountain
Institute, the department completed an RFI and an RFP for the next generation of buses. The department
will introduce appropriately sized buses according to
the route demand.
Smaller buses will be used on smaller routes,
resulting in less fuel and emissions, improved road safety, less vehicle damage and lower operating cost.
Features such as low -floors and buggy bays will i mprove accessibility on the buses, providing a better
passenger experi ence for all.
The department’s modernisation plans also
include the introduction of real -time passenger information, digital fare media and computer -aided di spatch.
Pl
ans for the Upcoming Year
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Mr. Chairman, the depar tment is c ommitted to moving Bermuda with a quality
public bus service. To achieve this, the department will implement initiatives which restore dependability, improve the passenger experience and enhance op-erations.
Bus Purchase and Refurbishment
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: As I stated earlier, Mr.
Chairman, eight new buses were delivered in fiscal year 2019/20.
The 16 buses procured in 2014 have been r efurbished to address poor emissions and to upgrade the air conditioning.
The RFP has identified the next generation of
buses and a procurement plan is being developed. Asset Management
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The department has re -
established the position of Assistant Director Tec hnical to provide technical leadership and enhanced asset management. Continuing investment will be made in the training, development and recruitment of
technicians and trades responsible for fleet maint enance. The department will establish a Work Planning
function and retool the maintenance section to support the next generation of buse s.
In addition, considerable improvements are
underway to facilities and infrastructure. For example,
power washing at the Fort Langton depot; bathrooms,
changing rooms and cafeteria renovations, and a new Operators’ facility at St George’s depot, are all on
track to be completed this year.
Passenger Experience
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: The department aspires to
be Bermuda’s preferred transportation solution. To achieve this the department will focus on improving the passenger experience, both in person a nd through
technology. The Ambassador Training programme will
continue in 2020 for all frontline representatives. The
advancement of projects such as digital fare media and real -time passenger information will improve access to the public bus service and provide for a “fri ctionless” travel experience.
Mr. Chairman, that concludes the brief for the
Department of Public Transportation Services, Head 35.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to take this
opportunity to applaud the staff of all Departments of Marine & Ports Services, Transport Control and Public Transportation for their hard work and diligence.
Keeping Bermuda on the road, so to speak, is not
without its challenges as we all know in these times,
and I would like to express my sincere appreciation for
the staff who provide us, the residents and our vis itors, with these public services.
Mr. Chairman, this concludes the brief on the
Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2020/21 for Heads 30, 34 and 35 of the Ministry of Tourism and Trans port.

I would first of all join the Minister
in offering condolences to [the family of] Glenn “Dingback” Simmons. I also offer condolences to my par3372 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly liamentary colleague, Pat Gordon- Pamplin, because
he is a relative of hers.
I would like to thank the Minister for his brief. I
will start with Marine & Ports. In just looking at the
numbers, the numbers are fairly consistent. On page B-204, under [programme] 3006, [cost centre] 40040,
Navigational Aids, I see that the esti mate has gone
from $740[,000] to $751[,000], and I am just wonder-ing if that is replacement or increased cost of the aids.
And under [programme] 3006, [cost centre]
40140, there is an increase in the tug service. I would like to know what that increase r epresents.
Again, [programme] 3007, [cost centre]
40090, Ferry Service, there is an increase from $7.7 [million] to $7.9 [million] and there is also an increase in [cost centre] 40150, Mooring and Boat Registration
from $277 [million] to $288 [million]
And the last one in Administration, 40220 to
$2,631[,000].
On page B -205, under Training, I would like to
know the number of staff who are trained and what is
the actual training, the number and the level of staff
that are being trained. There is a slight inc rease under
Repair and Maintenance. I would like to know what
that reflects.
Under Revenue Source, again on page B -
205, 8181, Lighthouse Fees. They have obviously
been transferred somewhere else and I do not know
where they are. If I should know, I apologi se for not
knowing. But I would just like to know why that is zero.
And that is the same for 8877, on page B -205, where
reimbursements have gone down to zero. I recognise
that they were gone in 2019/20.
Under Performance Measures, on page B -
207, I guess t he first question I have to ask —and it
would be the same question throughout for all the performance measures —is why we do not just aspire to
100 per cent. I do not understand why we aspire to
99.5 or 95.0 or 75.0. Why is the goal not 100 [per
cent]? If we fall short that is fine; but if you are already
starting out falling short then what impetus is there to go any higher or to achieve them?
So I would like to know under business unit
Navigational Aids, 40040, there are four items that
have been discontinued. Major lighthouses need to be
working 99.8 per cent of the time. Other lights, buoys
and beacons need to be working 99 per cent of the
time. Availability of buoys on station need to be 97 per
cent of the time. And overall performance level is r equired to be 98.6 [per cent]. So I wonder if that has
been shifted to something else or incorporated into another indicator.
The business unit, Ferry Service, 40090, percentage of on- time scheduled and completed runs per
month. The target outcome is 95 per cent. Why would
that not be 100 per cent? I get that boats may be out
of commission, or the weather, or there will be circumstances beyond control, but shouldn’t the goal be 100 per cent? Notwithstanding that there be variables
that will not allow it to be 100 per cent.
Under business unit, Maritime Safety and S ecurity, 40100, there were three items which have been
discontinued. One is engage non- government private
sector vessel used for non -life threatening marine i ncidences 25 per cent of the time; reduce the number
of emergency satellite beacon false alerts from Ber-muda registered vessels and aircraft worldwide by
10 per cent; and decrease the period of to issue a registration for 406 megahertz beacon from 20 to 14
days. Those have all been discontinued and I w ould
like to know why they have been discontinued.
Turning over to page B -208, the business unit,
Moorings and Boat Regulations, 40150, and there are
. . . the removal of 500 illegal unregistered moorings
by year end. The target outcome is 70 per cent. Is
there anywhere that actually shows the goals that have been achieved? There was a 10 per cent actual
outcome in 2018/19. So, if there was only 10 per cent
in 2018/19, how are we going to get to 70 per cent in
2020/21?
Discontinued were 80 per cent of all moorings
[that were] licensed with a 31
st of May deadline. And
regularise all unlicensed in- water boats. And those
have been discontinued. I would like to know why
those have been discontinued. And what has replaced
them, if anything?
Business unit, Pilot age Services Offshore,
40180. Two items under that heading have been di scontinued. One is the success on schedule berthing and unberthing of ships, aim 100 per cent. The overall
performance of the pilot service.
And finally, under business unit, Administr ation, 40220, three are discontinued. To ensure all accounts payables are paid to meet monthly deadlines,
100 per cent of required staff CPR first aid trained.
And 100 per cent of required staff trained in fire saf ety. And again, these may have shifted over to other
departments or they may have been renamed som ething else, but I would like to know the reason because they seem to be fairly important.
In the budget for last year, there was . . . the
Dockyard to St. George’s route was running at an a verage [passenger capacity] of 70 per cent and the
Dockyard to Hamilton route was running at an average [passenger capacity] of 50 per cent, and it was
identified that there was room for passenger growth
on both of those routes. I would like to know whether
there has been any uplift in people traveling on both of
those routes and if so, what has it been?
And last years’ budget referred to a succession plan in respect of highly technical posts within the
department. And I would like to know what the ongoing status is of that succession plan and where the
department is with that plan. Last years’ budget ident ified that there had been a gap analysis performed in respect of things that we needed to have prepared for
the 2020 audit, and identified was oil pollution control,


Bermuda House of Assembly ferry operations, offshore search and rescue, and
there were some other areas. Where are we in the
gap analysis and in being ready for the 2020 audit,
and what is the date of the 2002 audit?
Those are all the questions I have for Marine
& Ports. Moving on to—

Thank you.
So I am going t o start on page B -210, starting
with 3401, General, 44000, Examination . . . no, sorry,
I do not want to do Examination. I want to do 44090,
Road Safety.
It was a goal of the department to have Pr oject Ride in all schools from primary to senior schools. Has that been achieved and if not, what is the status
of that?
The Minister did speak to the status of the
EVR system. Has it been fully integrated with the
DVRS system as was proposed in last years’ budget,
and if not, where are we with that?
And one of the things I would like to know is
whether or not any department is, in terms of
Transport Control, actually aggregating data in terms
of the accidents that occur because of texting and
driving. I know that the Minister talked about people
driving too close behind and not having a proper car
length. But has there been any data assessed in . . .
aggregating data in terms of people texting and dri ving?
And in addition to the road safety initiatives,
should that not be something that is considered, be-cause a lot of people do text and drive? I see people,
they are on bikes and they are texting and driving. Or
they are driving with their knees so they can text with
their phone. So, where are we with trying to— you
know, that should be an education initiative bec ause
there have been some serious accidents caused by
people texting and driving.
There are, under 44040, Registration, the i ncrease in the budget has gone from 810 to 927. I
would like to know why. I guess the 490 from 232 is the increase in the Road Saf ety budget. And on page
B-211 under Wages —

It has gone from 572 to zero. And
I want to know whether it has been shifted to som e-where else, or have positions been eliminated? And
then under . . . well, your grants and contributions just
increased.
The Training budget has been reduced from
100 to 97; I would like to know why. And then I noticed
under the Revenue Source, in the 2018/19 actual,
four-wheel vehicles were 351. And in 2020/21 it has
gone down to 339. And there are several categories,
items have decreased. Is this due to the emigration of
people from the Island? Is it due to people just not
licensing vehicles?
What is causing the decrease in these areas?
So it is vehicles, four -wheel vehicles, exam fees for
two-wheeled vehicles, exam fees for four -wheeled
vehicles, commercial vehicles, driving permits and
driver’s licence. I am not saying that it is necessarily
an indicator of people leaving the Island. But is it something that is considered, or is that data a ggregated?
Has the Department of Transport Control
done an analysis of gas versus electric cars? I know that was one of the things that was in the Green P aper, looking at the number of cars —looking at gathering the data from the number of electric cars that are
actually on the road. So I would like to know whether
or not that data is available and if so, where it is.
On page B -213, again this is the same question, that—

[Inaudible interjections]

Right. So, Mr. Chairman, I am
going to do this under 44210 —sorry, page B -210,
[heading] 3401, [cost unit] 44210, Administration.
3374 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Some of the goals of the Transport Depar tment as identified in the White Paper were for taxi
drivers to accept credit cards. At that point in time,
140 taxis were accepting credit cards. Do you have
data on the current number? And what is the end date for all taxi drivers to be accepting credit cards?
One of the things that I think is very important
and one of the issues that was raised by my parli amentary colleague, Derrick Burgess, last year during
the Budget [Debate] in respect of taxi drivers was a dhering to the dress code. And it was one of the actions
to be taken by Government in respect of minibus dri vers. And they were supposed to have a dress code
and regulations. And it was anticipated that this would
occur by September 2019. And I would like to know what the status of that initiative is.
And, Mr. Chairman, again under 44210, A dministration, the Ministry of Transport together with
other ministries, Public Works, Marine and Ports, and
BTA included, were renegotiating a cruise line contract to ask for a sponsorship to assist in the transport infrastructure. What is the . . . I know that at that point
in time things were ongoing. I would like to know the status of those negotiations and where we are with
that.
One of the r ecommendations was also to
have . . . oh, I would do this under PTB [Public Transportation Board], so not that one. (Sorry.)
One of the recommendations was that the
ferries would accept people in wheelchairs and motor-cycles. And it was anticipated that this would be i mplemented or be in place by March of 2020. So if I
could get an update on that and where we are with that, I think it is very important that our physically cha llenged people are able to have access to the same
means of transportation that all of us have.
I know that i n the discussion of the debate
about . . . what was it, tourism? I think the Minister has
addressed this, the question about the transport pla nning app that they are looking to put in place. And I
know that this project has started, and hopefully we
can get something going with that soon. And I think
that is all that I have for the Department of TCD [Transport Control Department].
Oh, sorry. There was, I think that the Minister
actually delayed this one. This was the implement ation of the special 20, the t axi permits for the 20 taxis
for the 88 vehicles that were not on the road. I know
that this was deferred. I do not know whether the Mi nister is looking at taking that up again. And I guess my concern in terms of the taxis is, you know, there have
been —

[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Chairman]

Head 35, Public Transportation.
Under Administration, 3503, [cost centre] 45120, there
was some consideration being given to having the
possibility of a dedicated school bus system for our
children, which would probably assist with the bus
runs. And I would like to know whether or not that is
still something that is being considered.
The other thing is that last year we talked
about the Rocky Mountain Institute project and the
possibility of having electric buses. And I would like to
know where we are with that project and whether or
not it has been determined that our infrastructure can
actually support electric buses and whether electric
buses would actually be able to be utilised here, co nsidering Bermuda’s terrain and—

Yes.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Oh, okay. Thank you.
All right. And then as we go down to 8185,
Pilotage Fees. I am just curious. On the actual amount
that came in for 2018/19, it was $1,084,000. And for
the year forecasted of 2019/20, we forecasted like,
looks like approximately $230,000- some less. But I
was just wondering what the thinking might have been
when they were forecasting for that year 2019/20 as
to why they thought that this may have been that
amount. That is quite a bit less. If you are only talking about a $1 million, we are talking $230,000 Pilotage
Fees. I do not know how you calculate the pilotage
fees—

Go ahead.

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: And you will not be able to
get that unless I ask the full question.
So if you take a look at the revised amount, so
it looks like we are back on pace to the actual amount
from before. And then if you look at the estimate,
which is $ 1.58 million, again we are basically back at
where we kind of have been looking at historically
what the actual number —

You want to know the difference, why
it is that high?
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Well, behind the numbers
is the thinking. So if you are thinking that you are going to be $231,000, that is quite a bit. It would not be a
whole lot if we were talking about $2 million or $3 mi llion. But if it is $1 million, which we historically have
been getting in pilotage fees, why such a dif ference?
And how do we calculate that pilotage fee? Is it based
on . . . I do not know. Is it based on the number of
trips that it takes? I am not sure.

[Inaudible interjections]

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: We are on page B -205.

[That is] 40150?

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes.
I notice that we still, and it has been a challenge certainly for the department, I know because I
know that the Public Works in the past has tried to
help out in this area where you have so many boats
that are unlicensed but sitting because of the hurr icanes, maybe. They are washed up on the side or
people have just left their boats because of fire, whatever it may be.

She asked about . . . in the abandoned boats?

Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes. She did not say anything about the abandoned . . . I am asking, there are
a lot of abandoned boats, recognising that these boats
are also not licensed —they are unlicensed —have we
come up with, have we been able to negotiate some
way of maybe getting rid of these boats that are out
there that are ugly, sitting on the sides, splitting open
all up and down the Island?

So, well, what? Do you want to know
if they are discontinued? Because in here it has got
discontinued regularised or unlicensed.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: I was just trying to understand if we have made some agreement or come to
some way of being able to deal with these abandoned boats that are all over the Island, which everyone
keeps talking about on a regular basis. And with every
hurricane there seem to be more being added to it. So it is a tough, tough situation because who pays for it?
That type of thing.
If we can move over to Head 35 under Public
Transportation on page B -215, going back to a similar,
if you go down to Revenue Source, we are looking at
all the numbers here. And historically, you can see
where we are pretty much on target on what it is that
3378 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly we receive as revenue from 8679, Passes. If you take
a look at the estim ate of $3,250,000, it is the same as
the original. But we do not know, that is about
$516,000 difference between the actual in 2018/19
and for 2019/20 where we see in the revised amount. Are we likely to come in at the same $3,250,000 that
we have estimated and the original amount for
2019/20? And why is it so much different, half a mi llion dollars?

Right.
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Behind the numbers is
some thinking behind why we believe we are going to
do $3 million. There is an increase for the original of
2019/20 from 2018/19. Then if we go to an increase
from that, 2019/20 to 2020/21, they are saying about
the same.
What I am asking is why do we believe we are
going to come in the same when it looks as if we probably will not come in the same by the end of this
fiscal year? It does not look like that if you take a look
at the revised amounts. So there is a $516,000 difference. That is quite a bit. And there could be a simple
answer; I am just curious.

Thank you, Mr.
Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, my question is in respect of the
Transport Control Department. And I am looking at page B -210 in respect of Traffic Control, and business
unit 44110 under programme 3401. And the amount
of estimate is $584,000, which is $46,000 less for the
coming year than it was in the original budget for
2019/20.
The question that I have is I would presume
that under this Traffic Control would also be the issue
of removing abandoned vehicles from the street side. And I am just wondering if there is any indication as to
what the progress is in terms of trying to get some of
these eyesores off of the road so that we do n ot have
these issues where we have got abandoned vehicles.
A lot of abandoned vehicles are rat traps and create
health hazards in other areas. And I am just won dering what we are doing to try to ensure that we e ither
dispatch traffic officers or somebody .
What is the process that is now in place? Or is
there one central place that one could call to complain
to say, This is an eyesore in my area, my neighbourhood, and I would like to have this vehicle removed.
And is this a matter that is being addressed in any
active kind of way? That is that.
I also would like to go to page B -215, and that
is on Public Transportation, Head 35. Page B -215,
and it is in respect of the Revenue Summary. And I
am looking at revenue source for 8679, 8681 and
8683 for Tokens, Passes and Tickets. And in total, we
are anticipating that there is going to be $5,450,000 on those three items, notwithstanding that, under
8685, there is cash. So I have two questions here.
[Programme] 8685, with respect to cash, $1.2 million
which is anticipated that is being collected. That is people literally getting on the buses, putting money in
the— or getting on the ferries and physically —well, not
so much the ferries. But people putting money in.
And I just wondered what —

[Inaudible interjection]
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Ferries? They put
cash in on ferries? Okay. Yes, I guess they must. So I
guess they would.
But I guess the question is, What additional
security measures do we have in place? Because that
is a significant amount of money , of ready cash, untraceable. What additional security measures do we
have to ensure that this$1.2 million is actually safe? I
know there was a time when buses which would collect money, they go to the East End, it is the last run
from the city. They may have cash in their coffers.
And they go—

[Inaudible interjection and l aughter]
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: I am not even g oing to repeat that, Minister.
That they will go to the depot at the far ends
of the Island. I think that if a bus is coming back on its
last run and goes into the Palmetto Road depot, then


Bermuda House of Assembly they have a slightly better chance of safety. But if they
have got buses whose last run goes from town to St.
George’s or town to Somerset, then those buses are
set in an area that is not necessarily secure. So I am
just curious as to what we are doing to ensure that there is security of the physical cash that exists.
Now I am going to go onto where it comes to
passes. Now, Mr. Chairman, and I think that I am well within my right to discuss this under this head, and
that is with respect to the costs relating to passes. So
we have . . . I am just wondering if we have had a look
at revising the costs of daily passes. And I ask the
question for this reason: If you get a 14- zone ticket
and you have a bus pass, it costs you $19 for a oneday pass.
Now, under normal circumstances, we see
that if you pay on the bus, it will cost you five dollars
for a 14- zone [tickey]. If you buy bus tickets, you can
get a book of 15 bus tickets, and those 15 bus tick ets
will cost you $37.50. That equates to $2.50 per ticket, per ride, for a 14- zone. So if you have a daily pass for
$19, that would assume 7.6 rides of a 14- zone. Now,
everybody who has a daily pass is not going to get onto the bus and be on it from Somer set to St.
George’s or, you know, for 14- zones.
So it seems to me as an inordinate cost. And I
realise we have to raise revenue, and I am quite a ppreciative of that. But it seems to me [it is] an inordinate cost to anticipate that somebody is going to
spend $19 for a daily pass when they can actually
spend $37.50 for 15 tickets, and they will not use 7.6
tickets in the course of any given day. I think you
might be aware, Mr. Chairman, that in some jurisdi ctions they have that hop- on hop- off bus capacity, a nd
you are sort of jumping on, jumping off whenever you
want. But in our jurisdiction, that does not necessarily
obtain. You have to be specific. You are going from
point A, probably down to Dockyard if you are a vis itor, coming from Dockyard to town, comi ng from
Dockyard to St. George’s or whatever. And you are
able to do that at a cost of $2.50 if you are buying a
book of tickets.
And I am just a little concerned that we might
be doing ourselves a bit of a disservice in terms of the
costs that we have re lating to those books of tickets.
And I just have to explain how I came to that theory.
Running an Airbnb, I provide tickets for the guests
who come and then charge them at $2.50 for the
numbers of tickets that they use. And I have said to
them, Don’t buy a three- day pass because you are
going to spend $44 for a three- day pass.

Yes.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: And this is on
Output Measures for business unit 44000 for Exam inations. And the first item there, which they expect to
achieve, is to provide a driving test appointment within
10 business days of requested date. The target is 90 per cent of requests.
Well, I am not sure if the Minister is aware that
at the moment the lag is almost a three- month wait if
you want a road test. You can go in and you can get a
same -day test if you want to go up through the cones
and back. And certainly I have no difficulty with that. But there are some people who are not quite as comfortable doing that test. And they would prefer to book
the road test. But the booking is nearly three months
in advance. And I am thinking that we are not only not achieving that 90 per cent of requests, but we may be
a long way away from it. So I am just wondering if we
need to revamp either what the expectation is or if we
can get a better handle on where clients stand in r espect of getting road tests and getting them effectiv ely.

Take your time.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: So I will not r epeat that. But on some of the . . . oh, I know. I did
have a question, and that was . . . maybe I will wait for
the answers , because my question was in respect of
relicensing of all moorings within the 31
st of May deadline. And this has gone from two tiers of some, 80 per
cent within a period of time, and then I guess the rest
of the other 20 per cent later on. And I am just wondering. Now we are looking at the relicensing of all
moorings within the May 31st deadline.
3380 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly This is almost similar, Mr. Chairman, in this
insta nce in terms of the relicensing, because we are
dealing now with revenue and loss of revenue. So if
people do not get their boats licensed at the appropr iate time, this is a deficiency in the revenue stream
that we would have. And you will recall where we
used to have that situation where your cars used to
have to be done by a certain period of time, by a certain date, and then it changed to birthdays, which
made it a little bit more manageable and more eff icient.

Yes.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordo n-Pamplin: So I am just wondering. If we are not looking to try and ensure that e ither the moorings are registered by the specific deadline, if there is some . . . I mean, 90 per cent may be a
good number to reach. And this is on page B -208, the
relicensin g of moorings and stuff within the May 31
deadline.
And that might be great. Ninety per cent is a
reasonable number. And maybe it might be realistic. But I guess the question that I have is, How are we
going to account for the inevitable loss of revenue
when we do not have 100 per cent of moorings? Is
there an active way to take away moorings from people if they have not registered? Are the moorings
deemed to be abandoned? I mean, what are we doing
to ensure that we maximise the revenue stream in
respect of this?
And I will wait for those answers to come back
because I do have one or two other questions.

Are there any further speakers?
The Chair recognises the Honourable Member, Ms. Atherden. You have the floor, Ms. Atherden.

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
My question relates to Head 34, the Transport
Control Department, on page B -210. I think the Mini ster indicated that the vehicle emission testing has
come in -house.
And I want just clarification that, as part of the
emissions control testing, it is tested. But to find out
whether the test results in people pas sing or failing
emissions control . . . the reason I am asking is because there is a second part on page B -213 which is
indicating that under the Examination Centre, which is
where the vehicle emissions testing will be, to conduct
a minimum of 10 random vehicle inspection audits per
week and to ensure corrective measures taken. And if you have ever been behind a bike or a car that has
lots of . . . I do not know [how] to describe it. But I
mean the exhaust that is coming out of those cars —

Heavy smoke?
Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: Smoke, exactly. So my
question first of all is, Are they being tested, are the
vehicles being tested for emissions? And are they
passing or failing? And also, when the examinations are taking place, in terms of the random examinations, will they, if they discover individuals who have those
emissions deficiencies, will some corrective measure
be taken for those individuals?

Yes. Thank you.
The way you put it, Mr. Chairman, it is like, Ms. Go rdon-Pamplin, you know you have another question,
right? Yes. I did say I had a couple more questions.
And I have just been able to see them.
And this is in respect of Public Transportation.
And if I go to the Performance Measures on page B -
217, the Minister had indicated that there were no
sightseeing services. But I am not 100 per cent ce rtain. I think it was probably under Bus Operations, ontime delivery of all scheduled services, I guess it
would come under. But he said scheduled services,
there were no sightseeing services. And I wondered
whether those services have been integrated with, on
a permanent basis, the minibus and how we can accomplish providing those services given the shortages
that we have with the actual buses. That is question
number one.
Question number two that I have is, on bus iness unit 45010, under Bus Operatio ns, they have
discontinued two—

That i s right. My apologies.
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes. No worries.
And the question is, to achieve a target of
fewer than three staff complaints per month, and that has been discontinued. And it looks like it has been
discontinued for the year before and the year before.
But I am wondering whether it is not time to reintr oduce a kind of standard that says that we have to look
at how our bus service is actually not just meeting the
needs of the traveling public, but doing so on a courteous basis. So I am just wondering whether we could
not do something about re- implementing something
that says that they do not want a whole lot of staff complaints. And this would presumably be operator complaints as well.


Bermuda House of Assembly Under Administration on that same page, under business unit 45120, Administration, complete
customer service training for front -line staff. And I
think that we have seen . . . I am not certain whether it
be front -line staff as determined to be bus operations
or whether this is just within the admin st aff of the department. But certainly we have had some public
complaints fairly recently in terms of the approach that
some drivers have taken towards students. And I
know that there are requirements, that a student has
to show their pass or they have to be in uniform or
whatever the case might be. But the question begs
whether there is any flexibility in that area so that we
do not leave students stranded on the street side, because I think that that is quite a critical issue.
And the last complaint that s howed, I guess
that would be . . . I do not know whether it is deemed
to be a part of online delivery of scheduled services
that a bus driver may feel as though he cannot deliver.
If he has to stay and tell a child that you have got to
get off the bus or w hatever it is. But I think that there
comes a time when common sense has to prevail.
And we do not want to leave our children stranded on
the street side. And I think that that is a very critical
and important part of the service that we provide.
So those are my extra questions that I had.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Ms. Gordon- Pamplin.
Any further speakers?
Minister.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
That was a lot of questions, and I will do my best to try
and t ick every box that I can.
The Honourable Member, Shadow Minister
Scott, had asked a few questions. One of them was,
Had we done analysis of gas versus electric buses?
You might know that I announced some time back . . .
well, I did talk in my brief about Rocky Mountain. And
they were assisting us with regard to designing the
RFIs and then the RFPs. We put those out. We r eceived them back. And they are under . . . they are
looking at it now. We have a panel who are looking at
the comparisons. And I looked at that very soon. But
as per usual, I will keep you up to date as we make progress with that.
And I think you had asked, and I think a couple of Members asked about the Performance Measures, and why not 100 per cent? I think it depends on which one we ar e talking about. But I think
several of those are due to staffing and the lack of staff. So, you know, we do not have . . . if we know we
are not going to have the staff levels, and you will certainly know because a lot of the staff hiring was frozen
under the OBA Government. And we are going to get
to a stage where we are slowly, slowly trying to put
people back in place. So that is why I think you will find a lot of those with regard to the performance are
not at 100 per cent.
Somebody had asked about th e credit cards
and taxis and how we are doing with that. It is my u nderstanding that we have about 400 of the taxis that
have the credit card capability at the moment.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: About 400 out of the 600.
So it is quite a lot. It is quite a lot. I would think that,
you know, the market will certainly dictate and push
those who are not on board, will push them that way.
Even though I know still some people tend to have
their views about credit cards. But we are looki ng at,
that is one of the things involved in the whole industry that we are looking at with regard to Transport. And if we have to make some changes with regard to legi slation, we will do so.
Someone also, I think it was Honourable
Member Scott who asked about the minibus regul ations and the dress code. This is very close to coming here. This is very close to coming here. I would certainly think within the next month or so, probably before the season, we would like to get it done. As you
and I both know . . . we all know in this House that we
would like to see that. So that is coming soon.
Someone, I think it might have been Honourable Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin, asked about the
cruise line contract or —

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Oh, you did? Yes. The
cruise line contracts. I can tell you that NCL’s [Norw egian Cruise Lines] has been extended. And they have
also . . . and I think you asked about the contribution
or the assistance with regard to infrastructure. We are
going to announce something very soon on that. We want to make sure that they are here when the a nnouncement is made. We have something similar with
RCCL [Royal Caribbean Cruise Line] as well. And that
announcement will be made soon, too.
There was a question about the 20 special
taxi permits. There was an announcement made last year. And you may or may not recall that . . . and my
people asked me, You sure you want to do it? And I
invited all the taxi drivers to a meeting. And we had about 350 taxi drivers pile into War wick Workman’s
Club. And we had a very nice, frank conversation.
I agreed at that time I would park them. I
would park them. And you know, with the thought in
mind that, Listen. In the country we know we have
transportation issues. I think we have enough vehicles
in the country to take care of our visitors and our l ocals. The challenge is we need them out there wor king. So we had that conversation. And trust me. I have
spent many, many, many hours with the taxi associ ation, dispatchers and everyone. I mean, I even met
3382 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly with those guys down in the East End who are transporting people around too.
But we have had many meetings. And we are
trying . . . we are very close to getting to a place
where we can come here with something very, very
solid, and I think, hopefully, this will put that matter to
bed once and for all in our history. So we shall see.

[Inaudible interjection]

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Well, the Honourable
Member Pat Gordon- Pamplin is asking if we are still
on 16 hours a day. Well, you know, [ that is] what the
legislation required. But that is part of the thing I am
also doing very quietly behind the scenes is tearing apart the Motor Car Act. Because there are a lot of
things in there that just do not make sense. It just
does not make sense.
And who wants . . . for me personally, I would
not want one person to be driving 16 hours a day es-pecially in the heat of summer. But if you look at the legislation, if you get a taxi permit, you have to have
three drivers registered to get a permit. So to have it
on the road for 16 hours, well, you got three guys.
That is what is in legislation. Look at the Act. That is
what is in the Act now. But the Act is being looked at,
and it is being looked at in a very serious and dedicat-ed way.
Someone had asked about dedicated school
buses for children. Yes, MP Scott, the Opposition
Deputy. We do have assistance from the minibuses at
the moment, who are helping with the children, you
know, getting to and from school. So hopefully in the near future when we do get the . . . when the panel
finish their analysis of the RFPs that we received, you
will see some big changes with regard to transport ation of our children and also with the bus service in general. But that is coming.

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Just a point of
clarity if I may, Mr. Chairman.
[Mr. Neville S. Tyrrell, Chairman]

I recognise Honourable Member Gordon-Pamplin.

POINT OF CLARIFICATION
Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Thank you, just a
quick question in respect of the Minister’ s answer that
he has just given.
Is it intended that the minibuses, either for the
use of schools or maybe even by the use that I mentioned earlier of integrating tours, is that intended to
be a permanent structure? Is that the thinking behind what will h appen with using the minibuses? Is it i ntended to be a permanent integration with the public transport system? Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: And that was a question on
the minibuses, you mean during tours?

Hon. Patricia J. Gordon -Pamplin: Yes, as well as
the schools.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Well, yes. Let us keep
them separate for now. The minibuses are assisting
the Government with regard to the children. With r egard to tourists, Government has nothing to do with that. They arrange that themselves. We do not give any assistance. They do not charge us. We do not
pay them. That is something they work out with the
agencies and/or the cruise lines themselves. Or they
go up to Dockyard. They wait in line. I am sure you
have been up there. And people come out and say,
Look. I’d like to do a tour. So it has worked—I think it
has worked in their favour. It gives people a little bus iness.
Someone had asked about abandoned boats.
I think it might have been the Opposition Leader Cannonier asked about abandoned boats. That has been
an interesting situation, since in fact one of my colleagues, Mr. Burgess, sent me a picture two days ago
of five boats down in Coot Pond. The challenge we
have with boats is that we cannot always identify
whom they belong to, and it is expensive. It is very
expensive.
Now, Members will be aware that some of the
changes I made just recently with the Motor Car Act,
you know, some people said that the fee that we inst ituted, $1,500, to remove an abandoned car was kind
of steep. Well, we have h ad to remove a boat long
before my time, might have been before the previous Government too. But it cost $30,000. It cost the taxpayers of this country to remove a boat —$30,000.

Wow.
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Now, I can assure you to
remove some of these boats, to get to them and the
difficulty in sort of floating them and lifting them and
picking them up and putting them on the barge, and
then they have got to be trucked to the dump and
what -have- you is expensive. And I can lay down a
marke r that I will certainly have a chat with the Director of Marine and Ports, and my PS, and the controller
was there too. I think he was part of that conversation.
And the thing is I said, Well, listen. We need
to increase the fines for removing boats. And if we find
out who these people are, they are going to have to
pay. You cannot expect the taxpayers of the country
to spend thousands and thousands of dollars removing boats. So those are the people who have boats,
and their numbers are still on the regist er, I would
suggest that they had better get with it and get with it quickly. Because the fine is not going to be low. They might have to take a loan, go to the bank and take a
loan and pay for that one. So that is . . . again, that is


Bermuda House of Assembly something that is in train and something we have
been looking at.
Someone had asked about the abandoned
vehicles. You will be happy to know that there is a
process. You can call down to TCD, make the report. The officer will then find out who they are. They go
out. They put a ticket on the car. They give them seven days in order to reply. If they do not reply, then we
take action.
And again, that was something that used to
cost us . . . who knows what it cost to remove them.
There were some vehicles in hard spots, again. The y
could just cost a lot of money to move. But that is the
process. You will be happy to know that I have taken
many. And I have got to take this opportunity to thank the PS right down to the traffic officers, who have
been very, very vigilant in assisting me.
And I tell people, If you have an abandoned
car, send me a picture. Make sure you have got the
car number and where it is located. And we have r emoved in my time, in a year and a half almost, we
have moved a hell of a lot of cars —a lot of cars. And I
tell people, Look. Don’t be afraid to write me back in two or three weeks if the car is still there. And then I
just talk to my people, I say, Listen. Where are we? What are we doing?
But again those are costs that add up. And
not all the time . . . just on Friday I received an email
from someone who had sent me a picture of a car
about three weeks ago and said, Look. I’m just letting
you know the car is still there. And I asked my tec hnical people, you know, what was the status? They said, Well, we did find out who the owner is. They said
they sold it to Joe Smith about eight months ago.
Well, now we are trying to find Joe Smith. And therein
lies the challenge.
But the good thing is [that with] the cars [it
tends] to be a little bit easier to locate the owners than
the boats. But they are all in progress.
Someone had asked about the vehicles being
tested for emissions, and if they pass or fail, what are
the corrective measures? When a vehicle is failed, they recommend that, Look. If we fail you, you have to
go get it fixed. Take it to your mechanic, get it fixed
and bring it back. And they will test it again. So that is
the process. I am not sure if that question was . . .

Point of clarification for the
Minister.
POINT OF CLARIFICATION

Hon. Jeanne J. Atherden: If they pass or fail, then I
guess the question is, How is it that you can have cars
and bikes on the road and you are behind them, and
[because of] what is coming out of those cars you do
not want to be behind them? Then the question be-comes, How come they are on the road? That was the
first thing. And the second question was, When the
people are out doing their spot -test examinations, are
they doing bikes as w ell as cars to try and pick up
some of these?

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Well, that is an easy a nswer. If someone gets a bike or a car tested in May
and you are driving behind them in December, you
know, something could have happened to the vehicle
during that time. Of course, they need their carburettor
cleaned out or they need the muffler cleaned out. So
unless you know that somebody got their car tested
today and you are driving behind them tonight and it
was smoking, this is a different story. But unles s we
have that information, it is sort of . . . I cannot help
you.
Someone had asked about the loss of rev enue relicensing, you know, and it does not reach
100 per cent in the performance measures. And they
had asked about, why have the fees for boats gon e
down? Well, some people, as you will know, do not
relicense their boat. They pull them up. And if they pull
them up, they do not have to relicense. They do not
have to pay a fee. It is the same as if someone has a car. You may say, Well, look. Is it beca use we have
so many people emigrating? Not necessarily the case.
Some people take their cars off the road. If they do
not have them on the road, they do not pay a fee. And
if they do not pay the fee, revenue goes down.
I think that is it for now.

The Cha irman: Are there any further speakers?
I recognise the Deputy Opposition Leader.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have
the ultimate question for the Minister.
What is the status of the bus schedules?

Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Well, that is an easy one.
The status of the bus schedule will remain the same
until we get more buses. I am not going to talk about
any boat race or anything like that tonight; I am going
to leave that alone, right?

It has been moved that Heads 30, 34
and 35 be approved.
Is there any objection to that motion?
No objection.
Agreed to.

3384 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly [Motion carried: The Ministry of Tourism and Transport
Heads 30, 34 and 35 were approved and stand part of
the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the year 2020/21.]
Hon. Zane J. S. De Silva: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I move that the Committee rise and report
progress and ask for leave to sit again.

[Motion carried: The Committee of Supply agreed to
rise and report progress, and sought leave to sit
again.]

House resumed at 6 :54 pm

[Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Deputy Speaker, in the
Chair ]

REPO RT OF COMMITTEE

ESTIMATES OF REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE
FOR THE YEAR 2020/21

Thank you , Mr. Deputy
Speaker.
I move that the Bill entitled the Land Valuation
and Tax Amendment Act 2020 be now read the second time.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Bill entitled the Land
Valuation and Tax Amendment Act 2020 seeks to
amend the Land Valuation and Tax Act 1967 to expressly provide for a procedure for addressing the disclosure of conflicts of interest by members of the Land Valuation Appeals Tribunal. Mr. Deputy Speaker, the valuation list sets out the annual rental values
for properties in Bermuda. As part of keeping the en-tries in the list accurate and up to date, it is regularly
amended in respect of changes to properties such as
new builds, renovations, mergers and demolitions.
Landowners then have a statutory right to
challenge the proposed amendment to the list should
they be aggrieved with the assessment. In instances
where the objection is not resolved with the Land Val-uation Department, the objection will proceed for hearing before the tribunal.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the proposed amendment stipulates that where a member of the tribunal
has any direct or indirect interest in any matter before
it, they shall fully disclose their interest to the tribunal at the earliest opportunity and not take part in any or
further discussion of the matter and have no vote in
relation to the matter unless the tribunal has resolved
that the interest does not give rise to a conflict of i nBermuda House of Assembly terest. Mr. Deputy Speaker, this proposed amendment
is in keeping with Government’s objective to have
members on all government tribu nals disclose any
known conflicts of interest, thereby ensuring inde-pendent and impartial hearings.
Additionally, the Amendment will bring the
Land Valuation and Tax Act 1967 in line with similar
legislation such as the Development and Planning Act
1974 and the Bermuda Immigration and Protection
Act 1956 in respect of the disclosure of conflicts of
interest by members of a tribunal.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, with those introductory
remarks, I move that the Bill entitled the Land Valuation and Tax Amendment Act be committed.

Is there any objection?
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Certainly, this is a bit of a [housekeeping] matter in ensuring that we have as much transparency as
possible. So there is no objecti on to this in any way or
form.
I am not sure if there has been any conflict as
of yet concerning the Tribunal for Land Valuation and
Tax Amendment. But again, this is not something that
we need to spend the night on. It is good housekeep-ing. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I would
move both clauses, clauses 1 and 2. The Bill seeks to
amend the Land Valuation and Tax Act 1967 to pr ovide a procedure for addressing a conflict of interest
by a member of the Land Valuation Appeal Tribunal. Clause 1 is the citation. This act may be cited
as the Land Valuation and Tax Amendment Act 2020.
Clause 2 amends section 21 of the Land Va luation and Tax Act 1967. Clause 2 amends section 21
and inserts a new subsection (4A) and makes cons equential amendments. Paragraph (a) [inserts] subsection (4A), which provides that if a member has a direct
or indirect interest in any matter before the Tribunal,
that he shall fully disclose it at the earliest opportunity,
and that the member must not take part in any or any further discussion, or vote on the matter unless the
tribunal has resolved that there is no conflict of interest.
Paragraph (b) makes a consequential
amendment to subsection (5).
And as an aside, Mr. Chairman, I would like to
state that I do not think there have been any meetings
of the Tribunal, certainly since we have been in Go vernment, even though they have been appointed, and
my information is that there has probably been, you
can count on one hand, if that, the number of meet-ings of the Tribunal in the last decade.
The depar tment seems to be able to negotiate
whatever agree ments they need with any aggrieved
landlord. This is just bringing the Act in line with the other two which are already on the books. Thank you,

The Minister has moved and addressed the clauses. Does any other Member care to speak?
Hon. L. Craig Cannonier: Yes, just a question.
Clause 2, subsection (b) not to take part in any or any
further discussions. I was just curious with the Tribunal, I am assuming it is three people or three groups
or something to that effect . What is the quorum, because if one person comes off because of disclosure,
do they have a quorum?

Mr. Chairman, there
are . . . I cannot remember the exact number, but
there are like six or seven people appointed, so only
three of them actually meet on any particular issue.
So, there is always going to be three people.
In other words, if one person is abroad, they
will go to the next person. But out of that panel of
mem bers, they will select three people, a Tribunal, to
hear any objections.

It is so moved that the Bill be reported
to the House as printed.
No objecti ons.
[
Motion carried: T he Land Valuation and Tax Amen dment Act 2020 was considered by a Committee of the
whole House and passed without amendment .]
House resumed at 7:04
[
Hon. Derrick V. Burgess, Sr., Deputy Speaker, in the
Chair]
REPORT OF COMMITTEE
LAND VALUATION AND TAX
AMENDMENT ACT 2020

The House stands adjourned
. . . we have one speaker, Mr. Tyrrell.
TONY BRANNON’S INSENSITIVE COMMENTS
CONDEMNED
Mr
. Neville S. Tyrrell: Thank you very much, Mr.
Deputy Speaker.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I came to this House for
the second time this week with a bit of a heavy heart. On Monday when I was here, I was really in a bad place. And I think you would understand where I am coming from on that.

—a nd I will try to not rehash
much of what has already been said in condemning
Mr. Brannon’s use of that messy term describing us
elected officials—M embers of this Honourable
House—a s cockroaches and all because, as he
states, we are not giving his friend PRC.


Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Deputy Speaker, the sad thing is that Mr.
Brannon may have only intended to direct that comment to those of us w ho sit on this side of the House,
the PLP Government. What he failed to understand is
that it splattered (and no pun intended) on all 36 Members of this Honourable House. And I am so glad
that it was rebuked by both sides at the time on Monday.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, Mr. Brannon also needs
to know that a putrid apology did not cut it either. It is
not accepted, certainly by me and also the apparent support he is getting online is not helping him, really,
not at all.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, many of my constituents
were incensed when hearing that vile comment and
have insisted that I do speak to it in the House today.
Those constituents who called me felt that some repetition of our rebuke of Mr. Brannon’s comment would
help, first of all, to keep it front and centre in the minds
of those persons who maybe in two weeks (you know,
we are Bermudians, we tend to forget things in a short period of time) may even want to forgive him. Well,
no. Not this time, Mr. Brannon, nor your colleagues
who probably think like you.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I also support the call
made by my honourable colleague, Minister Jamahl [Simmons] for people to boycott any business of Mr. Brannon. I am painfully aware, though, that such action could affect those persons who actually work for
him or ar e employed by him.
However, Mr. Deputy Speaker, as my mom
would always remind me, there are consequences for our actions, whether they be good or bad. Mr. Bran-non needs to understand that this one was bad, and
he has a price to pay for being so insensitive.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, as I said speaking t onight is a deliberate show of support in condemning
this foolish breach by Tony Brannon, and I would like
to remind him and those who think like him that he
needs to accept that we have our differences. We
have di fferences, and he needs to learn to keep his
tongue, because he has really shown us who he is.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

And so, I was in the dark as
to what had occurred here with the comments by Mr.
Brannon. That only became more clear [to me] as the
weekend sort of ran its course by Saturday and Sunday, when I finally took some time jus t to look at what
was happening in the House, and I heard the comments to some degree of my colleague the Minister
Wayne Caines.
But it was no surprise to me that Mr. Brannon
had made these comments. Roughly about eight or
nine years ago in response to ei ther an Op- Ed I had
written, or a Letter to the Editor of the Royal Gazette
that touched on what I call racial justice issues, Mr.
Brannon responded by saying, I do not know why
Rolfe Commissiong hates white people. After all, he is
biracial.
That is what was said. I went to the Editor of
the Royal Gazette, and I have got to say that surpri singly, the Editor, Bill Zuill, then banned him from
commenting on that site for a couple of years, I believe. So, this comment was not too surprising at all.
What we need to understand is that Tony Brannon is
not alone.
Let me read something, Mr. Deputy Speaker
from Ms. Marisa Baron. [This] occurred shortly before the election similarly. At first it was denied, maybe it
was somebody, you know, messing with her computer or hacking it if you remember, and denial was the order of the day, as we see with Mr. Bannon [sic] initially—Mr. Brannon I should say.

Yes, okay, thank you.
So, she wrote, “
1Well, not right now,” (in r esponding to someone.) “. . . you black people may
think you run this island. Trust me, your stupidity is laughable. Just because you went into the bushes and
came out with your inbred children ‘to get the votes’ does not mean you ‘run this country.’”
It goes on for another paragraph. I believe
that we could have given Marisa Baron, both of us, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you far more than me, at least 20 to 30 years. But these are the comments you
would think, frankly, were disseminated and were held
quite dearly by persons in the 1940s and 1950s, white Bermudians.
But this was written by someone—a younger
white Bermudian woman— only three years ago or so.
And as someone alluded to now, right now, you have
this furious pushback amongst people on blogs and
commentary sections in support of Mr. Bannon [sic] !

Brannon.


1 Royal Ga zette , 30 June 2017
3388 4 March 2020 Official Hansard Report

Bermuda House of Assembly Mr. Rolfe Commissiong: Mr. Brannon! Same thing!
Bannon is from Trump’s campaign and Brannon is in
Bermuda. The same mentality.
I am glad you brought that up, because there
is a serious issue around this toxic white identity that
has really exploded throughout the west, particularly
in what I call the Anglo- Saxon west, in the UK and in
Trump’s America. Bermuda is no different.
A toxic white identity that revolves around
their unearned privilege that goes back decades and
is even in the modern era of Bermuda’s history. Tony
Brannon epitomises that. I mean, look at the sort of
contempt he showed for black Bermudians. Go back
again to his comments even preceding, I don’t know
why Mr. Commissiong hates white people. After all, he
is biracial. His comments about the fall of Bermuda’s
tourism industry, putting that at the door of the BIU, the PLP I guess, inciting black Bermudians to actually
destroy our tourist industry.
This is the example of toxic white identity that
gets more virulent the more they think their privilege is
being challenged, that the more they think their priv ilege is being lost! Who do they stand up for? This i ndividual, a policeman who had been here for 29 years
or more, his friend, and because the policeman could
not get a ruling, a decision in his favour for him to stay
here another 29 years, Mr. Brannon, of course, point-ed the finger in the direction he usually does, toward
black Bermudians who, in his mind, ar e still ruining
Bermuda. It is interesting, because Mr. Brannon has
had no problem over the years earning a living playing
music with black Bermudians, playing black music and
on and on and on. So, this is really, really, really . . . I
am not even going t o say . . . of course, it is disa ppointing, but it is no surprise.
It does serve a positive . . . a positive . . . how
can I say it? It does serve a positive purpose —a purpose—because it can open the eyes of both black and
white Bermudians, as it did, to w hat time it is in this
country, and how we need to be careful and fight back against this. And I am saying that this is a challenge
for white Bermuda too! They have to stand up and
denounce this with us —their black Bermudian brot hers and sisters!
At the r isk of sounding too Kumbayah here,
whatever —Kumbayah- ish, like blackish and whitish
and mixed- ish, whatever —they, too, need to stand up
and denounce this. They need to be white allies in the
battle for racial justice in this country just as we are!
They wi ll follow the lead of Dr. Barbara Ball, Dorothy
Thompson, David Allen, and in the modern era, the Zane De Silvas, the Hayward- Bells, and the Tina
Nashes.
I do hope . . . and do not get me wrong here. I
hope that Mr. Brannon, although it is hard for me to say this —and I don’t want my people out there to take
this the wrong way. I hope he is serious about finally
after all these years dealing with his racist views on black Bermudians, his attitudes. Anyone that makes those comments is a racist. Not where [som eone
says], Well, I know it is a racist statement ; but I am not
racist . You know what is in my heart. What’s in your
heart came out of your mouth, and it continues, and has been for some time. He has expressed the view, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to go and talk t o Lynne Winfield
and the people at CURB. No, no, no, I am not going
to, at this point, denigrate that. I think that is what
should happen as a first step.
[Inaudible interjections]

Well, I prefaced by saying
that, or I alluded to t hat. Let him go and find the proper path and deconstruct and detoxify again from that image he has in his mind and attitudes toward white
supremacy and black inferiority. And the bottom line is (and I am going out on a limb here) . . . for so many of
them you can talk about Trump and all the rest of
them. This is being passed on from generation to
generation. Let me give you a story, Mr. Deputy
Speaker to illustrate that.
My granddaughter (I referenced this in one of
my articles before the holiday) was goi ng to a pr eschool, four years old or so. She had befriended two white sisters. The two white sisters and my granddaughter got on together famously. They were good
friends. One day the two white sisters said to her, You
know (they called her name—I am not going to call it
here), our parents told us not to play with the black
children.
That is what they told my granddaughter. Not
50 years ago! This was about seven or eight years
ago. But guess what? They really liked my granddaughter. These are good little k ids, these two little
white girls, four years old! They wanted to maintain
the friendship, the relationship with my granddaughter
to such an extent, they then said this. But you know
(and they called her name), you are not black ; you are
brown.
By doing s o, they were able to obey their parents whom they love without the expense of the rel ationship and friendship with my granddaughter. This is
in Bermuda—not 20, 30, 50 years ago. Not my daughter—my granddaughter! Where did they get that at
four years old? F rom their parents.
But let me go a little deeper here. I never had
a chance to meet their parents. But let’s assume just for the exercise, the parents were executives in a m ajor corporation in Bermuda, in IB. What chance does your daughter or your son who went to Harvard, Yale
or wherever, Howard University —who comes back
and is going to be able to get a job there, to be able to
rise and get equal benefits and opportunities, to
achieve great heights within these companies —have
if these people are there hav ing decision- making
powers at the executive level? Come on, now!
If they are having these types of attitudes and
transmitting that to their daughters, what chance, if


Bermuda House of Assembly they are at decision- making levels at major companies
of Bermuda, is your child or my so n going to have at
these companies?
That too, plays a part on why there is still only
one Patrick Tannock, one John Swan deep into the
post-modern era of Bermuda 70 to 80 years after
World War II, 50 to 60 years after the civil rights
movement in Bermuda, why blacks are still a marginal
presence in international business, in Bermuda’s corporate world, at the highest levels.
Four years old.

[Hon. Dennis P. Lister, Jr., Speaker, in the Chair]

Mr. Speaker, my mother
passed away, as we all know here. And I am deeply
appreciative of the expressions of condolence and the
great memories that were conveyed to me by yourself,
Mr. Speaker and everyone over the last few days. But
I think I said something like that in one of the tributes
that they were shadowed by racism from birth to the
grave, I think I said. But they were determined that
this would not be bequeathed to their children.
I am going to close with this. I hope Mr. Bra nnon is listening.
The day I was born, Mr. Speaker, my mother ,
her firstborn child, after childbirth after about four
hours, I guess recuperating, she got up and went to
see her newborn son. (She affectionately called me
Rolfey at the time.) So, she found me and she was
standing there admiring her newborn child, and next
to her was a white woman, right next to her, who had
also given birth around the same time, Mr. Speaker.
The white woman said to my mother, Well, which one
is yours?
And my mother says, Oh, he is right there.
That is my boy right there. Thought no more of it, went
back. More recuperation time, she maybe laid [down]
and slept for another few hours. She got up and came
back to that same place. Rolfey was gone! Could not
find him!

[Laughter and inaudible interjections]