Police commissioner Francis Forbes, who yesterday said the police force was working with the army to come up with a “special” crime-fighting strategy, has expressed satisfaction at Prime Minister PJ Patterson’s announcement that local cops would be receiving technical assistance from Scotland Yard.

“I am very encouraged by the Prime Minister’s statement as we have been in need of the assistance for a long time,’ Forbes told the Observer. “We will be focusing on major crimes.”

The UK-based cops are expected in the island later this month.

In the meantime, discussions are continuing between the island’s security forces.

“We are speaking with the military to see if we can merge and come up with a hybrid strategy to combat the new type of criminal,” Forbes said.

With criminals finding more and more sophisticated ways of breaking the law, it is hoped that the help that the Scotland Yard detectives will provide in teaching local investigators modern forensic techniques and how to more effectively present evidence in court will help boost the island’s conviction rate.

“We are plagued with non-appearance of witnesses so they will assist in collecting evidence and putting evidence together to force a conviction,” Forbes said.

The police have had major cases crumble in recent times because of a lack of evidence and the issue of suspects being freed because fearful witnesses fail to come forward has long plagued the force.

Central Village cops maintain that in one recent case a man, whom the courts ordered released after witnesses failed to show up, later went on to fatally shoot Corporal Warren Smith during an operation in the Big Lane area of the community.

Before being released, Steve Larmond had been in custody for two years while he faced the Gun Court on a double murder charge. Two weeks ago, he was shot in the stomach during an alleged shoot-out with the police and is now under police guard in hospital.

Over the years, there have been calls for citizens to cooperate with the police but these urgings have largely been ignored, overshadowed by witnesses’ concerns about their own personal safety. The absence of one-way mirrors in some lock-ups, as well as cops’ inability to convince sections of the public that information supplied in confidence will not reach the ears of the suspected criminals have also played a major role.

It is unclear exactly how Scotland Yard would help local cops overcome these hurdles as government seeks additional help in curbing the spiralling crime levels evidenced by the more than 900 murders across the island so far this year.