2025 is a special year for our colleagues who joined the Bermuda Police during 1975 because at some point this year those who are still with us will be celebrating their 50th Anniversary since signing on to the join the Police Service.
The first intake of 1975 occurred on 3rd February when, according to Police records six experienced officers from the UK arrived on Island. These were Paul Cranage, David Adams, Peter Giles, Alastair Dellanzo, David Cart and Peter Gimson.
They were closely followed on 4th February by a further nine experienced UK officers - Ian Kittle, John Wright, Alan Cleave, Gerald ‘Gerry’ Benson, Angus MacDonald, Alan Smith , Stephen Smedley, Graham Alderson and Michael “Mick” Ross.
These young men all attended the same Induction Course as shown in the photo below, then off they went to their various Divisions.
All of the March recruits attended Basic Training Course No. 19 held from March – June 1975.
Following the above two intakes, recruitment slowed down for the rest of the year, with just Etoile Wilson joining on 26th April as a civilian, Earlston Thompson on 8th October as a constable, and one very special civilian, Brenda Johnson, who joined us on 8th December.
So, in all we had 35 constables plus 2 civilians join during 1975.
Of those recruits from 1975 no less than 6 have written excellent articles for our “Then and Now” column which you can view here on our website, and all you need to do is click on their names under the photos below
Sadly, we've lost a few of our 1975 intake including Alan Smith, Dave Adams, Graham Alderson and Bob Anthony.
Alan Smith passed away in July 2015 (No photo available)
Dave Adams passed away in May 2020 (No photo available)
Graham Alderson passed away on 1st June 2024. We heard the sad news from his daughter that he passed away after long illness. Graham is pictured below with his colleagues in the Scenes of Crime Department where he spent much of his service.
UPDATES ON WHO IS WHERE AND WHAT ARE THEY DOING THESE DAYS!
Last month we received the following information from Paul Cranage about his arrival on Island:-
Dave Cart and I celebrate our 50 years “On de Rock” next month.
Fifteen of us joined the Service on 3rd and 4th February, 1975, and Dave and I are the last two still here. The remainder ventured further afield and sadly to my knowledge, Alan Smith, Dave Adams and Graham Alderson have transferred to the ‘Beat above!’
I’m still in touch with Gerry Benson as we were both Leeds City lads (later to become West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police in 1974 due to local government reorganisation and amalgamations).
I was Dave Cart’s Best man at his wedding and he reciprocated to be mine. Audrey and I are god parents to Dave and Sylvia’s three children, Helen, Melissa and Andrew. We remain the best of friends.
Dave, Sylvia, Audrey and I will be having a celebratory lunch on the 3rd and no doubt will have a few snaps for the album. I will be sure to send you one!!
We have since received the following photo from Paul and Dave. As most of you will know, Paul spent much of his career in Marine Section, but he’s now lagging way behind Dave in the number of hours spent at sea, because Dave and Sylvia are great fans of taking cruiseship holidays, and I’m trying to persuade Dave to put pen to paper and let us know where he and Sylvia have been on their travels around the globe, and maybe offer some advice on cruises not to be missed. When he not cruising the oceans Dave is keeping active cruising around Belmont Golf Course with the Bermuda Senior Golfers, and he's also active as Treasurer of our Beruda Ex-Police officers Association
Sylvia & Dave Cart and Audrey & Paul Cranage EDITORS NOTE -
We would be very interested to hear from all of the above who are still with us to hear where you are and what you’re doing these days, and we would be delighted if you could also send us a fairly recent photo of yourself, perhaps with your family.
We have heard that our good friend and colleague, "Fast Eddie" Davies has really gone to the dogs of late although we he claims he can still keep pace with the family of greyhounds he and Irene have adopted. What an appropriate choice of dogs"!
2nd March 2025
Hola from Dave and Jan O'Meara
Young P.C. Dave O'Meara
We’ve just heard from Dave O’Meara who is one of the 35 police officers recruited back in 1975 and who this year will be celebrating his 50th Anniversary of joining the Bermuda Police, as we reported above.
As reported above, Dave attended Basic Training Course # 19 held between March and June 1975, after which he was posted to Central (Hamilton) for just over a year before being transferred to Operations (Traffic). In 1981 he made the moved to Narcotics, where, as he writes below, it was perhaps the best time during his police career and a “real eye opener” on the daily drug problems Bermuda was going through. Dave later spent several years in Drug Intelligence, and he retired after 25 years service in August 2000.
Dave has brought us up-to-date on what he did after retiring from the Police, and I think it’s fair to say that he and Jan are “cruising” through life living in Spain, playing lots of golf, and cruising around the world about as often as another of his former colleagues, Dave Cart, who is also celebrating his 50th Anniversary of joining the BPS. By coincidence, Dave and Jan have even met up with Dave and Sylvia Cart in Dubai when the O'Mearas were just finishing a cruise to Singapore while the Carts were just about to embark on the same ship for a cruise to Singapore.
Dave and Jan O'Meara meet up with Sylvia and Dave Cart in Dubai
As pointed out in the article we published earlier this year about the 1975 intake, only two of those 35 young officers have retired and remained on Island – Dave Cart and Paul Cranage and their wives.
EDITORS NOTE - There’s no question that with all this travelling around the globe, the two Dave’s should write a comprehensive guide for Bermuda police officers planning on taking a cruise!
Here's the email we received from Dave:-
Hola, As Roger pointed out, I among others joined the Bermuda Police Force back in 1975, in my case on the 1st March 1975 which seems a very long time ago. I was lucky enough to have already been working in Bermuda since February 1973 in construction and decorating work. I joined because the company I was then employed with had been told by Bermuda Immigration that my working contract would not be renewed due to a downsize in the construction field and I would have to leave the island. I won’t dwell on that but I must say life within the force was a lot different from outside.
My first days were with class 19 learning how to be a Police Officer with the rest of the class who were from Bermuda, the UK and the Caribbean islands. Friends were made and much was learned as the weeks moved along and passing out day arrived and the real work began. The months rolled into years and during that time I was posted to central uniform duties, then traffic division and perhaps the best time period for me, working in Narcotics. This was a real eye opener on the daily drug problems Bermuda was going through. Long, long days with little or no thanks for the hard work we were expected to do trying to stop the flow of drugs into the island and more so on the streets of the island. I also did a few years in the Drug Intelligence office within Special Branch before I retired in August 2000, after 25 years.
After the Police, working in the civilian sector was totally different, much more relaxed, as my work as head of security and facility manager for a large international Acccounting Firm, saw me carrying out work without having to first submit a report(s) on what needed doing and how and who to do it first and most importantly, the cost. I was told “don’t need this paperwork, get on with it and tell me when it’s done“. Ten years flew by, and it was decided by my wife Jan and myself to retire full time and we decided to move to Spain to spend our retirement there. Bermuda had become far too expensive to live in let alone while living on just a retirement/pension.
In Spain, life was much more tranquil and less expensive as we fulfilled our dreams of still living in the sun, playing golf often while also being able to travel and explore not only Spain but much of Europe and the far East as these parts of the world were still unexplored by us. Cruising on cruise ships also became a source of enjoyment for us and a super way to see the world, and to date we have 23 cruises under our belt and the next cruise is already booked for later on this year.
As for the recruits I joined the Police with, although still friends with a few still living in Bermuda, I have not kept up with the others as they moved on with their lives. The Ex Bermuda Police website is a great source of news to us and keeps us up to date on friends still in Bermuda. The Polce Force I joined has now become a Police Service, with a new Police station to replace the old one on Parliament Street and was badly needed even when I joined the service, and it also gives us other news on old friends and their new lives around the world. A big well done to Roger and the rest of the staff who undertake this service.
Jan and Dave O'Meara in Split, Croatia - 2024
Photo of both of us was taken in Split, Croatia mid 2024 whilst on a visit to that part of the world. We enjoyed the country very much and look forwards to returning.