Border-protection concerns rise as country struggles to find suitable manpower

HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC):

Bermuda's Customs Department is struggling to fill more than 20 vacancies as recruits continue to fail an entrance exam, even though standards have been lowered.

Collector of Customs Winniefred Fostine-DeSilva told a joint parliamentary select committee on violent crime and gun violence that protecting the island's borders was difficult without the required manpower.

"At the present time, we have 20-something vacancies. That means we now have to assign staff based on the numbers. It is hard to control your borders if you are 20 people short."

Fostine-DeSilva told a meeting of the bipartisan committee held in public that young Bermudians applying to become customs officers were failing the entrance test, even when given it a week before the exam.

"The pass mark was 70 at one point," she said. "We dropped it to 60. It's an indictment on our education system. Basic reading and writing skills are not there."

She said college graduates could not even make the grade and not just those who attended university in the United States.

She said a recent recruitment drive drew 236 applications for 12 positions, but that it was impossible to fill even eight of the posts.

"Applicants fail the entrance exam," she said. "Clearly, the education system has failed us."

She added: "They fail drug tests and psychometric tests."

Assistant Collector William Pearman said psychoanalytical tests unearthed various problems showing candidates were unsuitable, including clinical psychosis.