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 in our "50th Anniversary Year for 1975 Recruits" article (CLICK HERE to view it.)
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 bumped into Dave and Sylvia Cart in Dubai when the O'Mearas were just finishing a cruise from Singapore while the Carts were just about to embark on the same ship for a cruise heading 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!
Heres 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.