JAMAICA might seek the extradition of fugitive Harold Crooks, the former commandant of the Island Special Constabulary Force (ISCF), who is suspected to be holed up in Bermuda after fleeing the island to escape trial for alleged sexual molestation of an underaged girl.

Police yesterday refused to rule out making an extradition request or contacting Interpol to locate Crooks whose lawyer said he had fled Jamaica, claiming that he had no confidence in the justice system.

"We are very optimistic. We are going to make every effort to get him... even if it means extradition," head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), Deputy Superintendent Herfa Beckford told the Observer.

Beckford said Crooks was not yet out of the woods, despite his departure from the island and that local cops would "pull out all the stops" to bring him before the courts.

Highly placed Observer sources said last night that Crooks is the holder of an American passport -- and therefore a US citizen -- which could complicate the matter, given that Jamaica is currently embroiled in an extradition dispute with the United States over Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, the Tivoli Gardens strongman who is wanted there on charges of alleged gun and drug trafficking.

The Jamaican Government says it is not handing over Coke because the US illegally intercepted his phone conversation as the basis for the evidence against him. The administration is demanding more evidence before signing the extradition treaty.

Jamaica has extradition treaties with the United States, Britain, Canada and other countries in the Caribbean Community (Caricom) region.

Police suspect that Crooks sneaked out of the island on March 17, a day before he was scheduled to be interrogated by investigators at CISOCA's Ruthven Road headquarters in Kingston.

He is suspected of first entering the US, before eventually moving on to Bermuda, the affluent British enclave 693 miles southeast of New York.

"We are making some inquiries and we are getting useful information as to his whereabouts," the source said.

On Tuesday, Crooks' attorney, Vincent Wellesley, said his client had protested his innocence, expressed his lack of faith in the island's justice system and vowed he would not return to Jamaica.

"He said he is an old man and that if he is convicted he will die in prison," the attorney said.

But executive director of Jamaicans for Justice, Carolyn Gomes said while Crooks might have a point about the shortcomings of the justice system, his decision to flee the country was wrong.

"Unfortunately, there may be some justification but it is not an adequate excuse for running away," Dr Gomes said.

Crooks is a former security advisor to the Government of Jamaica and has also worked with the United Nations and the Government of Belize.

He spent 22 years as a member of the Island Special Constabulary Force, an auxiliary of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.