The proceeds of ill-gotten gains due to the illicit drug trade is the key focus of new legislation bound for the House of Assembly when Parliament resumes later today.National Security Security Minister Wayne Perinchief will table legislation that clears the legal path for police to seize the “bling” and other valuables derived from drug dealing and other related crimes in Bermuda.The Minister announced that the Proceeds of Crime Amendment Act 2012 will be tabled in the Lower House at a press conference yesterday.“Too many people are encouraged into the gang activity simply for the proceeds of crime — the money, the cars, the cash,” said Mr Perinchief.“We must remove that and this legislation seeks to do that.” The subject is likely to trigger more debate and decisions on how to combat the culture of antisocial behaviour by a “small segment” of the community.“You must take away the proceeds of crime, the being, the glitter, the gloss that goes with gang behaviour. Once they’re in they must know that the big stick is coming.”When asked if real estate, land and houses will also be up for grabs, the Minister said that too is an area under scrutiny.“I asked my draftsmen, and they assured me that in this phased process cash proceeds will be dealt with first. The second phase, deals with the ‘bling’ — real property short of real estate.“Real estate seems to be tied up in all sorts of entanglements such as deeds and third party rights that are enshrined in the British legal system.“It’s a very serious issue, however, there are parts of the criminal code that can cause real estate to be taken. And you must keep in mind that the seizure of property at this stage can be before there’s a conviction for a crime.“The police may seize and hold the property until the owner comes up with invoices, and can prove that the property belongs to them.”When asked by The Royal Gazette to speak to the broader core issues, for instance, a mother who is unemployed with a son who also unemployed who brings home money from dealing drugs. What’s the alternative if the family has to eat but no one is working legitimately?Mr Perinchief replied: “You have hit the nail on the head as to the underlying reasons, some of the reasons why people get into illicit conduct and they need to get cash to support their lifestyle.“However, there is social assistance, there are many other means of sustenance for people who get into financial problems.“For too long we as a community have turned blind eye to illicit behaviour as to where the BMW came from and the sharp young lady who is only 18-years-of age got the assets to buy that BMW.“Now we find that there is a very strong illicit economy operating in this country to the detriment of some of our institutions.“People are being corrupted due to taking illicit income, so I accept that there are underlying social causes that have to be fixed, that’s the big picture.“The big conversation that we need to have with each other to which I allude to in this paper, not simply legislation, but a lot of social constructs and strategies.“Our inter agency task force deals with a lot of that, looking at families and trying to rehabilitate the entire family to uplift and remove them from the need to have illicit cash as a means of support.”But it was clear there have been differences between the Minister and the Bermuda Police Service (BPS) on how best to deal with gang related crime.Mr Perinchief said: “While I have pressed for more vigorous enforcement of the law, the Commissioner (Michael DeSilva) has similarly cautioned me in my exuberance to have gangs and the hard-core gang members dealt with to say we have to do it within a certain legal and civil sensitive framework.“I’m old school as you know. BPS has been more subtle, they choose to use other means of arrest and incarceration.”He was quick to point out: “So far they haven’t had to confront an armed criminal and low and behold the day when a policeman has to shoot a young man who has a gun in his hand.“That to me would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and no doubt we will see that.”On a broader level he said the “solutions begin at home”.“Other initiatives are at the drafting stage. The men and women committing these crimes are our sons and daughters. We know them. In some cases they live under our roof. One of the troubling aspects of some of the recent happenings is that the suspects are not in fact known to the police.“They do not figure in any gang intelligence and have not attracted the attention of the police prior to their involvement in a serious crime. That is not a failure of the police, but it is our failure as members of the wider community.“We must look inside our own homes and open our eyes to what is going on. There must be consequences for unacceptable behaviour.“An analysis of many of these serious crimes indicates that random attacks are incredibly rare. This means that we must tell our young people that their involvement in this destructive lifestyle makes them targets. The cycle can only be broken if we prevent lifestyle choices that lead to serious crime.”