people come here from troubled urban areas of the United States and are very attracted by a trouble-free vacation. When they do not get that vacation, they are doubly disappointed. If you go to a resort which is known not to be very safe and you have trouble, then you can blame yourself because you have taken a chance. If you leave an unsafe environment and visit a place to have a carefree vacation because of its reputation for safety, and you have a nasty experience, you could be very angry.

Expensive resorts, and Bermuda is an expensive resort, have to offer people a special experience because of the high price. Part of what Bermuda has offered is safety both in the hotels and on the streets. That safety has gone along with other things, including a warm welcome which we do not offer as readily as we once did. Add to that the fact that Bermuda cannot guarantee that a vacation will be free of labour dispute disruption, and you have a real problem. People who spend top dollar for a vacation want that vacation to be comfortable. If it is not, they go home and spread the word to friends and relations that Bermuda is a place to stay away from.

Bermuda has a reputation for safety to live up to and right now it does not seem to be doing that. It is no wonder that the Ministry of Tourism and people in the hotel industry are concerned.

The Hon. Michael Winfield of Cambridge Beaches is quoted as saying: "I think this is maybe one of the most serious situations facing Bermuda today and we have got to stamp it out fast.'' The livelihood of all Bermudians is at stake. People bent on crime too often see visitors as easy prey. Because visitors think Bermuda is safe, they are not as careful to lock up as Bermudians are. Since they are relaxed and on vacation they tend not to be as cautious about their possessions as they might be at home. Visitors are also less likely to be able to identify a culprit and might not come back to Bermuda to testify in any subsequent court case. All of that makes them subjects for thieves.

There is no fast solution to the causes of crime. However, there is preventive action and it may be that Bermuda will have to assist the hotels to police their premises in order to keep visitors safe. It is clear that the certainty of arrest and conviction are strong deterrents to crime.

We have to notice that a 31 year-old man had a sentence for breaking into a Coral Beach cottage suspended. Exposed as it is to a public access beach, Coral Beach Club has had trouble for some time. We must think that a suspended sentence for a mature man who was convicted after being seen inside a cottage committing a robbery, is very light. It may well be a sentence the Crown should appeal.

Solutions to crime are not easy since the origins of crime rest in complex sociological factors. Economic problems breed crime just as drugs breed crime and Bermuda has not had an easy time with either these past few years. We think the Hon. John Irving Pearman was correct when he said that during the '70s and '80s young people did not develop job skills because it was easy to get a non-skilled job in a booming Bermuda and earn plenty of money. Of course, when the going got the slightest bit tough the unskilled were the first to suffer.