Gun crime has “gone viral” while murders, robberies and sexual assaults have doubled since this time last year.

Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva said while crime overall is at a five-year low, firearms incidents are rapidly increasing and spreading beyond the usual Pembroke hot spots.

“I think the modern term is ‘going viral’. It’s no longer limited to certain areas, it’s becoming perhaps more random than we saw last year,” he said.

“But the players are the same, and the issues are the same, so we are still not at the point where we have really lost control of the community.

“I know that I’ll get criticised for (saying) that one. It seems like we have. It feels like we have.

“But this is just a clash of gangs and gang members over very different issues which you would need to be a sociologist to understand, and we are grappling with the enforcement side of it.”

His comments came yesterday as he released the latest crime and arrest figures from the Bermuda Police Service.

They show there were 34 confirmed firearms incidents so far this year, up until June 30. That almost matches the total of 37 for the whole of 2009. Among those incidents are six murders and dozens more injuries.

Crime overall dropped by 23 percent during the months of April, May and June compared to the same quarter last year. That’s the lowest figure for more than five years, and Mr. DeSilva said it was mainly due to a significant drop in property crime (see separate story.)

Police activity in combating drugs, conducting searches and making arrests is at a record high.

However, murders doubled from two to four offences, robberies doubled from 14 to 28, and sexual assaults almost doubled from nine to 17.

Mr. DeSilva said: “Our detection rate has increased significantly in the first two quarters of this year and but we still have a distance to go.”

He revealed that 14 people were arrested in the past three months for murder, and 13 for firearm offences. And, he said, public assistance is on the rise and leading to more cases coming before the courts.

There are currently three men facing charges of murder and six facing allegations of attempted murder.

However, a poll conducted by Mindmaps for this newspaper earlier this month showed crime remains Bermuda’s number one concern.

Mr. DeSilva said: “The fear of crime is understandable. It’s a realistic fear based on the gun crime, and that’s the one that poses the greatest risk to public safety.

”I’m not going to sit here and profess or claim a victory that all other crime is down. But all other crime is down. And that’s why we try as best as possible to add some perspective to the numbers.”

He believes there is increased public confidence in the Police since he committed, last December, to “emptying” Prospect Police headquarters in Devonshire.

”We’ve got every last available Police officer on the beat in the troubled communities — that’s where they’re required — and I don’t have the evidence to back this up, but certainly the feedback we get in those areas is a lot of confidence in the public, a lot of satisfaction that we’ve turned up our profile in those areas,” he said.

The Commissioner thanked the public who have helped so far, including those who have had the courage to take the stand at court, and urged them to continue to come forward.