Government needs to finally confront the tougher factors behind the Island’s gang violence problems, MPs claimed in the House of Assembly.Progressive Labour Party backbencher Ashfield DeVent said Bermuda needs a “real dose of honesty” as he implored his party to discuss the impact of drugs amid suggestions of corruption in the police force.One Bermuda Alliance MP Shawn Crockwell said the joint committee on violent crime’s work would come to nothing if Government doesn’t take on some of the tougher recommendations in the group’s report.The report has called for stronger controls within Bermuda Police Service to “negate the corruptive nature of the drug and fraud underworld” and suggested audit controls in the Narcotics Division.Mr DeVent, who sat on the joint select committee, said two years ago he believes there’s corruption in the police, prisons and customs services.Speaking during the debate on violent crime in the early hours of Tuesday, Mr DeVent told the House: “We need to get a real does of honesty. When we talk about gangs, organised crime, in this Country, we have to talk about drugs. That’s what it’s all about.“If there’s officers that are corrupt, it’s all about drugs. Illegal drugs deal with tremendous amounts of money. Tremendous amounts. A million-plus in one capture. It’s a huge issue in this Country.“Thirty years of open drug sales in certain areas that are now described as hot spots.”In response to Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert’s complaint that The Royal Gazette should not have published the Island’s high crime rate on the front page, Mr DeVent said: “I understand his point in one sense, but at the end of the day we have to be really honest about it. In the past, they didn’t want to address drugs because they didn’t want to show the bad side.“It’s just like we did not want to talk about race. Some of those things that dig us in the gut, we don’t want to touch. ‘Let them sell drugs at St Monica’s for 30 or 40 years. Maybe it will go away.’”He said the presence of girls in gangs was also not widely discussed.“Let us not forget girls are carrying these weapons,” he said. “Let us not forget that we have had cases right downstairs here, in which girls were involved in violent attacks on people. Our young people have gone somewhere different.”Girls find the gang leaders attractive because of their power and money, said the Pembroke South East MP.And he was incredulous that the issue of prostitution on Front Street has only recently come to light.“Where have some of us even been? Some gangs support themselves with prostitution and drugs money,” he said.“Poverty fuels a lot of this. The concept that one group of people can have that kind of life and I can’t, but I can if I go the drugs route.“We have talked about gangs, but this needs to be a conversation about the illegal drugs trade in this Country.“Until we begin to address that side of the issue one way or the other, by cutting out the profit, I don’t think the strong arm of the law is going to work.“Unless we look at somehow taking the profit out of drugs, they will continue to kill each other. They will arm themselves better than the police.“It’s going to take every one of us to be honest and be blunt. This is one that we collectively and the Government must take aim at, and we can’t miss because if we miss it’s going to make all of our lives not good.”Pembroke West Mr Crockwell said he agreed with ideas to improve social factors, but said that wouldn’t be enough on its own.“We have had this debate so many times before. The problem is getting worse,” he said.“What we are dealing with and confronting is organised crime in this Country that’s fuelled by simple economics. That is not going to go away by giving someone a hug.“That’s not going to go away by trying to come up with social solutions and programmes.“We have a serious problem that we have collectively in this Country allowed to get out of control. Are we prepared to become uncomfortable enough to really deal with this problem?“If we don’t go through with some of the tougher recommendations then all we are doing is hearing ourselves talk.“Until we drill deep into areas that are not comfortable then we will not solve the problem and it will continue to get worse.”