Bermuda Police Service should be given high-tech equipment, including cameras in Police cars, to help fight rising crime and boost the morale of "unsung hero" cops.

That was the message from Shadow Minister of Justice Mark Pettingill in a speech to the House of Assembly last night.

Mr. Pettingill said he had heard there has been progress towards reaching a new pay deal for Police, who have been working without a contract for three years.

However, he cautioned: "Crime is in a 'situation orange' in this country, to use Homeland Security vernacular from our neighbours to the east."

He pointed to statistics showing rocketing robbery and burglary rates.

"It's my very sound information that the morale in the Police force in this country is at a very low ebb. It's a 'code blue' with regards to the situation there," he claimed, citing issues including a lack of manpower, money, and technical support.

It is wrong for an affluent country such as Bermuda not to have the type of technology common in the US and UK such as PDA hand-held computers to assist communications, cameras in the front of cars to protect both suspects and officers from false allegations, and even cameras in officers' helmets," he said.

"Bermuda should lead the way in this," he urged. "This will work. This needs to be considered."

Mr. Pettingill said it was important to highlight the hard work of the Police who are not often thanked.

"Our Police are assaulted, they are spat at, they are cussed out, they are accused of all sorts of things, and the minute a robbery goes down everyone wants the Police. They are unsung heroes," he said.

He went on to call for legislation to force reluctant victims to come forward, citing reports of how last weekend one young man was stabbed six times but refused to tell the Police who the perpetrator was.

"What we need is legislation like in Scotland where people can be summonsed over being assaulted like that and if they refuse to give information they can be subject to prosecution," he said.

Picking up on the issue of crime and punishment, his United Bermuda Party colleague Shawn Crockwell raised concern that child abuse, in particular sexual abuse, may be on the increase.

He called for mandatory minimum sentences for such crimes, claiming that punishments at the moment are "grossly inadequate."

Mr. Crockwell also called for increased resources for counselling prisoners, and a sex offenders register — to let members of the community and law enforcement officials keep tabs on those with such convictions living in the community.

Speaking for the PLP during the debate, Dale Butler urged young Bermudians not to waste opportunities to educate themselves in favour of being sucked into a life of crime.

On this note, he praised the success of the Government-sponsored Mirrors programme, which counsels at risk youths and steers them back onto the straight and narrow.

Party colleague Walter Roban pointed out that many of the Policing issues Mr. Pettingill raised concern over are the responsibility of the Commissioner of Police George Jackson and Governor Sir Richard Gozney, not the Government.

Walter Lister agreed that high technology would be a good thing for the Police, but warned that this is not always feasible in smaller jurisdictions — even within the United States.