Court was "probably two months'' away from being set up.

And he suggested the Drug Court will go a long way to combating drug use among residents.

The comments came as Mr. Warner granted bail to Steven Gayous Berkeley who admitted breaking into two Dockyard stores recently.

The Sandys Parish man will return to court in April when probation officers will produce a report for Mr. Warner to consider before Berkeley is sentenced for breaking into Neptune Cinema on January 23 and Beethoven's Restaurant on February 9.

Berkeley, 33, said nothing outside of entering his guilty pleas but his lawyer, Larry Scott argued at length against him being remanded in custody until he is sentenced.

In the end, Mr. Warner released Berkeley on $1,500 bail with one surety and he must report to Somerset Police Station three times a week.

Crown Counsel Cindy Clarke told the court Berkeley was arrested after a security guard alerted an off duty prison officer about a suspicious man shortly after 9.30 p.m. on February 9.

When Berkeley realised he was being watched, he dropped a cash register from the store and ran off, but was caught a short time later by Police.

Once in custody, he admitted smashing a window at the restaurant and entering, then making off with the register.

Berkeley freely admitted he had broken into the cinema ticket office and trying, unsuccessfully, to crack a floor safe.

When the break in was reported, Police noted that a hole had been punched through with a chisel and the culprit had cut himself in the process and was unable to get any money.

Berkeley held he did the break-ins to support his drug habit.

Mr. Scott told Mr. Warner: "What we have here is what is a classic case for the Drug Court.

"He's a young man with an enormous amount of support from family and the officer investigating the case,'' Mr. Scott continued. "No money was stolen in this case and he has never been before the courts for something like this.

"They are looking to get him into treatment. What you don't have, sir, is someone coming back and forth to the courts.'' But Mr. Warner replied: "I hear you Mr. Scott, and the Drug Court is probably two months down the road and a lot of places could be broken into by then.'' Later, Mr. Warner said: "You know, Bermuda is still a relatively safe place.

The vast amount of crime when you look at the statistics comes from breaking and entering and theft.

"If you look further you'll see that 90 percent are related to drugs,'' he continued. "The policy is common sense to combine treatment with the other role of protection of the public.

"Furthermore, we recognise that these are otherwise good people who are doing this because of a compulsion from drugs. Until we get (Berkeley's) drug problem fixed we still have the problem of security.'' He added: "No disrespect to your client, but every day I deal with this and I'm confident that when I release people, they go right out and do it again.

"It's Friday too?'' Mr. Warner concluded. "A party weekend, go out and do it and get arrested and be back before me on Tuesday.

"You know, the saddest thing is that they do want help... They do! But they have no control (over it). Their families can take them there and they can walk right back out. The evidence shows that only a mandated treatment programme works.''