Within hours of the Police reporting the worst rate of violent crime in eight years, the Island received more evidence of the problem when two men escaped after being interrupted in the course of a robbery.

Both men, one of whom was reported to have been armed, are still on the loose.

Fortunately in this case no one was injured. But the Police took the incident seriously enough that Somersfield Academy had to be locked down when the men made their escape near Devonshire Marsh.

And the search continues. It begs the question of whether the current and already severe penalties for firearms are a sufficient deterrent. More importantly, the fact that a number – although far from all – of high profile crimes remain unsolved, means that offenders may believe that they will not be caught at all, let alone charged or convicted.

This cannot be entirely placed at the feet of the Police, who are dependent on witnesses coming forward with information – a notoriously difficult problem in a community in which, no matter how many people die, there is a reluctance to "snitch" on others.

Some Police initiatives do seem to be paying dividends notably the Safer Streets operation, which may actually be responsible for the higher number of crimes reported in the first quarter.

But there is also clearly a need for more Police on the streets. This newspaper remains unconvinced that staff shortages are the whole problem, although they contribute to it.

But there still seem to be a great many officers in support roles who could be on the streets or on the front lines of crime prevention and detection.

Turnover, especially of senior officers with years of experience, remains too high as well.

Of course, there are deeper problems as well. No one should suggest that all crimes in Bermuda are committed by young black men, but they continue to make up the greatest proportion.

Government relaunched its study into black males last year with Professor Ronald Mincy leading the research. The study, which will cost $400,000, is not expected to be completed for another year. While rushing a project of this kind can be dangerous, it is not at all certain that Bermuda can wait that long.

Last year, activist Sheelagh Cooper noted that studies around the world had shown that the wider the wealth gap between rich and poor became, the more low income males were likely to commit violent crime.

"We have seen this gap grow exponentially over the last few years along with the increases in violent and predatory crime," she said then.

And she noted too that low income families, primarily black, were under stress. "We have to address the economics of the situation which lies at the root of all this turmoil."

Ms Cooper is surely right. While this newspaper is reluctant to "blame society" for the upsurge in crime, there can be no doubt that poor education, family breakdown and an ever increasing emphasis on material things is contributing to it, along, of course with the prevalence of drugs.

Solving the problem requires a multi-faceted approach. We need more emphasis on crime detection and prevention now. But we also need to do more with programmes like Mirrors and drug rehabilitation, including the prisons.

And we need to do much more in education and job training to convince potential offenders that crime will not pay and honest behaviour will.