More than half of those people who died on Bermuda's roads last year tested positive for drink, drugs or both, Police reveal.

Assistant Commissioner Carlton Adams says toxicology reports showed four of the 14 victims had drugs in their systems with four more having both alcohol and drugs present.

"Drinking and drug abuse simply don't go together with driving, and if you must do those things then avoid driving or riding cars or cycles," warned Mr. Adams.

According to the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention, the figures were similar in 2004 and 2005. The organisation has recently launched a free minibus service from Front Street in the early hours of each Saturday in a bid to cut the death toll.

News of the fatal crash statistics came during a press briefing yesterday in which Mr. Adams outlined how crime, including violent crime, rose in the first three months of this year compared to the same period in 2006.

Figures showed 673 offences in total recorded in the period January to March 2007, compared to 589 at the start of last year – an increase of 12 percent.

The beginning-of-the-year figure for violent crime was also significantly up on the same period last year, with 55 recorded at that point in time compared to 72 this year. However, the violent crime figure did decrease in the first quarter of this year compared to the last three months of 2006, with the figures standing at 93 crimes and 72 crimes respectively. Mr. Adams attributed the drop in recent months to reductions in assaults causing grievous bodily harm and wounding.

However, he also noted that robberies were up 16 percent at the start of this year compared to the end of last year, listing a number of knifepoint incidents in Pembroke and Southampton in early January, for which people have since been brought before the courts. Overall, Police have secured convictions in 40 percent of robbery cases this year, said Mr. Adams.

Burglaries were up 12 percent at the start of this year — with 304 recorded so far in 2007 — compared with the end of last year. Mr. Adams blamed the increase on an upswing in residential burglaries, and explained that Police community action teams have been deployed to affected neighbourhoods to work on both prevention and detection.

He stressed that serial offenders were a major issue with this type of crime, stating that of 16 people arrested for burglary so far this year, half had previous convictions for this or other offences of dishonesty.

"These (burglaries) are committed by individuals who convert stolen property into cash to purchase drugs," he said, noting that this property is rarely recovered. "We do intend to focus on recovering stolen goods from those individuals who buy stolen property as a means of saving money. That whole process is adding to the criminality in the community and encouraging those who do it."

He warned that the offence of handling stolen goods attracts a maximum 14-year-sentence at Supreme Court — and also revealed how one hapless pair of criminals approached two off-duty cops recently, offering to sell them stolen goods.

The culprits were apprehended when the officers realised what was going on.