BERMUDA could better deal with its beggar problem by identifying the homeless and establishing practical ways in which to care for them, the head of a charity devoted to caring for the downtrodden believes.

While acknowledging that panhandlers in the city were becoming more and more aggressive - largely due to drug and alcohol abuse - Fern Wade, founder and co-ordinator of the Hands of Love Mission, insisted that sending them to prison was not the answer.

Work incentive programmes, community education schemes and even identification labels were better solutions, she said.

"It's important to make them feel good - after all, they are people, too," she said. "They suffer from substance abuse - liquor and all the legal and illegal drugs. Naturally, they just give up and resort to begging.

"The people who have the solutions are the beggars themselves, we should talk with them. It's just a few but they're becoming so obvious; they're more brazen. Before, you would see them and know they were drunk, but they wouldn't bother anybody.

"Now they're coming right up to your face. We need to deal with it. Prison is not the answer. Every time (a beggar goes) to prison, it's the taxpayers who pay."

Corporation of Hamilton Secretary Roger Sherratt last week said he had been besieged by complaints from tourists and members of the public, hassled by a handful of beggars who routinely roamed the City's streets demanding cash.

It was a problem, he admitted, especially as there was little the Corporation could do outside of letting the police take over.

"We only have a few beggars and I know most of them personally," he said. "The biggest problem, without exception, is that they are drug addicts. I really believe that people believe they will use the money for coffee or food, but that's not true. They're using the money for drugs.

"The Corporation's responsibilities are set down by an Act of Parliament. We don't have a social services department with psychologists and psychiatrists and social workers, and we wouldn't be allowed to spend the taxpayers' money on social programmes even if we had them. We're not allowed to under the law. It doesn't mean we don't have a social conscience."

Mrs. Wade expressed concerns that the Corporation appeared only interested in removing the beggars from City streets. This, she pointed out, would only lead them to congregate in another area.

"We understand that begging should be discouraged from all streets in the City," she said. "If we chase them out of Front Street they will go to different areas. We will always have beggars with us; we'll always have the poor with us.

"Not everybody's employed. Not everyone is employable. The guys have social problems; they have mental problems and we have to deal with the problems they have. It's important to make them feel good. They are people too.

"One of my suggestions would be to implement a three-strike system. We can link beggars with a restaurant which agrees to be responsible for giving (them) a sandwich and something hot to drink in the morning and a sandwich and something to drink at lunch. When the beggar receives food, the restaurant will check off their name to say they've had something to eat and drink.

"If the beggar is caught asking for money, (he) will be responsible for catching other beggars. They know the tricks of the trade, so let's use a beggar to catch other beggars. After three strikes, the beggar will be banned from the restaurant and made responsible for collecting cans and bottles off the street for one week.

"When they can show they have collected four bags of bottles and other trash, the Corporation of Hamilton would give them $5, but they must collect at least four bags of trash. That will give them some incentive too; they've got $5 that they earned. They didn't beg for it. It's not a hand out, it's a hand up."

A community programme needed to be established, Mrs. Wade added, so that visitors and members of the public were made aware that they were not obliged to give and that they should report such incidents to the police.

"Once a beggar has been reported, the police will go to the restaurant and that beggar will lose another week of food," she said.

A beggars' tent, where individuals could ply their trades, sell artwork and receive meals was another idea.

"I'd like to set up a place where anyone can come. I don't discriminate - however, they would know that if they continued to beg, they would suffer the consequences.

"Another suggestion I have - which I realise is very degrading - is to sew a sign on their chests which says, 'I am a beggar, please do not feed me.' In order to get it off, they would have to earn it. The penalty, if it's taken off or goes missing, would be that the beggar would have to pay for its replacement. It would then be placed on the back of their shirt or jacket and made larger."

Mr. Sherratt said the Corporation was not attempting to "sweep the matter under the carpet" or push the beggars to another part of the island. While he agreed that Mrs. Wade's ideas were good ones, he said many had already failed because the beggars were interested in drugs, not food or shelter.

A day care centre, located on Parsons Road, which provided beggars' food, television and a place to relax, failed four years ago due to lack of interest, and while the Savation Army offered hot meals nightly, Hamilton's most persistent beggars were never in attendance.

"I know personally of a restaurant that already offers guys who are begging the opportunity to do cleaning jobs. Ted Powell at the Spot restaurant already does that. It's the sort of thing that sounds like a very good idea and I actually said to one of our most persistant beggers that if they wanted to go to the Spot and have a meal, I was willing to give my name to the manager and pay his bills. The beggar told me that he didn't like the cuisine they served there."

Investigations into a system tested by cities elsewhere, enabling beggars to receive food, coffee and soft drinks in exchange for vouchers, met with little success, he added.

"We've been in touch with cities, many of which had as their initial reaction that (the programme was) working successfully. But then I called (again) and was told it didn't serve any purpose at all. It was very expensive to maintain. Berkeley, California said they had abandoned the programme. Here in Bermuda, because the main beggars are drug users, they're not going to accept a voucher for a cup of coffee if they can get cash from a visitor."

Encouraging visitors to report intimidating beggars was another good idea, he said.

"But how many visitors are going to stay here and go through a long court process? I think they'll want to go away as quickly as they can after being accosted. I don't know whether people realise how seriously (such incidents) affect their victims."

Mr. Sherratt said he would be happy to discuss options with any agency or individual.

Let's sit down and discuss problem says Fern: Insight, page 5