Premier Alex Scott last week said he would be delivering a major speech on initiatives to stop the rising tide of crime.

On Wednesday night, as promised, he delivered the speech and the general public could be forgiven for feeling a little let down. The speech was long on sentiment, but short on specifics.

This may be because the Government does not want to interfere with ongoing or future operations by the Police, but nonetheless, the public, like Opposition Leader Wayne Furbert, will be left wondering where the beef was.

Mr. Scott did lay out a convincing argument for why crime and gang-related activity must be stopped. He quite eloquently described how he had been to enough funerals of young people already and did not wish to go to any more.

And he rightly linked crime to the disaffection felt by a number of primarily young black men who feel alienated from mainstream society. A crackdown on wrongdoers simply treats the symptoms of the disease and does not provide the cure. What is needed is a lasting solution.

That’s all fine, and in line with most mainstream thinking, although it must always be noted that there are some criminals in the community who are too dangerous, and too far gone, and no amount of social work is going to change that.

Mr. Scott touched on one crime-fighting initiative which will see a higher Police presence in trouble spots and he pledged that those people who break the law will be prosecuted and dealt with.

The other aspect was less well drawn out, but seems to be aimed at using Social Services and other agencies, including the Police, to turn around young people who are not yet serious offenders.

But there was very little detail on how this will be accomplished or on where the funding will come from.

As Mr. Furbert noted in an Opposition statement on crime yesterday, Mr. Scott did not touch on education in his speech, and that’s too bad, because it is clear that a lack of educational attainment contributes to the feeling of alienation among some young people.

Government has been quietly fleshing out some of the programmes, with Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton making use of the services of US gang experts to find ways to stop the activities of gangs before they destroy the Island’s social fabric entirely.

Clearly, other Ministers, including Attorney General Sen. Larry Mussenden, are thinking hard about what needs to be done.

No one should dismiss the rise in crime as being exaggerated or blown out of proportion. Jason Lightbourne’s murder and the shootings of four more people in the last three months represents a serious problem for this small community.

It has already been stated that publicity about the shootings could damage the tourism industry and international business. “Regular” Bermudians have also told The Royal Gazette that for the first times in their lives they are afraid to go out on the streets. Intentionally or otherwise, young people committing crimes are behaving like terrorists because they are preventing ordinary, law-abiding citizens from behaving normally.

Premier Scott seems to get this, and there is no doubting his sincerity and determination to put an end to crime and the drugs trade that helps to propel it. In that sense this is not a false start as we have seen too often in the past.

But he and his Government need to put flesh on the bones of the general principles that he described on Wednesday night, and they need to do it quickly if they want to make a difference.