Bermuda bred a generation of "wolves'' by going too far in pushing behaviour boundaries back in favour of individual rights, Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan charged yesterday as he opened a national conference on violence.

"We went too far and now we are paying the price,'' Sir John told the more than 200 people in attendance.

"We rely on organisations like the Police and the courts to control our wolves and to protect us from them,'' he said.

"But in our rush to celebrate the rights of the individual, we destroyed community respect and community trust for organisations like the Police, without which they cannot properly operate.'' Society has "glorified material things'' to such an extent "it respects a rich crook more than a poor honest man'', he said.

The crisis was not a job Government could tackle on its own. It required changes in attitudes.

"We all have to learn to stop wanting to protect the guilty at the expense of the innocent,'' he said.

Bermudians must make it clear that there are boundaries and that when people go too far, they must pay the price.

"We must stop making excuses for those who do go too far,'' he said. "We must break the cycle of violent behaviour, even if the culprits are our loved ones.'' Slides showing newspaper headlines and graphic file photographs of murder victims and bruised and bloodied faces were shown before the eight scheduled speakers took the podium to "Blow the Whistle on Violence'', the theme of the week-long conference.

None disagreed that violence in Bermuda had reached alarming proportions. And all had clear views on how to deal with the explosion of violence.

Miss Zakiah Johnson, 17, a Bermuda College student and youth activist said the threat of violence "always'' clouded youth functions nowadays. Noting just one row of teenagers at the conference, she suggested to organisers: "Young people need to be here as well so we can understand what they are feeling.'' Mrs. Arleen Swan, head of the Physical Abuse Centre shelter and counselling service, noted the centre handled 45 cases of domestic violence in January alone and urged the community to "be a partner'' in blowing the whistle "before another life is lost''.

Ms Margaret Swift, Women's Resource Centre educator, said that of the cases the centre had dealt with, only 62 percent had been reported to Police. She felt this was due in part to the "widely held attitude'' of blaming the victim, especially in sexual assaults.

Mrs. Glenda Edwards, Child and Family Services supervisor, said physical and sexual abuse referrals had doubled in the last few years. Two small children had been beaten to death and there was a disturbing trend of teenage boys being the perpetrators of sexual and physical abuse.

Noting "a strong cultural bias to physically discipline children'', and "unrealistic expectations'' of children, Mrs. Edwards said the 1943 Protection of Children Act needed to be reformed and a bill of rights for children -- laying out a parent's responsibilities -- was also necessary, she said.

"It is amazing how many women accept violence as a normal interaction with male partners,'' she added.

Dr. Edward Schultz, director of the Emergency Room at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, said that since the recession there had been a dramatic increase in assault victims arriving at ER.

And doctors were now seeing more victims of stab wounds and other injuries that showed "real intent to commit a murder''. He said "drastic steps'' were needed before the violence escalated any further.

Noting the recent ER violence involving assaults on patients and attacks on doctors, he said ambulance drivers were now being threatened on 911 calls -- to such an extent bullet-proof vests were now on order for them.

Chief Insp. Jonathan Smith, in charge of recruitment and training for the Bermuda Police Force, said he was open to new "more comprehensive and integrated'' policing methods to tackle rising domestic violence. (See story, Page 2 Lawyer Mr. Marc Telemaque, noting the correlation between violence and the recession, said violence was a symptom and blamed television for the "inappropriate responses'' of many young people today.

In his opening speech, Sir John said the direct cost of violence to the taxpayer was high. But the indirect costs were "by far the biggest price we pay because we pay by becoming less than we were''.

"We are not as open, not as pleasant, not as alive as once we were,'' he said. "Violence imprisons us. It takes away our freedom.'' The Premier noted the average number of violent crimes in the 1970s was about 191 a year. In the 1980s the number went up to 387. "So far in the 1990s, the average number of violent crimes has climbed to 558, nearly three times as many as there were 20 years ago,'' he said.

Sir John said that in the 1960s, "We were taught not to be surprised by or disapproving of people who behaved in extreme ways. I think we probably needed those lessons. We should be understanding and tolerant of others. We should be able to accommodate views different from our own.

"But I think we went too far. In laying so much stress on personal rights, we forgot about society's rights. About our right not to have to live in fear. We have bred a generation of people who do not understand when to stop, who prey on others like wolves.'' More than 200 people, including educators, social workers, medical professionals, Police officers and parents attended the Health and Social Services Ministry-sponsored conference on the first day.