Bermuda's once shining reputation as safe and tranquil island paradise is being undermined by the continued proliferation of violent crime.

Year end crime statistics released yesterday by the Bermuda Police Service reveal a 13 percent increase in violent crime from 2003 and a more-than 20 percent increase from 2002.

Nevertheless, there has been a 14 percent decrease in overall levels of crime compared to 2003, largely because of a marked downturn in instances of petty crime such as breaking and entering and vehicle theft.

At a Press conference at Police headquarters at Prospect yesterday, Commissioner Jonathan Smith blamed the sustained growth in gang-related activities for the alarming statistics.

“The violent crime figures are above those we have experienced during the last three years,” he said.

“Much, if not all of this can be attributed to ongoing gang violence and rivalries where we've seen organised raids by gangs into rival neighbourhoods. These assault offences sometimes involve extreme acts of violence and frequently involve the use of offensive or prohibited weapons. Our response to this has been to rapidly employ resources to the affected areas, to gather available evidence and make the arrest where it is possible to do so.

“Our serious crime unit has been tasked with leading many these investigations and we have had to draw in members of staff from other areas of the service to assist them. We have very deliberately put additional resources into these investigations in order to reduce the opportunities for re-offending and serious assault offences. We have also been very deliberate in recommending to the Director of Public Prosecutions that objections to bail be raised at the earliest opportunity in court and as a result we've seen a positive crime reduction where violent criminals have been incarcerated.”

The Commissioner also called for greater effort on the part of the community to address the root causes of gang violence. “It is clearly a multi-faceted issue when one talks about the actual causes of crime,” he said.

“From an enforcement stand point, one of the things that is clearly working is an increased objection to bail.The offender cannot re-offend if he is incarcerated. This is not unique to Bermuda, but is well established in law enforcement and is a tactic that now simply has to be employed. Longer term issues involve continued dialogue between Police and gang members - and although a lot of effort is being made in the community, I'd certainly like to see more.”

Meanwhile, there were 958 drug seizures in 2004 - amounting to a total street value of approximately $12.5 million. And while paying tribute to customs officials and narcotics officers for their “hard work in this very difficult area of drug detection and enforcement”, Commissioner Smith said the Island was under attack from drug barons, who were targeting “every conceivable means” to smuggle drugs past authorities.

Furthermore, despite there being 154 fewer cases of breaking and entering in 2004 compared to the previous year, he argued the link between burglary and drug dependency was still strong.

And in a somewhat pointed remark aimed at the Department of Corrections, he suggested the problem would never be properly dealt with until addicts receive more effective treatment in prison.

“The stark reality is that drug dependency continues to be very strongly associated with this particular type of crime,” he said.

“It is difficult if not impossible to project with any degree of certainty how long these declines - in property crime in particular - will be sustained. Prior offenders will eventually emerge from the corrections environment and unless their addictive tendencies have been satisfactorily addressed then the risk of re-offending remains high. I'm not saying anything new or anything those in the justice system and the corrections environment don't already know. It is just one of the complexities and one of the realities that we have to deal with: that law enforcement is just one component of an overall strategy to deal with drug-induced offending.

“But the public clearly has a role to play,” he concluded. “I'd like to thank all members of the public who have assisted us in wide-ranging investigations. I also want to pay tribute to all members of the Bermuda Police Service and the reserves. It has been another challenging year with a considerable amount of work being done across the service and the public can be assured the service will continue to work hard on its enforcement and partnership efforts.”