The people of St. George's - both young and old - made themselves heard at a heated public meeting last night to discuss the rising crime in the old town.

About 150 people, including a group of about 15 so called "youths", loudly expressed why they believed violence, drugs and alcohol were becoming increasing problems to the parish.

Many fingers were pointed, and much blame was laid, with the Police being accused of showing too little respect to young people, and young people being told they lacked respect for others. Tempers were raised and anger was shown, in the most part by the younger generation, as the factions tried to grapple with what the root causes of the problems really were.

But perhaps most surprisingly, the controversial issue of the town's Police station closing down and moving to Southside, which has led to petitions, meetings and letters of discontent, was not mentioned once throughout the three-hour 15-minute meeting.

But what did come out was a concern over poor parenting, particularly by fathers who were not involved in the upbringing of their children, a need for greater respect and tolerance, and the need for improved communication.

Minister for Labour and Home Affairs Terry Lister attended the meeting, which had been organised by MP and church leader Rev. Wilbur Lowe, with his permanent secretary Robert Horton.

Mr. Lister told those attending that the issue of crime was a social and community problem and not one for the Police alone.

And he said it was up to the community to ensure that everyone contributed and produced.

He said: "I hear repeatedly that people who are idle `can't get jobs'. I don't understand what this `can't get jobs' means.

"We have 8,000 work permits because we have 8,000 more jobs than there are people in Bermuda who are able or willing to do them.

"You don't have to be idle and you don't have to be running afoul of the law because you don't have work to do."

But one young man said Police unfairly treated youths in St. George's. He said both himself and a friend had been sitting on a wall watching girls walk by, when Police came by and searched them under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

He said because his friend had questioned the officer, the officer had slapped him, before putting him in cuffs and taking him to the Police station.

He said: "He hit my friend and they locked him up for no reason. Then his mother came down to the Police station and she slapped him as well for getting arrested. He had done nothing wrong."

And the man said he believed there was also too many "foreigners" on the Island, too, which was causing some of the problems.

He added: "There are too many foreigners here. I work in a hotel. We have 20 staff in the dining room and only one of them is Bermudian.

"There are too many foreigners. Where are they coming from? Are they coming in in containers, or something?"

But Assistant Police Commissioner Carlton Adams said the problems in St. George's, although serious, were no worse than any other part of the Island. And he said the problems in the old town were not just caused by the young, but the adults also.

He said: "There have been a number of incidents in St. George's lately and I'm acutely aware of them."

And he said most of the incidents were the result of drugs.

"What I have seen over the years in many of these areas (around the Island) is where drugs are being used, abused, and established, it starts to deteriorate the surrounding areas.

"Pretty soon, they are drinking. Pretty soon people are using these areas for places to congregate. It's followed sometimes by prostitution and assaults.

"You can see it happening all the time. Some of the behaviour that goes on is raw criminality."

And he urged members of the community to stand up to criminal behaviour, by approaching family members of those involved, or calling the Police.

One young man said people complain that they get no respect from the youth, but they show none back.

He said: "People get intimidated because people are sitting on walls and have a scarf on their heads, but there is nothing coming out of their mouths."

Rev. Lowe said he had also had concerns about how much respect Police officers showed young people, and suggested officers be given training in dealing with people. But one woman said although she was young, she did not believe the so-called youths respected anyone.

She said she regularly got into rows with gangs outside her house because they were being noisy and leaving their smashed beer bottles outside her home.

She said she had children, but that she was the youngest person living in the apartments, with the others being seniors.

She said: "It's all about respect. They curse at me. They come up to my face. That's not respect. I ask them nicely to either be quiet or to go somewhere else, but that it is what they do."

Community Beat officer Sergeant Darrin Simons said the Police had a job to do and it would do it. He said officers gave young people many chances, but said the Service could not do it alone.

One woman received a big round of applause after she said she could see it from both sides.

She said she had a son and had had many calls from Police officers, and not all were as polite as they should have been.

And she said her son had been given a bit of a rough time while in Police custody, which had angered her, but she said young people did not have the discipline older generations had.

She said: "When we smoked weed we smoked it on Friday and Saturdays and we went to work on Monday.

"But now they want to smoke weed any day of the week."

However, she also said members of the community had to tolerate young people, and if they had a party on a holiday weekend, that should not be considered a huge problem for the people of St. George's.

She said: "I think a lot of people forget they were young."

One man said Bermuda needed to talk about the fact that too many fathers had failed in their responsibilities to bring up children. He said the issue was never talked about because people felt uncomfortable, but he said it was one of the main reasons for the problems in Bermuda.

He said: "Us older men have failed miserably. We have let our children raise themselves. We have failed to father them.

"The males are missing - missing from the responsibilities of raising their children."

One young man said he believed the problem was that the "youth felt neglected".

And another went to great lengths to express his frustration at the Police.

He said young men were being arrested by Police and "locked up for three days" before being released without charge and with no compensation.

He said: "People are getting tired."

However, one woman, who has just returned to the Island from Trinidad where she worked with her husband, said everyone should respect one another.

And she said Bermuda was very sophisticated and so would always need to bring in foreign workers to fill all of the jobs.

She said: "People say foreigners this, foreigners that, but what are you doing to make sure you are the best at what you do to make sure you get the jobs.?