A murder, an attempted murder and Molotov cocktails thrown at Police are amongst the incidents of personal and property violence between July and September that pushed reported crime figures higher than any quarter since at least 1999.

And against this backdrop of a seven-year high in violent crime is worrying evidence a tough law to persuade people not to carry bladed weapons is no longer working.

People are increasingly arming themselves with machetes and knives, mostly for protection, despite facing an automatic three-year jail term for having such items in public without lawful excuse.

Sobering statistics released by Bermuda Police Service show a jump in burglaries with 29 more during the three months compared with the same period in 2005.

Since the beginning of the year there have been 2,079 reported crimes in the benchmark areas of violence, theft, burglary and taking vehicles without consent. That is 110 more than the same period in 2005 and 379 higher than 2004.

Included in the latest quarter is the murder of Edward "Sleepy" Dill in September.

"The offences that appear to contribute most are grievous bodily harm, wounding and sexual assault robbery burglary, removal off and stealing from unattended vehicles," said Carlton Adams, Assistant Commissioner of Police.

"Our enforcement efforts continue to be tested by those persons who are recidivists; those career criminals who are arrested, charges, convicted, incarcerated, released and then commit similar behaviour."

He said there is evidence of increasing violence between people who with pre-existing relationships.

These include partners, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends and people who are just friends.

Police are concerned about the higher number of assaults resulting in serious injury and increasing sexual assaults, particularly evidence that many sexual assaults are not being reported to them.

However, although the figures are the highest since the reporting period began in 1999 they may also reflect a growing trend for people to report offences that might not have been recorded in past years, according to Assistant Commissioner Adams.

One disappointment is the increase in people carrying bladed weapons despite the introduction of a new provision in the Criminal Code Act in July 2005 to order a mandatory three-year jail term for anyone caught in public places with such items without lawful excuse.

"After an initial decline the number of incidents began to rise again reaching a total of 17 incidents for the period. The number of wounding offences is proportionate to the level of bladed/sharply-pointed articles being carried and this too has risen," said Bermuda Police Service in a statement.

Police say they have made a number of high profile arrests in relation to burglaries, of which there were 317 reported in the three month period, representing a 10 percent jump. The majority of e break-ins occurred in Pembroke and many residents have been making life easier for the criminals, explained Acting Commissioner Paul Wright.

"Almost one in three burglaries were in Pembroke, outside the city limits, and three-quarter of those were private residences. The majority of those offences exploited poor security, open windows, air conditioners that weren't secured and even doors that were left unlocked," he said.

Sexual crimes are also on the increase. Assistant Commissioner Adams said: "Some of the increases in sexual assault would appear to be those that involve inappropriate conduct by persons who are either care-givers or have charge of younger persons.

"And there continues to be a heightened awareness of that kind of behaviour in the community. The good thing about that is it's becoming less tolerable in the community for individuals to be taking advantage of younger persons.

"The other side is due to the heightened awareness amongst adults who are less and less tolerable to inappropriate behaviour from individuals."

The Police have outlined their ongoing initiatives to tackle the increase in the crime, such as this summer's link-up with the Parks Department, hotels and the Corporation of Hamilton to protect tourists with beach patrols and high profile uniform duties in the City, a more intelligence-led approach to tracking vehicle thefts and the targeting of street-level drug dealing and anti-social behaviour by the Public Support Unit.

The Royal Gazette was unable to reach Public Safety Minister David Burch to comment on the Police figures at press time.