Bermuda should be placing more emphasis on pro-active policing and crime prevention, Shadow Home Affairs minister Michael Dunkley claimed last night.

Following the release of Police crime figures on Tuesday night, which showed a six percent drop in the detection of crime in 1999, he said Government should be trying to tackle the problem before it gets out of hand.

The United Bermuda Party MP said it was taken for granted that members of the community knew what measures to take to help prevent themselves from falling victim to criminals.

And too often, he said, crime prevention advice was offered to people only after they had suffered at the hands of an offender.

He said: "We need more crime prevention -- last year it seemed to fall away.

"A lot of people who have lived in Bermuda a long time remember the days when they were able to go out and leave their doors and windows open.

"People would leave their cars unlocked overnight. I still think people do not think about the prevention of crime, until they have experienced crime.

"We should be out in schools, the community, and media talking about how best to prevent crime. At the moment, we are far too reactive, when we should be pro-active.'' Last night a Police spokesman refused to talk to The Royal Gazette about any aspect of crime, including the prevention of it.

But the force does have a crime prevention department, which visits victims and talks to sections of the community on request.

The department's role is to provide guidance to members of the public, to monitor trends in crime, to initiate programmes, to promote community awareness and to enforce the policy on intruder alarms.

Last year the unit's first full-time civilian officer was employed and a second will be put in place next year.

The force's annual report said a new campaign on crime prevention will be launched next year.

The Royal Gazette revealed yesterday that detection rates for some crimes, including robbery, burglary and theft, were dismal.

The solving of major crimes was average, with assaults on Police getting a better 78 percent detection rate.

However, grievous bodily harm only had a 40 percent success rate, and wounding a poor 30 percent detection rate.

The arresting and charging of shoplifters was the major success, scoring 83 percent detection.

But the biggest problem, that of cycle theft, only measured 13 percent.

Michael Dunkley