Schoolchildren are affiliating themselves with gangs in the belief that it will "keep them safe", a senior Police officer has told MPs.

Assistant Commissioner David Mirfield told the first public meeting of a new parliamentary committee on violent crime and gun violence that youngsters sometimes feel obliged to associate themselves with a gang due to peer pressure.

"Certainly, you will get youngsters as young as 14 and even younger saying they are part of a gang, just in some ways to keep themselves safe," he said.

He and Acting Police Commissioner Mike Jackman agreed that active gang members tend to be in their late teens, 20s and, occasionally, 30s.

But Mr. Jackman said: "There is the potential for this to escalate in schools.

"We have to think about it going forward. The schools are a big risk for us in terms of whether we get somebody going into school with a firearm because they are a member of a gang. We are cognisant of that all the time."

The officers outlined the Island's gang problem to the joint select committee, chaired by PLP backbencher Randy Horton, and talked about how the "overstretched" Bermuda Police Service is tackling it.

Mr. Jackman said the "top three" gangs, in terms of gun use and drug dealing activity, were Parkside and 42 in Pembroke and Somerset's MOB, which he said stood for Money Over Bitches. "We believe there is some organised activity in St. George's," he added. "We have linked them to a couple of incidents."

He said young men in some places had to join gangs for their own protection.

"Some of these young men can't go in certain areas, just because of where they were born or resided."

Mr. Jackman described a "synergy" between the gangs, explaining: "We believe that some of them are working closely together and some, just as a matter of affiliation, are allowing access to the turf."

The sale of illegal drugs funds The sale of illegal drugs funds most gang activity, he said, but that has diminished since the violence on the Island escalated because it's more dangerous for young men to sit on walls and sell drugs.

Mr. Jackman said Police knew enforcement alone would not solve the gang problem. "Obviously, we want to prevent, deter, educate. Sometimes we have people who say: 'We don't like this gang life but we have no alternatives'."

Mr. Mirfield, a former chief superintendent with West Midlands Police in England, said gangs had formed over time in connection with drug dealing and that members were motivated by "revenge, revenue and respect".

"They have got more and more brazen and seem to have lost respect for anybody, least of all each other," he said.

Violence could break out over the smallest thing, Mr. Mirfield explained, with Tuesday's gun shots on Parsons Road "fired to make a point".

He said 85 percent of officers were now involved in front line policing, a 24-hour gang response unit was in place and dedicated gang targeting teams had been set up. "We are arresting more people than ever. We are seizing more drugs than we have ever seized and we also are stopping more people of significance."

He said there had been five criminal trials involving gun crime this year — and five convictions. Eighteen people are awaiting trial — five charged with murder, seven with attempted murder and six with other firearms offences.

He and Mr. Jackman said Police received thousands of calls a week and might need to reassess which incidents officers attend.

Mr. Horton told this newspaper his committee should have recommendations to present to the House of Assembly in February.