Vexed Bermoothes

I find the gang violence and drive-by shootings this weekend too depressing to write about.  WTF Bermuda?

As Government indicates, the solution will require a combination of “hard” and “soft” approaches applied over time.  By hard, we need kick ass policing and prosecution.  And by soft, we need community conciliation efforts, we need better education, and we need a wider variety of positive youth programmes.  We need large scale displays of community solidarity.

Finger pointing does little good in this situation.  I am glad that Colonel Burch backed off his initial impulse to bleat about not having operation control of the police.  I would be remiss in not pointing out, however, that this escalation in violence should not be a surprise to Government;  it’s been building for several years.  The PLP has periodically promised action – remember the SWAT team ruckus last year – but has delivered little.  In fact, in the last election, they responded to the UBP platform for tougher policing with all sorts of emotional heat about neo-fascism and “they want to lock us all up”.

We reap what we sow.

I sometimes wonder whether people who are incarcerated for violent crime should not be eligible for early parole until they have completed a next step of education – giving them at least some chance to break out of the cycle.