Security Minister On Gun Violence
National Security Minister Wayne Perinchief told the House of Assembly today [Nov.25] that despite a recent upsurge in gun violence, serious crime statistics in Bermuda are at the lowest point in more than a decade.
Mr. Perinchief urged the island’s media to demonstrate restraint in reporting crime figures, saying while he was not attempting to downplay the spike in gun violence such incidents had to be looked at within the overall context of serious crime on the island.
“Mr. Speaker, none of this can be taken to minimise the scale of the problem we face,” he said. “None of this can take away the pain of those families who mourn the loss of young men to violence.
“The message of these figures is that every waking hour of police time is spent pursuing a working strategy of disrupting the rhythm of gang violence and promoting safer communities for the island.”
The Minister’s Remarks Appear In Full Below:
Mr. Speaker, there is an old adage that relates to crying “fire!” in a crowded theatre. Mr. Speaker, there may well be a fire and so the exclamation by that individual has the immediate ring of truth. However, is it responsible to cause panic and increase the likelihood of injury from causes unrelated to the fire by that shout? Mr. Speaker, I think not.
Monday’s edition of the Royal Gazette shouted fire. The statistics presented and the extrapolations based on the per capita formula were correct. That however, Mr. Speaker, is not the issue. As a country, public safety and confidence in our institutions is one of the attractive factors to business, investment and tourists. Each entity with a public voice has a role to play in promoting our single greatest attribute: our overall attractiveness as a jurisdiction to vacation, live and do business.
Mr. Speaker, the truth of the UN statistics published in the Daily is not in question. What is unfortunate is the headline, the adverse comparisons with the United States and the UK and the positioning of the story. Mr. Speaker, as the learned Attorney General said in another place, freedom of the press is not absolute; there is responsibility which must go with that. Such responsibility is heightened when one’s voice is a major source of international information.
That said Mr. Speaker, there are some statistics which actually do apply to Bermuda and are more readily apparent to the man on street. In summary, Mr. Speaker I wish Honourable Members and the public to be aware that:
- 1. 2010 was the lowest year for all crime since 2000.
- 2. Although 2011 still has another quarter to complete, it is possible to compare the first 3 quarters of 2010 and 2011.
- 3. The first 3 quarters in 2011 were 8.6% lower than the first 3 quarters of 2010.
- 4. 2011 is on track to be the lowest year for all crime since 2000.
Mr. Speaker, none of this can be taken to minimize the scale of the problem we face. None of this can take away the pain of those families who mourn the loss of young men to violence. The message of these figures is that every waking hour of police time is spent pursuing a working strategy of disrupting the rhythm of gang violence and promoting safer communities for the Island.
Mr. Speaker, these figures are equally as available on the BPS website and could just as easily have featured in banner headlines. To have done so would have demonstrated the level of support commensurate with a country committed to inspiring confidence in those areas we need to promote economic stability in these challenging times.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage free press and do not shy away from bad news. I have presented today what some might term the silver lining to the cloud created by Monday’s story. This Government, the Bermuda Police Service, members of the local community organizations and ordinary men and women resident in Bermuda do their part every day to turn around bad situations. To borrow from the international business slogan from a few years ago, “It’s about all of us”.
Thank you Mr. Speaker.
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Category: All, Crime, News, Politics
What a load of crap. More spin. Certain crimes are down because even the criminals don’t want to be out late or caught.
Come on Wayne, your making at least $350, 000 a year with pension and Gov Salary. Plus bussiness.
I would love to know what on earth your comments have to do with the above topic. Anytime now, Terry.
I must agree with the above commenter. Terry, if you won’t reference the above story, please don’t mention such tripe.
It is pathetic and criminal that PLP want to down play crime. Vote them out!!!!!!
You telling me that Wayne is making $ 350.000. a year..Terry where do you get your info from? I bet Wayne would love to get this amount of money !!!!!!!!!!!!
Don’t know what to say….demonstrate restraint with your comments on this topic.
We now have to add Wayne Perinchief, on the list of people who say stupid comments in the press. We are having an epidemic crisis of violent crime presently and for the last four years and this is his comment on where we are?
This is why we need to vote plp out and get Michael Dunkeley in. I have said it before on here ,I have never heard Mr. Dunkely say anything stupid in the press.
Can’t believe this man has made these comments.
Its almost as if these comments were made so they dont have to come up with any real solutions.
SMH.
Obviously you are one of those people who read half a headline and then let your imagination do the rest. MAYBE YOU NEED TO HAVE ANOTHER READ.
“Mr. Speaker, none of this can be taken to minimize the scale of the problem we face. None of this can take away the pain of those families who mourn the loss of young men to violence. The message of these figures is that every waking hour of police time is spent pursuing a working strategy of disrupting the rhythm of gang violence and promoting safer communities for the Island.
Mr. Speaker, these figures are equally as available on the BPS website and could just as easily have featured in banner headlines. To have done so would have demonstrated the level of support commensurate with a country committed to inspiring confidence in those areas we need to promote economic stability in these challenging times.”
Perinchief is ONLY stating the facts.
And were you REALLY serious when you said youve never heard Dunkley say anything stupid in the press!!? REALLY? What are you reading? A milk carton?
I read the entire article and I understand what he was trying to say, and I find the article ridiculous. But my main point is Bda is having a crisis in violence and a lot of people are wondering why is it always downplayed. And why do they downplay it.why cant we say admit for once there is a serious problem and we are going to fight it head on.. There are a llot of drug addicts in housholds who keep family members in fear and thats how they protect themselves and are kept hidden.
This is how a lot of people know more violence will come , because we dont hear the police stating its a serious problem.
Perinchief is not a stupid person but these comments are stupid and hes not the first to make them its not all about him, we do this a lot in Bda.
Its easier for us to look the other way and hope the problems just go away, and this is the reason all the gun violence and drugs escalated in the first place.
This is what a lot of smart people hear when they see comments like this “Lets just hope things get better and not really really REALLY do anything about it.”
Please, please, please can we have Dunkley already??!! We need someone with a brain in power. He knows how to run a large business, that makes him a major step ahead of anyone in power now! Please vote Dunkley in!
Terry why don’t you speak facts or shut up and let the Ministers point be seen. The reality is while yes crime is at a bad state we can not ignore the improvements that have been made nor is it good to blast statistics compared internationally all over our papers giving us a look that makes things seem worse then they are, per capita rating makes us look worse then we are because of our population so in comparison to country’s that have millions of people obviously we would look somewhat worse when the details are not presented as in the case of the RGs story on Monday.
I really wish you would grow up and add to solutions instead of the problem.
Well.. I have a lot of respect for wayne Perinchief my hope is that he goes with his gut feeling !!and not with what the the cog tells him to say….
Its hard to embrace good news though isn’t it? I’d love to see some, but we all know this country is in a load of trouble, it’s lipstick on a turd Mr Perinchief.
Its not lipstick on a turd it is a status report on achievements made and some of you are so foolish that you will use this as a chance to cry foul because the problem is not completely solved but at the end of the day you will do more harm to yourselves if ever the people put you in, because then you would be tasked with having a magic wound to solve the problem at the blink of an eye which is impossible. Be real we all know crime is bad here but you just can’t admit that slowly but surely the PLP are tackling it. The same way you would because there’s no way to fix it one time. Add the fact that it will never completely come to an end because its to far gone (no fault of the PLP) and you can see it for what it is. Get out of your boxes for a moment and see things through the eyes of those who live it.
OK looking at the crime stats what do we see.
2000 v 2011
There are Three classes of crime statistics:
What the minister said all crime , not serious crime, Bernews has it wrong…….
Crime against the person., which are up from 770 in 2001 to 804 in 2010 (serious crime to me)
Crime against community (includes firearms crimes), are up from 826 to 907 (9.8%) (serious crime to me)
The third category which is significantly down is crime against property (This is the only class that could be considered as not serious as it is not life threatening)
My thoughts on crimes against property is that people are now either more in fear of reporting property damage from retaliation or are simply sucking it up and, just fixing or replacing when it happens as they feel a result will not be worth pursuing. A theory, not fact, so I’m not going to hang my hat on it.
Saying that, I think the police have been doing a fantastic job and have improved over the last ten plus years. I belive that the police are headed in the right direction with the increased number of stops and deterents in place, that just did not exist at anywhere near the same level as today. Well done police! The Drug and Traffic
enforcement activity stats have sky rocketed in the last 5 years. Well done police, they are working hard for us.
Now saying that,
Please ignore the now saying that at the end of that last comment. Was not intentional
Thank you Minister Perinchief for putting the truth out there.
@Red Flag – you need to remove your blinders. You say the PLP are tackling the crime “slowly but surely”! How did it get so out of hand in the first place? I guess you only read what you want to! Crime is going to get worse over the next several months, even years! How are the police going to handle these situations if we don’t have enough on the force? They are doing the best they can and have to work longer hours as it is. Something happened just last night! Have you heard about it yet? Probably not, because now the media have probably been given gag orders! People are ticked off because the RG printed statistics but yet people don’t get ticked off when a murder happens and gets plastered all over the front page of the RG, Bermuda Sun, and yes, even Bernews!
Bella I have no “Blinders” to remove. I speak from personal knowledge as unlike you I dig in to help were I can and even hit the streets to get an informed opinion of what is really going on. I don’t just pick up a paper or surf the net and ew and ah over what I read then point the finger at a political party. The truth of it is that only through prevention and intervention can you really make progress towards making a big reduction in violent and other serious crimes. There is no punishment that can be dished out after the crime that would really do much to deter those who are determined to carry out these acts for one fact remains THEY DON’T PLAN TO GET CAUGHT!!!!
Get to them before hand and help them to change their mind set and yes slowly but surely you will see the decline in serious crimes. The PLP have been very active on that end and we will start to notice the fruit of the labor. Combined with the work of BPS assisted by the public in catching those who offend and the courts who sentence them accordingly we are on or way to great progress.
So I ask you are you a part of the solution?
The stats show that ‘all crime’ is down a bit. Big Deal. We’ve all noticed less police on the roads. Less cars being stopped. Less Road blocks to check for seat belts Less people stopped for speeding. You can speed around chatting on a cellphone doing wheelies, and no-one will do anything. Different from last year, when there were road blocks once a month, police crackdowns, speed traps. All this means “less overall crime”, technically.
And at the same time, he admits gun violence is increasing. That’s the kind of thing everyone is worried about.
Claiming a victory for reducing ‘overall crime’ just looks at one of the more irrelevant metrics.
I would not be surprised if the government is encouraging the police to ‘go easy’ on traffic offenses. We’re in a run-up to an election, after all.
Red Flag, you suggest I don’t do anything to be a part of the solution. What makes you think that I don’t? You think I just sit here looking at the papers and surfing the net? For years I’ve worked hard at being a part of the solution and will continue to do my part. We cannot hide the facts as they are. People have a right to know them and if t takes the press to do so, then so be it! Shots were fired in Southampton last evening. Do you think they’ll report this on the front page or don’t you think people have the right to know?