Cannonier says police need more money

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 22: Financial back up is needed to help the police in the battle against crime, Opposition leader Craig Cannonier said today.

Mr Cannonier said: “They have worked with budgets that have declined over the past years. They’ve been under-budgeted… Government has had to release more funds to them.

“We need to put the funds where they are most needed. We need to arm our police service with the resources they need.”

Mr Cannonier was speaking after Police Commissioner Michael DeSilva unveiled crime statistics for last year, which showed a downward trend in crime.

Mr Cannonier said that the crime figures were “in the right direction but that there was still a long way to go to beat gangs and gun violence.”

He added: “It’s also very encouraging to see that the police consider that one of the reasons for the better control and better statistics is that the community is getting more involved.

“This is very encouraging for us as a country and I would encourage the community to continue to be involved.”

Mr Cannonier said the OBA had called for a Bermuda version of the US Operation Ceasefire because it brings “community action into the fight.”

He added: “The control of crime is about the quality of life and that’s something we should looking for — a better quality of life.”

Mr Cannonier noted that theft and robberies had increased.

He said: “We believe that’s a direct result of what’s going on in the economy. “

And he said that highlighted the need for job creation so people did not feel tempted to drift into a life of crime.

Mr Cannonier also highlighted that the Women’s Resource Centre had said the recorded 33 sex assaults for last year, a slight reduction on 2010’s 36 cases, was “very strange” because the sexual assault response team, run with police involvement, had logged a 50 per cent increase in sex crimes reported to them between 2010 and 2011.

Mr Cannonier said: “We need to find out where these statistics are coming from and why they differ so much from the Women’s Resource Centre’s.”