Perinchief: Government is facilitating mediation between gangs

FRIDAY, FEB. 3: Mediation between Bermuda’s warring gangs is being helped by government, National Security Minister Wayne Perinchief revealed today.

Mr Perinchief told the House of Assembly that government ‘had set in motion the means by which’ rival gang leaders could be brought together.

He said: “Intelligence indicates that gangs have leaders and some structure.

“With that in mind we have followed best practice from other jurisdictions and have set in motion the means by which to bring these individuals together.

“Bermuda is too small for there to be warring factions separated by parish or neighbourhood boundaries. In some cases, families are split by this defined affiliation to gangs.

“A dialogue must be cultivated and if what we hear is to be believed, in some cases the issues that divide these young men can be resolved through the mediation of an honest broker leading a full discussion.

“This effort is by definition undertaken away from the glare of the cameras but it is important for the community to know that this Government is actively facilitating this initiative.”

Mr Perinchief outlined another five areas where the government would be focusing on the battle against gangs.

He told the House teachers should be taught how to identify ‘red flags’ of gang involvement.

Mr Perinchief said the school intervention effort must be ‘identify, prescribe, intervene and follow-up’.

He added: “We must equip our teachers and educators with the know-how to identify “red flags” in our children so that no opportunity to prevent a descent into the gang culture is missed.”

Mr Perinchief said the community needed to support the police’s ‘aggressive and targeted’ actions.

And the Minister proposed tougher sentences for offences that were linked to gang activity.

He said: “We cannot treat these (gang-related) offences as ordinary and our criminal justice system should have the means by which to reflect public sentiment and the accepted detrimental effects on our country at the sentencing phase.”

The National Security chief told the House that sports clubs and community clubs had a vital role to play in the fight against gang violence.

He said: “An untapped resource exists in our local community sports clubs but we must partner with them to meet the needs.

“We intend to innovatively encourage the private sector, both local and international, to adopt clubs in support of much needed infrastructure improvements.”