A community task force could be established to research problems and find solutions to Bermuda's gang and violence problems.

And the first step to forming the task force took place at a meeting organised by community group Imagine Bermuda yesterday.

About 30 people turned up for the meeting, at Astwood Hall, in Hamilton, where three panellists took part in a round-table discussion on some of Bermuda's social problems and how to address them.

The topic of the meeting 'Community Challenges: How We Got Here – Pathways to a Better Future' was meant to spark dialogue about the problems facing some communities and Bermuda as a whole. The purpose was to gain insight into possible solutions to these problems.

The panelists, former Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith, Government statistician Cordell Riley, and Dr. Marcelo Ramella, a social psychologist living in Bermuda will make up part of the community-lead task force said Glenn Fubler, founder of Imagine Bermuda.

According to Mr. Fubler the panelists were chosen for their expertise in their respective fields and their relevance to Imagine Bermuda's mission. Dr. Ramella, who is married to a Bermudian, has lectured at the London School of Economics as well as working with marginalised youth across the UK.

Mr. Riley is a research analyst and statistician who uses his background to analyse trends amongst youth and Mr. Smith has previous experience dealing with youth crime.

Dr. Ramella spoke about the importance of gathering information, developing a policy and theories locally before putting any programmes into practice. He admitted that different types of social programmes will be needed to address the needs of different youths.

"What is the problem? What put us there? And what can we do?" asked Dr. Ranella. "It is great to bring in overseas experts to find the answers to these questions but the truth is that we are talking about disengaged youth in Bermuda and those experts eventually leave the Island with all of that knowledge. Several different initiatives could be developed all with a different understanding of what the problem is and a different approach to addressing it."

And Mr. Riley claimed that while Bermuda has changed aesthetically over the years, it is still dealing with the same social problems as 40 years ago.

"If you took a report commissioned on Bermuda from the 1960s and compared it to a report from the present, all the information would be basically the same except for names and dates," he said.

Mr. Riley said that if he had the power the first thing he would do would be to build more homes to put Bermuda on the right track.

"If everyone was housed properly the Government and Police would be able to focus on other issues," he said.

Mr. Smith claimed that the gang problem in Bermuda was nothing new and "goes back decades" . He said the reason the issue has been brought to the forefront now was because gangs now use firearms rather than blades and bats.

"The difference between the gangs today and gangs several decades ago is their weapon of choice and an increased amount of drugs and drug money."