root causes of crime although it is unclear whether it will share any of its findings with Government.

However, its first official duty will be a series of community meetings to gauge feelings about recent increases in burglaries, armed robberies and drug offences.

The first meeting will be held at the Leopards Club next Thursday.

Opposition Leader Mr. L. Frederick Wade made the announcement and introduced the 15-member Crime Review Committee at a Press conference at PLP headquarters yesterday.

Ms Nelda Simons heads the committee, which is comprised of PLP MPs, Senators and members of the public.

She is a former personnel executive and the manageress of the Liberty Theatre.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wade said he was very positive about the new committee which he said would adopt a very "hands on'' approach to gathering information.

Currently, the committee was drawing up a questionnaire that would be ready in January.

Committee members would then comb the Island and examine the opinions of ordinary Bermudians about what they think are the causes of crime, and what they see as the solutions to the problem.

Similarly, they would be asked their thoughts on increased penalties for convicted drug dealers, and armed robbers.

Mr. Wade criticised the Premier's "knee jerk'' attempts to deal with crime and labelled as "phony'' Government's war on drugs.

"We believe that there must be a reasonable long term look at what is causing crime in Bermuda,'' he said. "What is the engine driving our people into crime? We must get to the root causes of it.

"We believe that by starting with our own committee we will be able to find out what is wrong and be able to solve the problem.'' While conceding that Bermuda already had a series of reports and recommendations, the most recent being the Tumim Report on Criminal Justice, Mr. Wade said there has been no study done which focused on the underlying causes of crime.

"The Pitt report came out of the riots of 1977, the Wooding Commission looked at the riots of 1968, the Tumim report dealt with crime, but it was more specific...there has been no study probing in on crime.'' Mr. Wade said the Archibald report looked at drugs and drug abuse, but did not ask the "central question''.

"What makes a young person get involved in criminal activity?'' he asked.

"Is it education, bad housing, dysfunctional families, drug abuse or peer pressure? "What are the real factors?'' Mr. Wade said the Committee will reexamine the Wooding, Pitt and Archibald reports because the PLP wants to know what remains to be done.

"Much has been said,'' Mr. Wade said. "Little has been done.''