Government will spend $350,000 on an anti-gang action plan this year after blaming them for the rise in street robberies. said US gang expert DeLacy Davis ? in Bermuda this week to speak on the problem at the multi-addiction conference ? will help formulate a plan.

The New Jersey cop has already met with Government as well as gang leaders.

Mr. Horton said: ?We believe the increase in gang activity has contributed to the increase in violent crime in our community.?

He said Mr. Davis is a 21-year veteran of East Orange County Police, a founder member of Black Cops Against Police Brutality and an acknowledged expert on youth and gang behaviour.

?The entire community recoils at recognition of the fact that gangs do exist in Bermuda, many often exhibit the same kinds of negative behaviour manifested by their counterparts in the US and elsewhere.?

He said robberies have risen by 40 percent from 75 in 2004 to 107 in 2005.

?Many of these robberies were linked to gang activity where gang members were targeting unsuspecting victims.?

Items stolen included chains and pendants, cell phones and game-boys with victims physically assaulted.

Pizza deliverers were also targeted at the end of the year with young gang members luring them to hotspots to rob them.

?The Bermuda Police Service mounted several operations and was largely successful in disrupting and curtailing this form of criminality.?

Mr. Horton said statistics showed certain crimes ? including violence, breaking offences, stealing and removals ? had gone up last year.

A violent crime was reported every 28 hours, noted Mr. Horton. However, he said the pattern had been similar over the last decade while there had been a steady decline in murders.

The new bladed weapons law which jails people with knives in public without lawful excuse is working, Mr. Horton said. In the first half of 2005, 17 people were arrested with such weapons but this dropped to seven in the second half of the year.

A purge on suspected housebreakers helped lead to 21 arrests of known offenders, said Mr. Horton. Seven have been dealt with in Magistrates? Court while 14 faced Supreme Court action.