The United Bermuda Party yesterday pledged to "better prioritise" the public purse in order to put more Police officers on the streets and additional drug sniffer dogs and Ion scanners at the ports.

At a Press conference held by MP candidates Mark Pettingill and Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, they also said the UBP, if elected, would substantially increase prison terms, so that life meant life on capital crimes and repeat and sexual offenders were jailed for longer.

And they said if the UBP was chosen as the new Government, it may consider backtracking on the new deal the Progressive Labour Party Government had just signed for two additional fast ferries, in order to save millions of dollars.

Asked where the UBP would get money from to fund the additional resources, Ms Gordon-Pamplin said: "If we find tons of money for ferries, if we find tons of money for cars, and if we find tons of money to finish the National Stadium, we can better prioritise.

"But we are not going to cut back on education, housing or our seniors. We feel that effective planning will show us where the money is.

"We don't know if the ferries can be cancelled because we don't know the extent of the contract, and we do respect contracts. If the contract has reached the point where it cannot be negotiated out of, then we would have to go ahead. But it will be looked at.

"However, we certainly know the money is there, if used properly."

Mr. Pettingill accused the PLP Government of doing "really ridiculous things" with the Budget, such as taking a troupe of Gombeys on overseas trips, and said the UBP would make savings in areas like that.

The pair also said they believed the Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) system was not working because many of the programmes were not in place, and they pledged that the UBP would invest more in setting up rehabilitative schemes.

Ms Gordon-Pamplin said: "We will have zero tolerance for crime. Those who commit an offence in Bermuda will be caught; they will be prosecuted, and they will do jail time. We will strengthen our sentencing laws and give Police and prosecutors greater resources to detect, prevent and prosecute crime."

Mr. Pettingill said the UBP would take a different approach to drugs than the PLP as it would crack down on both the big importers and the small street sellers, and he suggested drug bins be placed at the ports of entry so visitors had an opportunity to be given notice of Bermuda's strict stance on drugs.

He said: "An idea that we might examine is a drug bin at the ports of entry. When people arrive on the Island they could be put on notice and given an opportunity to get rid of their drugs by putting them in the bin.

"They could then be immediately deported and put on a stop list, but they would not be arrested and possibly convicted. It would be another way to stop dangerous drugs getting on our streets, and it would reduce the prison costs of so many foreign nationals in our jails."

But asked by a member of the media about the UBP's present hard line on drugs and a previous crackdown by Police Commissioner Colin Coxall, which is alleged to have seen a UBP member feature in an investigation and the Commissioner then leave before his time, Ms Gordon-Pamplin said she could not comment on the past.

But she added: "One thing I can tell you is that we in the New United Bermuda Party are committed. It's not a case of whose toes are going to be trodden on. If we have evidence there will be prosecutions. We won't waiver from that position."

Minister for Labour and Home Affairs Terry Lister also said the PLP's main thrust was on drug interdiction, but he said it believed focussing on the ports of entry was the way to do it.

However, he said the Force was up to strength and had sufficient officers.

"The number of Police officers is not the issue, it's how well we Police, that's the issue," said Mr. Lister.

"The perception that if we have a Policeman on every corner there will be less crime in the City is a foolish perception."

But Mr. Lister said it was wrong of the Opposition to say there was little community Policing on the Island now, as a Community Beat Officer team was working with the community and would be expanded over the coming months.

And he said people should appreciate that Policing in 2003 demanded officers play a variety of different roles, and he believed the most important was intelligence-gathering.

The Minister said one of the challenges facing Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith was the lack of data on which to make rational decisions on the strength of watches.

But he said the Commissioner was seeking to employ an overseas agency to carry out a study of Policing in Bermuda, including the tracking and analysing of calls and of overtime, to assess staffing levels within the Service. He said the Service was at 440 officers, and said new officers had just arrived in June from the Caribbean and UK, with other overseas officers having their contracts extended this year.

"We will always get debates on the right number, but I don't think we should go beyond what Paula Cox and the Commissioner worked out prior to bringing in the officers three years ago. It's up to us to Police ourselves within these confines."

While he said the figures did not show that violent crime was on the increase, Mr. Lister said he understood people's concern and said Government was looking to put social policies in place to deal with the root causes of crime. He said the incidents of violent crime had not necessarily increased, but it may be that young people had a greater propensity for violence these days. However, he said in just about every serious crime case over the last year, arrests had been made within the first 48 hours, and, as for prosecutions, he said he was pleased with the conviction rate.

"I'm particularly pleased with what has happened in the last two years in the drug interdiction area," added the Minister.

"We have had a very high rate of seizures. It's important to note that 85 percent of crime is drug-related, so if we can reduce the flow of drugs into Bermuda we will reduce crime and save lives.

"Drug interdiction is the area we want to push. If we have better interdiction at the Airport and the docks, then there will be less to do on the streets. The intent is to stop the flow of drugs coming in and that's where our efforts are being focussed."

Mr. Lister said, as reported last year, he had met with the Chief Justice and voiced his wish that all prisoners be given at least nine-month sentences so that they could complete rehab programmes.

However, he said he did not agree with the call for longer sentences in general.

He added: "We don't need longer sentences. We need sentences that ensure we can get corrective behaviour in place.

"We should do away with three and six month sentences. They are no use to anybody. While I do not support longer sentences, I'm opposed to shorter sentences."