A campaigner has called on Government to extend zones where committing violent crimes results in longer sentences in the aftermath of the Court Street shooting.

Takbir Sharrieff, of Bermudians Against Narcotics (BAN), said: ?We need to take our streets and neighbourhoods back. To see a criminal element out of control is reflective of an Island-wide attitude that ?I can deal drugs and carry a firearm any time I like?.?

Describing Court Street as ?the most crime-affected area in the country?, former Police Sergeant Mr. Sharrieff said the law was being flouted there and criminals felt safe from the Police while frequenting its bars.

Under new legislation passed in 2004, areas surrounding churches, schools and public sports grounds were named as increased penalty zones for violent offences ? increasing the punishments for breaking the law in these areas. Mr. Sharrieff called for this scheme to be extended, telling ?Anyone found with a gun or drugs in the Court Street area should get double the penalty. They are killing the businesses around there and I think the authorities realise how serious this is.?

He named St. Monica?s Road in Devonshire ? nicknamed ?42nd Street? ? and Cambridge Road in Somerset ? nicknamed ?One Gun Alley? ? as other areas where this approach should be put into place.

?We need to get tough. I can?t emphasise that enough,? he said. ?Why are we dragging our feet? We cannot afford to go soft on these issues.?

Minister of National Drug Control Wayne Perinchief ? who is a former Assistant Police Commissioner and Mr. Sharrieff?s brother ? said that an increase in the current zones had not been considered so far.

But he added: ?That?s not to say I would not listen to the views of BAN. Of course I am prepared to talk to them about it.?

BAN will be holding the latest in a series of anti-drug rallies in Somerset on May 6 at Somerset Cricket Club between 11 a.m. and nightfall. Speakers will include Imam Yah-Ya Abdullah, a Muslim community leader from Texas, plus two representatives from a Baltimore addiction treatment centre. Politicians Dr. Ewart Brown, Walter Roban and Neville Darrell will also speak.

Tomorrow BAN representatives will be present at a Parishes Achieving Change Together family fun day at West End Primary School between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m.