The Police's announcement that they have launched an Island-wide crackdown on crime in the wake of the Christmas shootings is to be welcomed, with one caveat. The Police have stated that a dedicated team of officers are now stopping all people suspected of committing crimes, regardless of the severity, or lack thereof.

This means that people are being stopped for everything from not wearing a seatbelt to visits to so-called hot spots to show a Police presence. The theory is that a person stopped for, say, having a broken brake light may be committing other offences or might have outstanding warrants, so that a minor offence can lead to prosecutions for more serious crimes. In broad terms, this is the "broken windows" approach to crime, which has been so successful in New York City and elsewhere.

In New York City, under former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, crackdowns on "squeegee men" and other lawbreakers resulted in a dramatic decline in crime, and made one of the most dangerous cities in the US one of the safest. If the same thing can be done in Bermuda, then that's all to the good.

The caveat is that the Police have made it pretty clear that the current crackdown is a temporary one. They have not said when it will end, but end it will, and the worry is that Bermuda will then lapse back into business as usual, until the next shooting, when it is likely that a similar crackdown will occur.

Although there may be operational reasons for this ¿ the current team has taken officers from other duties to enable it to happen ¿ it is the wrong approach. For the "Giuliani approach" to work, the policy has to be applied consistently and for the long term.

And there are other elements of the policy that have to be implemented as well. One is crime intelligence, which the Police Service already has, but it probably needs to be ramped up. This consists of what might broadly be called "human intelligence", information picked up on the streets or from informants, and analysis of where crimes are occurring, who is likely to be behind them and where crimes are likely to take place in the future.

A dedicated squad dealing with gangs is also essential. Again, this enables the Police to focus on the groups of mainly young men who are committing crimes which are most likely to lead to violence. Identifying who is in the gangs, what their leadership structure is and what their activities are, are all crucial to combatting them.

More use of technology is key as well. Closed circuit cameras have already proved their worth, especially on Court Street. More are needed. With all of these crime detection tools, the Police also need to keep beefing up their crime prevention and community policing tools as well, not least to show that they are not the enemy, but a friend of the public.

Clearly, this all takes manpower in addition to the duties that the Police must also carry out. In some cases, such as the broken windows approach, the Police need a change of culture, in which all officers carry out the policy, rather than it being the responsibility of a dedicated team.

But more officers are needed generally. Officers commanding desks need to get out on the street, and officers doing "static" guard duties at Government House, the Premier's residence, the House of Assembly and the courts also need to be moved to more active duties and replaced by security guards, to the extent that they are really needed.

Bermuda already has a high proportion of Police officers relative to its population. In certain cases, this is because they must do work that would be centralised in larger countries. But the Police need to take a hard look at how it deploys its officers in order to maximise its efficiency.