In the past month alone, Bermuda has seen three shootings in broad daylight. Five people were shot, three of them murdered, all within sight of the Hamilton Police Station. Our island is no longer the safest place on Earth. We have one of the highest murder rates in the world. Bermudians are living in fear, and that is unacceptable.

We cannot stand by any longer and fail to act. Enough is enough.

The Progressive Labour Party’s efforts to contain and reverse this tide of violence and death have proved unsuccessful.

In 2017, Leroy Bean was appointed to tackle gang violence. He has been paid almost $1 million but there has been zero accountability for how that money has been spent. Despite the PLP’s exercises in public relations, the murders continue with the perpetrators getting younger and younger. The cycle of violence has only gotten worse. The police now identify 11 different gangs on the island.

How can the Government speak of revitalising North Hamilton and the City while failing to ensure basic safety on our streets? How does this government’s approach to vagrants who openly break the law on Front Street demonstrate a commitment to reducing crime and safeguarding our community. What message does it send to residents, businesses and visitors? How does this weak approach to maintaining law and order encourage investment in the City?

This is not about blame. It is about reality. The PLP’s strategies have not been working.

Bermuda needs new ideas and courageous action. Urgently.

We need a different approach that involves increased police presence, enforcing loitering laws, additional stops-and-searches, more robust traffic policing, parish constables, and restricted bail conditions for murder, intimate-partner violence, gang crimes and sexual offences.

We must ensure stricter enforcement of borders and fixing the HM Customs and Immigration Dock in St George’s to stop illegal weapons being imported. We must tighten search procedures at the ports and airports, and increase surveillance. We must hire more police officers for a dedicated cycle and traffic division. And we should ensure that the CCTV cameras in the areas where crimes have been committed are operational.

These are not abstract policies. They are concrete steps that will save lives and restore safety to our streets.

We must also look to other jurisdictions that have had similar problems and learn from them, discover what was successful, and adapt and implement similar strategies and actions in Bermuda. Because it is too urgent not to.

We cannot allow violence and disorder to become the new normal in Bermuda.

I call on government leaders to rise above politics and show true leadership — visibility, responsiveness and accountability.

Policing alone is not the answer. True safety comes from unity: Government, Opposition, police, churches and the community working together.

This violence is not inevitable. We can change this trajectory if we have the courage to act now. This tragedy must galvanise not just sadness, but determination.

Bermuda deserves to be safe again. Our people deserve peace. And together we can make that a reality.

• Robert King is the Leader of the Opposition, Shadow Minister of National Security and the Cabinet Office and Digital Innovation, and the MP for Smith’s North (Constituency 10)