“We cannot even get rid of wild chickens in this country and you’re attempting to deal with this massive problem? Unbelievable.”

As a former Progressive Labour Party Cabinet minister, Dale Butler's caustic assessment at the November 17 town hall captured what national security minister Michael Weeks’s parliamentary statement carefully avoided: Bermuda’s problem isn’t missing ideas; it’s the chronic failure to implement solutions already on the books.

The minister told MPs that town hall feedback “aligns closely” with the National Violence Reduction Strategy.

Exactly. That’s the problem.

Butler didn’t mince words: “Glad Simmons, Corin [Smith], Mr [Eugene] Dean, Ras Mykkal have been presenting ideas for years that were ignored.”

His critique was not that Government lacks a strategy. It was that proven community intermediaries have been systematically sidelined while their ideas get absorbed into documents that gather dust.

“Give them a paper, call them in your office, and spend maybe a day or two to get it all out of them if you're serious,” Butler urged.

The minister's response? A summary highlighting that suggestions “align closely” with existing goals.

Butler's point: after decades of alignment, where's the implementation?

People didn’t complain that the ideas were missing; they complained that the ideas have been on the books for years and still aren’t properly funded or delivered.

The minister’s response never explained the gap, never admitted the delays and never said who is accountable for them.

That silence is the real answer.

Consider the timeline: in 2004, The Emperial Group warned Cabinet that “conditions among the hardcore element are becoming explosive”. Wellington Oval proved it. In 2010, we proposed Sounds of Sanctuary targeting the exact 11 gangs and 200 individuals whom police commissioner Darrin Simons now identifies.

Fifteen years later, in the shadow of more than 40 unsolved murders, we are told our suggestions “align closely” with strategy.

The question is not alignment; it’s implementation. And accountability.

The minister stated: “Preventing violence requires mentors, coaches and role models ... all of us rejecting division and choosing unity.”

Beautiful words.

But Butler already addressed this: “I would cut out all government trips for nine months. You’re not going anywhere. If you’re really serious about the people, that money is going to stay here.”

That’s what seriousness looks like — concrete sacrifice, immediate reallocation, visible commitment.

The minister speaks of “choosing unity” while his statement makes no mention of the specific community organisations with decades-long track records who offered to work. No mention of The Emperial Group's request for “formal collaboration pathways”. No mention of Tiffane Thomas’s proven model where “every young man is there because he wants to be”.

Unity is not a feeling. It is infrastructure. Infrastructure requires resources, partnerships and accountability.

Butler challenged the commissioner's numbers: “If you were 25 stealing mobiles, are you still stealing them at 50? Those statistics are a waste of time.”

When authorities present declining property crime — because criminals age out — alongside rising youth violence as evidence “all crime is down”, they are obscuring the crisis.

The minister references “eight core goals” but provides no metrics, no timelines, no accountability. Goal No 6: “Improved collaboration”. With whom? By when? Measured how?

Butler’s frustration: watching this pattern repeat. Create documents, cite community input, declare alignment, avoid implementation specifics, deflect accountability when nothing changes.

Butler’s most provocative proposal — requiring bipartisan co-operation on three issues per session — received no mention. Nor did halting government travel for nine months.

These weren’t casual remarks. They were diagnosis: Bermuda’s political culture treats violence as a debate topic rather than an emergency requiring unified action and genuine sacrifice.

The minister treats town halls as completed checkboxes — “Your insights will inform our work” — not urgent calls for structural change.

Absent from the minister’s summary:

• Any acknowledgement that community solutions proposed years ago remain unimplemented

• Explanation for why proven intermediaries operate outside formal structures

• Concrete timelines or resource commitments

• Accountability measures for implementation

• Response to calls for immediate operational changes

Nelson Hunt spoke about having permission since 2009 to build 250 apartments — still not started. The minister mentions “root causes” such as poverty but does not address why solutions remain stalled for 15 years.

Pastor Leroy Bean asked: “How many of you have actually read the violence reduction strategy?” Handful of hands. The minister assumes the strategy’s existence equals progress — Butler’s critique is that documents don’t stop bullets.

The minister concluded: “When we work together and for a common goal, we make this island stronger, more peaceful and more harmonious.”

Butler would agree — if “working together” meant actual collaboration rather than ceremonial consultation.

The divide is not between those who want solutions and those who do not. It’s between those who believe three town halls plus existing strategy documents equals progress, and those like Butler who have watched this performance for decades while violence becomes generational.

In excess of 40 unsolved murders. Fifteen years since Sounds of Sanctuary was proposed. Twenty years since Cabinet was warned. Twenty-nine years since we proved we could reach the unreachable — 15 voters registered for every one the PLP managed.

The minister says insights “will inform our work”. Butler’s critique: our work has been informing yours for decades. The question isn’t information; it’s implementation.

Until someone explains why proven solutions remain unfunded and unimplemented, until someone accepts accountability for the gap between strategy and action, Butler’s assessment stands:

We can’t even get rid of wild chickens. And we expect to solve generational violence with documents that cite community input while systematically excluding community implementers.

The silence on that contradiction is the real answer.

• Gladwyn Simmons is a member of The Emperial Group, espousing unity in the community world vibe, fighting with peace and not for it