Schoolchildren are affiliating themselves with gangs in the belief that it will “keep them safe”, a senior Police officer told MPs today.

Assistant Commissioner David Mirfield told the first public meeting of the new parliamentary committee on violent crime and gun violence that youngsters sometimes felt obliged to associate themselves with a certain gang due to peer pressure.

“Certainly, you will get youngsters as young as 14 and even younger saying they are part of a gang, just in some ways to keep themselves safe,” he said.

But he and Deputy Commissioner Mike Jackman agreed that active gang members tend to be in their late teens, 20s and, occasionally, 30s.

Meanwhile, Wayne Perinchief, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly, told the committee that criminal investigators targeting the gangs needed to be given small 9 mm handguns.

The Government MP and former Assistant Police Commissioner said Bermuda Police Service needed to be reorganised and needed to become more welcoming to Bermudian male recruits.

The joint select committee is chaired by PLP backbencher Randy Horton, who told the House of Assembly earlier this year that MPs needed to find solutions to the escalating violence.

For more in-depth reporting on this see tomorrow's Royal Gazette