The communities and individuals affected by gang and gun crime in Bermuda can play a vital role in helping to tackle the problem, according to senator Jeff Baron.

The Minister for National Security told The Royal Gazette that enforcement agencies had made engagement with residents and families touched by gang violence the “pivot” of their strategy.

Mr Baron’s comments come after a recent spike in gang and gun violence that has seen three young men killed in just three months as well as several shooting incidents.

“There is reason to be optimistic and the best chance we have of success is if people affected by this violence take the lead,” Mr Baron said.

“At a funeral for one of the young men who recently died, his friends, as has become the custom, poured drink on the casket as a kind of send-off.

“At first the police asked them to desist, they took no notice, then a member of the clergy did the same with the same result.

“It was only when a woman or mother-figure who had been involved in helping to bring up this young man spoke with his friends and said it was disrespectful that the friends listened.

“This shows volumes to me and we have made engaging the community our pivot because that is the best chance we have of success.

“It is the people who have endured this loss that we are sitting down with; they are more impacted than anyone in the community by this trend and if we can get them to say ‘stop’ we will see a big difference.”

Mr Baron acknowledged that those now involved in the island’s gang structure were much younger than six of seven years ago and some lacked the “the contextual understanding” of the roots of the rivalries.

He said that while the recent spate of gang-related shootings was unacceptable, it was not “surprising” given the dynamic nature of gangs and their subculture.

“It is tremendously shocking, unfortunate and sad that it has happened, it is beyond unacceptable,” Mr Baron said.

“We have to continue to look at energising parts of our strategy; we continue to work at reducing gang crime but also the attractiveness of that lifestyle. There are other issues at play; socio-economic ones and historic.

“There are some individuals that have been involved in the gang conflicts for a decade. But as a whole they are much younger now.”

Mr Baron told The Royal Gazette that there was no single reason for the recent rise in gang activity, but numerous factors.

“Tensions can be increased or decreased by sending a message on social media from abroad, that is the nature of the challenge facing police and their partners in Bermuda today,” he said.

“We have seen how rap videos are used here in Bermuda too; that itself speaks to so many different things. We have to look at the digital arena a lot these days and we do.

“There are often launching episodes that can be a chain snatch or simply taunting in a video on Instagram or Facebook.”