Throughout the community, our people are having a quiet conversation about the state of Bermuda. In our living rooms and around our kitchen tables, people are questioning how we found ourselves in a state where crime is out of control, prison sentences are too soft and the Police seem to be spending more time policing each other rather than the criminals.

Throughout the community people are quietly asking when did the criminals start running society and what are we going to do about it? This quiet conversation about the state of our country reveals a growing loss of confidence with our Police, our justice system and our Government.

This growing loss of confidence is rooted in a sense that despite all the talk and all the promises the job simply isn't getting done when it comes to crime.

The decline of personal responsibility, the spread of gangs and the PLP's failure to draw a clear distinction between right and wrong has left Bermuda in a moral quandary seemingly unable to get a grip on the rising tide of crime and disorder.

As a people, we now stand at a crossroads where the decision must be made whether the rising atmosphere of lawlessness is acceptable or whether we are finally ready to say enough is enough. I for one have already made up my mind that the level of lawlessness in our society has gone far enough and I will do everything in my power to insure that the United Bermuda Party's Anti-Crime Plan becomes a reality.

People ask me: "Maxwell Burgess, what is the UBP going to do to make things better?"

Well, first we will increase Police deployment levels with an emphasis on Community Beat Officers and foot patrols. The days of our police, that thin blue line between honest law-abiding people and the criminals, being always outmanned and always outgunned must end.

Now I have always believed that the best remedy for a murderer is a short rope and a long drop, but since the PLP have taken the death penalty off the books we have a responsibility to ensure that any person who takes another human being's life never sees the dawning of another sun without it being through a barred window. Under the United Bermuda Party if you take a life you will get life in prison.

Today's criminals view a trip to Westgate as an occupational hazard, more like taking a sabbatical then being punished. In fact the sentences are often so short, the crooks seem to be spending more time terrorising our women and children than sitting behind bars.

The time has come to ensure that we have penalties on the books that fit the crimes. Rapists, child molesters, and people who violently attack police officers need to feel the full weight of law and maybe, just maybe after a long stretch or two behind bars they will learn to modify their behaviour. At the very least we can hope that when they do finally get out of prison they will be too old to be a nuisance to society again!

Some people think that punishment is a dirty word and that it has no place in dealing with criminals. I don't. Tough criminals will never respond to soft words, soft laws and soft governments. The purpose of punishing criminals is to stop them from committing future crimes and to send a clear message that there is no place for criminal behaviour in our society. For that reason it is essential that criminals are punished in a way that not only inspires confidence in our judicial system but also satisfies the victim's sense of justice.

These are just a few solutions that we believe can begin to make a dent in the armour of lawlessness in Bermuda. A stronger, better-trained Police Service, tougher prison sentences and a Government that puts the interests of the law abiding before the interests of the law-breakers, that's our vision for coming to grips with crime.

The United Bermuda Party has developed a comprehensive Anti-Crime Plan that I will do everything in my power to insure becomes a reality. The people of Bermuda deserve nothing less.

Other jurisdictions that are now under siege didn't wake up one day and find crime out of control. It began slowly with a gradual compromising of values and a growing acceptance and tolerance for disorder. There was a slow and steady decline from civil societies to societies where lawlessness rules the day.

We should learn from those countries where they failed to deal with the new form of crime they faced. We should learn from those countries where they continued to deny that crime was a problem until it was too late. Bermuda stands at the top of that same slippery slope and it is up to us to decide if we want to take that fall.

When we sit down and allow one machete to be used and it's just one more crime, when we allow one baseball bat to be used and it's just one more, when we allow one more woman to be attacked and it's just another crime It's that kind of lowering of the guard that will see this country's social and financial stability go to ruin.

We have seen a softly, softly approach from the PLP for seven years and it isn't working. What has been the result?

There have been a few success stories from ATI but for the most part it has been a resounding failure, criminals are finding it easier and easier to get drugs in prison and prison sentences are often too soft and fail to take into account the gravity of the offence.

Today the PLP is in charge and that means that they are not only responsible for running the Government but also for providing an example for our people.

What kind of example are they setting? One where unethical but not technically illegal activity is acceptable? One where deliberately misleading the public to cling to power is acceptable? One where no one takes responsibility for their own actions and blames someone else when they mess up? What kind of leadership is this providing to our young people?

Unlike others I don't place the burden of blame on the police. Despite the PLP denying them the manpower and resources they need to do their job effectively they are doing a phenomenal job. But it is a job that they can't do alone.

It is the responsibility of every member of society for the lawless state we find ourselves in. And it is our collective failure to say enough is enough, it is our collective failure to say this far no further that has put our country in this position.

We are at a crossroads. As individuals then collectively as a people we must decide which way forward. Our choice is clear either we continue to accept the steady decline in our values and accept the rising tide of lawlessness or we make a commitment to stamping out crime with tough measures, and tough penalties. Now is the hour. Now is the time for us to say enough is enough.

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Maxwell Burgess is the United Bermuda Party MP for Hamilton South and Shadow Minister for Home Affairs.