The scenes of violence following the concert at White Hill Field on Monday night is a stark reminder that there are segments of the community that are out of control. For once and for all, there must be an admission from the Police that Bermuda has active gangs or posses or crews that pose a threat to the public peace.

It is irrelevant whether these gangs are organised along the lines of the Crips and Bloods, or are looser kinds of neighbourhood groupings. The fact is that these groups exist and when they face each other, they will fight. The miracle is that no lives were lost this week. The fact is that it is just a matter of time before people, whether gang members or innocent bystanders, are killed.

There?s good reason to believe that this gang warfare has already cost lives, and that Shaundae Jones, who was shot to death this year in Dockyard, and Tekle Mallory, who was stabbed to death at the Ice Queen in Paget in 2001, can be included on the list of those who have paid with their lives as a result of these foolish and pointless rivalries.

The bottom line is that these gang rivalries have to be stopped one way or another before more people die. In the short term, Commissioner of Police Jonathan Smith, is right to seek more officers to deal with the problem, especially bearing in mind that the Police may be called upon to deal with more than one serious situation at once. There were about 25 officers on duty at the White Hill Field, and they could not pacify several hundred people fighting each other.

To some degree, putting more Police on the front line can be dealt with by reallocating officers from elsewhere, including static guard duties at places like Government House. On other instances, officers working behind desks or in specialised, but not critical areas, could be reassigned, or could be called upon to be more flexible in their duties. Improving and intensifying crowd control and riot training is also necessary.

But it is likely that some kind of increase in numbers will be needed and government must take this up as a matter of urgency. Still this cannot be the total answer. Increasing the Police presence will certainly make it easier to control crowd situations and will also deter gang violence to some extent.

But the longer term answer must start much earlier. It needs to start in the home, it needs to continue in the schools, it needs to run through the sports and workingmen?s clubs.

Bermuda needs to ensure that people who might otherwise fall into gangs through alienation and so forth have greater hope for the future and can see that gangs are not an alternative to a productive and law-abiding life.