Career house breakers and ?unacceptably? high robbery rates have marred end of year crime figures.

Spiralling numbers of breaking and entering cases forced Bermuda Police Service to mount its biggest ever house-raid crackdown in a bid to halt offenders in their tracks, it was revealed yesterday.

Breaking offences in 2005 rose more than 20 per cent compared to the previous year, new statistics confirm.

Daylight offences nearly doubled. And robberies rose 40 per cent to 107 during the same period, with an average of more than two violent muggings a week during 2005.

Total overall reported crime in Bermuda jumped from 2,302 in 2004 to 2,572 in 2005. Ch. Insp. Paul Wright, crime manager of the Bermuda Police Service, said new fourth quarter results for 2005 showed significant crime reductions in most areas.

But he blamed a small group of no more than 50 hardcore repeat offenders for the hike in house breaks, which rose from 307 in 2004 to 433 last year.

All breaking offences including stores, offices and schools jumped from 850 in 2004 to 2005?s 1,046 break-ins.

Ch. Insp. Wright explained: ?There?s a relatively small group of persistent offenders in our community who are committing a disproportionately large amount of crime.

Typically these offenders are motivated by drug addiction. The impact on the community is dramatic.?

Highlighting the impact a repeat offender ? some in their third decade of crime ? had on a community, he said that when one suspect was arrested in Somerset last summer the number of break-ins plummeted 85 per cent.

After ?expensive? and ?resource intensive? Police operations to stamp out the problem, 21 suspected housebreakers were arrested in the second half of last year.

Ch. Insp. Wright said 14 of those ended up in Supreme Court while seven appeared before magistrates. As a result, breaking offences for the last three months of 2005 were the lowest for at least seven years.

Ch. Insp. Wright said: ?This success has been aided by a concerted and sustained effort from investigative units targeting known offenders, supported by excellent forensic and intelligence support and an effective, focused uniform patrol response.?

But the number of break-ins rose and fell as offenders entered and left prison ? and homeowners were warned this grim pattern looks set to continue.

?This problem has been previously recognised and it is not improving,? he added, stating that community Police teams were in the process of ?revitalising? Neighbourhood Watch groups in a bid to reduce the risk of homes being targeted. Three new groups have recently been formed.

The Chief Inspector hailed the success of recent tough legislation on bladed weapons in reducing the number of knife-related disturbances, and knock-on serious assaults, attended by the Police Support Unit.

The unit also reported a ?dramatic? drop in the number of people carrying blades, with those caught with bladed weapons now facing at least three years behind bars.

Police refused to be drawn yesterday on whether the courts needed similar strong sentencing powers to deter serial burglars.

Statistics on violent crime ? which rose from 285 in 2004 to 309 in 2005 ? show wounding offences fell 40 per cent since early 2005, while GBH offences slumped 30 per cent in the same spell.

But Ch. Insp. Wright warned robberies were still happening at an ?unacceptably high rate?, although he added that many started as assaults and property was often stolen as an afterthought.

Police also raised concerns about vehicle crime, and said motorbikes continued to be stolen to order by gangs with drugs links. Stolen bikes rose 14 per cent on last year as the total number of vehicles removed went from 896 in 2004 to 955 last year.

Ch. Insp. Wright said crime trends indicated that a truck had been used to steal multiple bikes to order from locations including hotels and bike parks. More bikes are also stolen when school-age children are on vacation, Police added.

Nearly 1,500 machines have been ?tagged? since the Datatag bike-marking scheme was launched last August, it was confirmed yesterday.

Other statistics showed total thefts dropped from 271 in 2004 to 262 last year.