The entire community must pitch in and help if Bermuda?s growing gang problem is to be successfully tackled, an American gang expert who visited the Island recently has argued.

A 19-year veteran of the New Jersey police force, Sgt. DeLacy Davis is considered one of the top authorities on gang culture and has spent much of his professional career working with street groups and designing strategies through which they can extricate themselves from a life of drugs and violent crime.

Sgt. Davis has also developed a number of celebrity contacts in the course of his work, and regularly calls on the services of entertainers such as Ja Rule, Jaheim, Queen Latifa and Naughty By Nature to speak to young people and counsel them on the pitfalls of gang life.

Invited by Home Affairs Minister Randy Horton, Sgt. Davis spent five days in Bermuda last month meeting with a wide-range of people and organisations, including Government Ministries, the Police and a number of gang members themselves.

A regular visitor to the Island on both a formal and informal basis since 2003, Sgt. Davis has taken an increasingly active interest in the country?s social problems.

And he agrees with the frequently stated proposition that Bermuda has become the victim of its own success: that beyond the comparative wealth of the majority and the $50-billion-a-year offshore business sector, there lies a bitter and disillusioned class of Bermudians who feel entirely cut off from the riches and opportunities many others enjoy.

As a result of his consultations, Sgt. David will be submitting a report this week to Mr. Horton unveiling a detailed plan of action ? one which will advocate the active and dedicated participation of virtually every Bermudian, he hinted.

At the forefront of his plan will be the need to develop positive outlets or ?vehicles?, as he put it, for the energies of these ?disaffected? young men. The creation of more sports programmes, leadership and life skills courses, mental health education, counselling services and employment opportunities will be continually stressed, he said.

The creation of such an infrastructure would take about 12 months, Sgt. Davis added, and would demand significant financial investment.

?What I will be proposing, as I have done in many other places, is a model for change,? he said.

?Primarily it is about changing the community?s mindset and encouraging people to look at the problem through the eyes of those who have the problem ? in other words, trying to understand what these people are about and what needs to be done to make them feel part of the community in which they live. What we?re see happening in Bermuda is no different from anywhere else. But rather than treating them with fear or disrespect, the approach has got to be one of collaboration. Only by dealing with them as real people will you ultimately empower them and persuade them that there are positive opportunities out there for them to exploit and benefit from. But there is not one stand-out solution which will do the job. It will take the participation of a large range of community stakeholders in order to make it happen. I don?t want people under any illusions as to what it is going to take. ?

Meanwhile, Sgt. Davis also revealed that he has entered into discussions with Jaheim?s publicity team over the possibility of the musical superstar paying the Island a visit in the near future, Sgt. Davis further revealed.

?We?ve really tried to use the influence of celebrity in schools because we believe it is a powerful influence and has a very constructive role to play,? he said.

?Having built on these connections, we get to use that as a bit of a carrot and it is a very important inspirational and motivational tool. I have had some discussion with Jaheim?s publicist and it is quite possible that through his Urban Dreams Foundation he could agree to going down and speaking to people. But overall, the Bermuda project is something which excites me because I have seen a real commitment from Minister Horton and others to finding a way of dealing with the problem. Bermuda is a small place compared to other areas which are having similar sorts of problems and I believe it is not a problem which cannot be handled.?