Outspoken National Liberal Party official Graeme Outerbridge is calling on parish councils to take responsibility to deal with the issue of violence among Bermudian men.

Instead of holding ?pressure cooker? public talks targeting different racial groups on the Island, he said parish councils can call neighbourhood meetings with the aim of defining the problem and devising a blueprint of solutions.

And he said Government needs to support a Royal Commission of local and overseas experts to investigate the issue of gang violence.

Such a commission would provide solutions and preventatives to future outbreaks of violence, he said.

Instead of an independent grassroots commission, Mr. Outerbridge said a Government commission would investigate all issues among young men from the ages of 16 to 25.

He also believes other dynamics which contribute to youth violence from women?s issues to the daily struggles of Bermudian families and single parent homes also need to be examined.

?Families here are under an enormous amount of pressure because of a high reliance on the economic necessities needed to survive in Bermuda.

?There are women?s issues which roll into this where women are not getting the support they need from the community and as usual we?ve been reactive rather than planning our way out of a problem.

?This goes back to past administrations to the UBP Government where we are reaping the effects of those continued years of neglect,? he said. ?An un-dynamic bureaucracy run by the public sector cannot solve all of our problems.?

Prior to last July?s General Election, Mr Outerbridge said he presented his idea for a Commission to the Government after the murder of Bermuda College student Shaundae Jones at Club Malabar in Dockyard and of Tekle Mallory at the Paget Ice Queen three years ago. He said he did not receive support from Government or the Opposition United Bermuda Party.

?You can ask them why they didn?t want to support it. Now, we?re into the second year of the new administration and it continues to be same old, same old. Until the full spectrum of community and political leadership become really serious about this, we?re going to see it get worse rather than get better,? he said.

Mr. Outerbridge said parishes can get involved by dealing with the problems which affect their immediate areas.

?Each parish has some problem area from west to east with young people who are disillusioned and not a part of the functioning social group, and if they are it?s on their own terms only,? he said.

He said territorial warfare was based on the drug trade and in order to stamp out the prevalent use of drugs among these groups, decriminalising marijuana would reduce the illegal drug profit margin.

?What?s happened about (Tekle Mallory) who was killed at Ice Queen and the Jones murder ? there?s old scores out there still between different groups. My alarm bell was the murder at Malabar.

?You can see the patterns and how the element is starting to drift into community clubs,? he said.

Speaking to in response to a Saturday evening meeting where concerned members of the community spoke about issues affecting the island?s young, black men, Mr. Outerbridge said public meetings did little in the long run to solve the problem.

?If there is a serious process aimed at solving the problem we don?t need to sit around in meetings and talk. I?m interested in action in the community, in doers rather than talkers,? he said.

?Everyone?s involved, people across the community has been involved, white people and all elements are feeling this.?