Is the traditional policy of importing foreign labour contributing to crime and violence in Bermuda by displacing indigenous workers? Or are foreigners becoming the scapegoats of a self-deluded and increasingly xenophobic local population? These were some of the questions on the lips and minds of Bermudians this past week as the role of expatriate workers in Bermudian crime and society was openly debated from town hall meetings to Parliament.

The debate, which coincided with Government's inroduction of the 1994 Report of the Premier's Task Force on Employment in the House of Assembly on Friday, had long been conducted in fairly hushed tones, relegated as it was to the homes and pubs and offices of the Island.

Last week, however, the subject of foreign workers came out with a bang as Parliamentarians "took note'' of the report in the House and Bermudians of all stripes gathered to discuss the increase in crime.

One such meeting -- a Progressive Labour Party crime forum in St. George's on Thursday -- showed just how divided the Country is on the subject.

"The problems we are having today are the direct result of people not being able to make a living,'' East End entrepeneur Mr. Kenneth Bascome told the meeting. "There are too many people in Bermuda and the people that are being displaced are the indigenous people.'' Another speaker, retired prison warden Mr. Earl Matthews, told listeners: "All of the authority and power has been taken away from our schools, our homes and our society. We need to get our house in order.'' By contrast, Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan and his United Bermuda Party colleagues have long maintained that Bermudians are in full control of their own job market and simply bring in foreigners to fulfill roles that the local populace can't.

Finance Minister the Hon. David Saul also suggested on Friday that foreigners actually provide Bermudians with jobs in such areas as international business.

"There are approximately 600 foreigners working in the international companies that are currently in Bermuda,'' Dr. Saul told the Assembly. "But there are approximately 1,200 Bermudians -- or twice the number of foreigners -- also working in those companies.

"The international companies that come to Bermuda generate two Bermudian jobs for every foreigner employed. If you laid off every single foreigner in those companies, you could basically say that you are taking away two jobs from Bermudians.'' On Friday, the Premier even suggested that more foreigners may have to be imported in certain fields in the future to expand the Island's economy.

He said that Bermudians have always "embraced the ideas and energy from outside and been smart enough to learn from them.'' Even if true, such assertions tend to infuriate critics like Shadow Labour and Home Affairs Minister Mr. Alex Scott, who argues constantly that Bermudians are being deliberately overlooked in such traditional industries as tourism.

Mr. Scott has also said that the perspective of Labour and Home Affairs Minister the Hon. John Irving Pearman is often "that of the business community.'' "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,'' Mr. Scott said last week.

"It's a given that something has gone wrong.'' Needless to say, Government and others disagree, claiming that Bermudians should be doing less complaining and more self-examination, especially when it comes to the traditional industries.

"We've discouraged our people from going into it,'' the Premier said of tourism on Friday. "We've told our young that it is servitude and not service. And now we're in denial about it.'' Sir John added: "We have to accept that the foreign population is an integral part of our growth. When we stop being paranoid and we accept that foreigners War of words over foreign workers From Page 1 taking anything away, we will start employing more Bermudians.'' There seems to be, however, a segment of Bermudian society that refuses to accept the historic role of the foreigner, and the opposition is often drawn along racial lines.

On Friday, for example, Shadow Delegated Affairs Minister Mrs. Lois Browne Evans voiced her displeasure over the recent hiring of two white Britons as Bermuda's top cops by saying that Government "should have first gone to the West Indies'' if it had to hire non-Bermudians.

And the majority of participants at Thursday's PLP meeting -- almost all of whom were black -- expressed as much consternation over the fact that the two Officers were white Englishmen as they did with the fact that a Bermudian had not been chosen. Said one young woman: "I see Bermuda as a small South Africa. Whites are always right and blacks are always wrong. We keep putting blacks down.'' "Do you think the answer is to bring in two foreign commissioners?'' moderator Dr. Ewart Brown MP asked in turn.

"Not no white commissioners,'' the young woman responded. "We have Bermudians that can do the job.'' The belief that a shunning of Bermudian workers by Government and employers is directly contributing to the rise in crime and violence on the Island was a prevalent one at Thursday's meeting, which attracted some 60 people to St.

George's Town Hall and was second in a series of PLP forums on the issue.

While one speaker, Mrs. Amina Abdul Hadid, blamed "fornication, adultery and homosexuality'' for the increase, most at the forum seemed to embrace the more moderate view that a greater and more equitable distribution of the Island's wealth was required.

Said Mr. Bascome: "Shared economic stability also brings social stability.'' On the other hand, the notion that the unemployed are committing many of the violent robberies and assaults that have plagued the Island recently also has its detractors.

On Friday, Human Affairs and Information Minister the Hon. Jerome Dill scoffed at the idea when it was raised in the House, saying there was no sociological or statistical data to support it.

"Not one of those speakers (at the recent `Blow the Whistle on Violence' conference) blamed crime on the unemployed,'' he said. "But it was done on the floor of this House, and I find it disgraceful.'' As with most issues, the answer to the foreign labour question and its relationship to Bermuda's burgeoning crime problem probably lies somewhere between prudence and excess.

Clearly, an infusion of overseas talent and expertise is required in Bermuda, especially as it faces some of the biggest social and economic challenges of its existence.

But the key to the Island's success in meeting those challenges will rest on its ability to strike the proper balance between securing a place in the fast-changing global economy of the future and making its people feel protected in their own workplaces.

"It is easy to say that we should just get rid of the foreigners,'' the Premier told the House on Friday. "But we've tried that, and it didn't work.

"The business of Bermuda,'' Sir John continued, "is to find that delicate balance, that realistic balance.

"Somehow or other, we have gone off track.''