In the last four years almost ten percent of Bermuda's population have been arrested or suspected of at least one crime.

It's a staggering statistic and while critics have questioned whether the Island gets the most out of its Police manpower, recent figures show officers are busier than ever.

Arrests are up significantly this year, from around 800 a quarter throughout 2008 to more than 1,200 in the third quarter of this year, with Police now targeting a few hundred criminals they believe are responsible for almost half of all crime.

Police dealt with more than 10,000 calls for service in the most recent quarter, a significant spike from the 8,000 or under typical from 2005 to late 2008.

The stats reveal a shocking level of criminality in Bermuda.

In the last four years 6,460 different individuals were arrested or suspected of at least one crime nearly ten percent of the Island's estimated population of 68,000.

Ten individuals were arrested at least 30 times, 210 were arrested at least ten times and 1,499 were arrested at least three times. The other 4,961 individuals were arrested either once or twice.

And Bermuda's recidivism rate continues to be alarming.

Last year it stood at 78 percent, however a new way of calculating the figures saw that rate fall to 42 percent this year with 193 prisoners reoffending.

Bermuda's per capita incarceration rate is the 15th highest in the world.

Asked about the alarming crime statistics Prison Officers Association chairman Craig Clarke said they were no surprise given the large income disparities in the population, despite all the money in Bermuda.

He said: "Wherever there is wealth and there are people who feel disenfranchised the crime levels will continue to rise because people will see and want things. They are going to rob, steal and cheat to get it."

He said the United Bermuda Party had failed to foresee and address the needs of the locals, most of whom have not benefited from the trickle down of wealth.

"They have to work more jobs to survive and some of them will fall through the cracks."

And Mr. Clarke said with parents increasingly overwhelmed by work, their neglected children ran riot and those who end up in jail don't get the help they need to change when they get out.

He said: "Our recidivism numbers are high all the time. If you focused attention and gave people the opportunity to learn and grow in jail you would have better outcomes."

But he said every Corrections Department had to fight for everything it gets.

"We have to invest more money in the back end of the criminal justice system if you want to take recidivism down.

"Bermuda wastes millions of dollars on everything in the world and yet we can't educate our children, we can't rehabilitate our offenders effectively.

"We have all the money in the world and yet people who live here are struggling and suffering.

"We need more teachers in schools and in prison."

Prison work programmes needed to be well-funded, wide-ranging and mandatory with inmates who refuse to participate given 23-hour-a-day lock down, believes Mr. Clarke.

"Would that stress inmates? I don't know. But they have to give back their debt to society. If you are institutionalised you should be working, you should be doing programmes and it should be mandatory. I am for a more heavy-handed approach, but only because I want to change the mentality from people coming to prison for a free ride because prison has to be a deterrent."

The problems in education had a direct correlation on the problems on Bermuda's streets, yet Government felt the need to hire an overseas expert to say what many people had known all along, said Mr. Clarke. "Education levels of young black males are low so crime will continue to spike, I have been saying this for years.

"Everyone sat back and asked what do we do? Now everyone is in panic mode because there is a crisis on our streets."

Government should have been proactive instead of being reactive, said Mr. Clarke.

"The bull is running free right now. Look at the Department of Public Prosecutions what is the prosecution rate?

"Even when we send people to court the prosecution rate is low when it comes to major crime. Somewhere along the line our methods are failing."

Coalition for the Protection of Children head Sheelagh Cooper, who is also a trained criminologist and a former director for social programmes for Canada's Federal prisons, said the policy of continually upping Police numbers to combat crime clearly was not working.

She said the third quarter of this year saw the highest assault rate ever recorded 162 and the largest number of recorded offences involving firearms.

In addition, Bermuda recorded four murders three in the space of 12 days just before Christmas — since the beginning of 2009 and 84 serious assaults.

She said: "There seems to be a general feeling that more policing or better policing will affect this trend.

"Bermuda has more Police per capita than any country I know of in the democratic world so if a large Police force could reduce crime our crime rates should be the lowest not one of the highest per capita in the western world."

Mrs. Cooper said that while better Policing may catch criminals, if the conditions that created them in the first place are not addressed the problem will only continue to get worse.

So to address violent crime the Island needed to examine the social, economic and psychological factors that caused it, said Mrs. Cooper.

She echoed Mr. Clarke's comments that economic factors fuelled the crime wave with a growing gap between the very wealthy and the very poor.

"While 20 to 25 percent of Bermuda's children live at or below the poverty line, much of the Country lives in very wealthy circumstances.

"People cannot or feel they cannot make a legitimate sustainable wage that is sufficient to afford the basic necessities for themselves and their families."

That creates enormous stress and people dealt with stress in different ways some medicate themselves, others became aggressive or even violent, said Mrs. Cooper.

"Of course, some handle it by working harder and putting in longer hours with multiple jobs, but even that has enormous consequences for families."

Indeed, it is not poverty per se that is directly linked to violent, predatory and drug related crime because some of the lowest crime rates in the world can be found in very poor countries, claimed Mrs. Cooper.

"It is the income gap that is so closely linked to these types of crimes. India has one of the lowest crime rates in the world and the US has one of the highest."

There is a clear link between some of the economic factors and the conditions that spawn violent individuals, added Mrs. Cooper.

"In my experience as a criminologist and member of the parole board in Bermuda the majority of violent offenders grew up in underprivileged, single parent families with young mothers who are under a great deal of stress, have no support either emotional or financial from the fathers.

"These single parent families are often homeless or moving constantly from relative to friend in overcrowded often unsafe living conditions.

"Having a home means a place you can count on sleeping in for more than a couple of months at a time."

But many families are surrounded by the sounds of violence and drug use by night while stressed mothers cope with bill collectors calling with the threat of imprisonment by day.

"The children very often share a single room with mother and other siblings with no personal space to sit and do homework, often without electricity."

Mothers in these conditions are too preoccupied to spend time holding and nurturing their children as many of them have multiple low paying jobs coupled with a plethora of economic social and psychological challenges, said Mrs. Cooper.

"How can anyone be surprised when all of these factors converge to effect that child's ability or in interest in performing at school?"

The downward spiral begins in the very early grades, said Mrs Cooper.

"You can ask any school counsellor who has been around for a while and they will tell you that these children are very clearly identifiable as young as six or seven years old and often by ten, 11, or 12 years old they have been so significantly marginalised by the school system that they are almost beyond redemption academically.

"This is followed by suspensions, finally expulsion in many cases well before the age of 16."

A recent report on young black males has indicated that 50 percent drop out of school well before graduation.

But there are exceptions, conceded Mrs Cooper. Some children have extraordinary resilience, tenacity, and superior intellect and are able to rise above these circumstances.

"The rest are shaped by the prevailing media, the drug dealer down the street and very soon seek the safety, security and sense of self worth that their gang family provide."

She said much of the violent crime is associated with gangs competing for drug turf.

And drug-related crime thrives where there is a significant underclass disconnected from the legitimate means to make an adequate living.

Sadly these patterns are being imprinted on another generation, said Mrs Cooper.

"When I ask children in primary peer mediation classes to draw pictures of what conflict looks like in their homes or neighbourhood a huge portion of the pictures contain weapons such as guns and machetes which are often associated with a drug deal gone bad or a dispute over payment of drugs."

Yet in this age group, you would normally expect to see pictures of children arguing over a soccer ball or what channel to watch on TV or sibling rivalry, said Mrs. Cooper.

"These children are exposed to far too much violence in their daily lives. It is therefore no surprise that they themselves begin to exhibit these behaviours."