Opposition Senators urged the public to “dig deeper” into recently released crime statistics during yesterday’s motion to adjourn.But Government insisted that the public felt safer and that the community is safer.Senator Marc Daniels raised the issue by questioning why the value of drug seizures had plummeted.He noted that $1 million worth of drugs were seized in the first six months of this year but in 2012 and 2011, drug seizures were valued at $5 million and $52 million respectively.“Those are some really interesting numbers because with the economy not having changed much it begs the question: what’s really going on?”Sen Diallo Rabain touched on what he said were “worrying” aspects of the statistics — racial and age disparities in the number of arrests.He noted that of the 698 people arrested, 615 were black. “That’s a huge disparity,” he said. “I’m not blaming the Bermuda Police Department for that statistic, I’m saying that’s a statistic that we need to really look at and figure out how we can turn that around.”He added that “the bulk of the people being arrested are under the age of 35, with a significant amount under 25”.Sen Rabain said that while Bermuda could celebrate lowering of crime overall, “we should also look at who is being arrested and recognise that these numbers are not actually moving anywhere”.And he speculated that crime figures could be impacted by a reluctance among members of the public to report crimes.Sen Rabain told his Senate colleagues of someone who had noticed footprints in his home and decided not to call the police because he did not believe they would come and investigate.“The bulk of the decrease is in the crimes against property total,” he said. “These are the categories that usually require people to come upon an incident and call the police and the police come and investigate. But when you look further you see that calls to the police have dropped by 1,790 in this quarter. That would mean that that category should drop — because less people are calling.”He also told the Senate that he had reported a possible break-in to his house, was told by the police that someone would be over to take fingerprints.“It is now four months later and I’m still waiting for that person to come and fingerprint,” he said.“I need to understand whether that does tie into the decrease in calls in this particular category.”And he said the larger number of people at home during the day because of unemployment could also be a cause of declining crime against property.Junior Public Safety Minister Jeff Baron said that the figures showed that “people feel safer and people are safer”. He said neither political party could take full credit for the improvement in crime statistics but that Government had improved upon anti-gang measures the Progressive Labour Party administration had put in place.“I don’t think anyone can take ownership of this other than the police, other than the communities,” he said.Sen Baron added: “Indeed the framework was put in place by the PLP Government. It began there. But it is clear that we have enriched this product.”And he argued that drug imports through the airport showed a “significant drop” since the terror attacks in the US in September 2001 due to stepped-up security measures and “tactical displacement” measures implemented by criminals.But he added that there was anecdotal evidence that there were less drugs on the streets.Last week Police reported statistics which showed that the crime rate had fallen to its lowest since 2000.Shadow Public Safety Minister Michael Scott welcomed the news, saying the policies of the former PLP administration were bearing fruit, and that the police service under Commissioner Michael DeSilva’s leadership, as well as the public, should take credit for the drop-off in crime.