GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands: Down in Antigua, it is seen by some youths as the "in thing", as gangs such as the Red Shirt Gang, the Royal Flock and the White Shirt Gang, to name just a few, roam the streets. In fact, in a statement that shocked the nation, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, when he was Leader of the Opposition, announced in Parliament that "we have plenty gang". In Bermuda, more than a dozen violent offenders have been arrested as police there began a crackdown on gangs and drugs in an effort to stamp out violence on the streets. According to the country's Police Commissioner, Jonathan Smith, the Bermuda Police Service made 1,300 seizures of drugs with a street value of US$44 million, a figure that exceeded by far the police budget for the year. A number of regional states are now coming to terms with the reality of the existence of gangs that engage in criminal acts, resulting in significantly increased levels of crime throughout the region. One Prime Minister has blamed this "new trend" on the hundreds of deportees who have been sent back to the Caribbean by the Canadian and the United States governments. "Most of these rogues left the region at a very early age. Many of them have no families in the region and when they run afoul of the law wherever they are, after serving time in prison, they are thrown back to the Caribbean. You should see the scores of them that are loaded on the jetliners on their way back to the region," he told Caribbean Net News. Several regional leaders have voiced deep concern over this with Canada and the United States but not much, if anything, is being done to address the issue. Acknowledging the crime wave affecting the region, St. Lucia's Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony, in addressing the 26th General Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), pointed out that crime is a "scourge that threatens all and it gnaws at the very root of economic and social transformation that we seek as attainable fruit of our labours," adding that “we will have to define and implement new radical responses. In some areas zero tolerance measures may have to be contemplated.” Dr Anthony went on to say that there needs to be a "garnering of forces and a commonality of purpose when dealing with persistent criminality." It was less than twenty-four hours before Dr. Anthony made his address that two armed gunmen attacked a popular business place in the market square and shot dead an accountant during a robbery. Meanwhile, there are some who are of the view that CARICOM is "more froth than beer" when it comes to really dealing with the issue of regional crime. At a meeting on October 21, 2003, held in St. Lucia, the Superintendents of Prisons across the region discussed the feasibility of a regional maximum-security prison and a report was made available to CARICOM. However, nothing has been heard about it since. The former Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Lester Bird, at the 22nd General Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government in the Bahamas, laid a White Paper before CARICOM calling for the building of two state-of-the-art maximum security prisons and the establishment of a rapid response unit to deal with regional crime, especially in Caribbean waters. Nothing further was heard of Antigua and Barbuda's White Paper. However, as the people of the region are terrorised by armed gangs made up of deportees, CARICOM is back to its usual talkshop saying that it "recognised that the issue of security needed to be frontally addressed and effectively tackled in order to maintain sustainable development.' CARICOM endorsed the Management Framework for Crime and Security which makes provision for a Council of Ministers responsible for National Security and Law Enforcement to superintend policy direction; a Security Policy Advisory Committee (SEPAC); and an Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS). Heads of Government expressed their conviction that the new Management Framework would contribute significantly to successfully addressing issues of crime and security in the region. Reprinted from Caribbean Net News caribbeannetnews.com