Major crimes up by 3.5 per cent, but… Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

While murders have declined in several parishes, due in part to the police’s latest crime-fighting strategy, Operation Relentless II, there is a 3.5 per cent increase in major crimes across the island so far this year, when compared to the corresponding period in 2021.

Speaking at the police’s monthly press conference on Tuesday, Commissioner, Major General Antony Anderson, said year-on-year, murders for the period January 1 to October 31 are up by “just under eight per cent”.

“Shootings are down by six per cent, rape is down by 12 per cent, break-ins are up by nine per cent, and robberies up 20 per cent,” he outlined.

The commissioner said when the homicide data is disaggregated, not much has changed relative to the major causes.

He elaborated that, “Eighty-seven per cent of everyone who has been murdered since the start of the year has either been involved in a gang, are associated with gangsters, or in conflict with someone they probably know well.

“A further five per cent of homicides have been in furtherance of a crime, one per cent were mob killings, and we have about seven per cent we are always working on to properly attribute them.”

In relation to Operation Relentless II, which was launched at the end of September, Anderson said there has been some clear successes under the initiative that was initially aimed at targeting gangs and gangsters involved in major crimes.

“In the 38 days since the launch of the operations, there has been a significant reduction in murders in all five of the focus divisions.

“In St James, murder is 19 per cent down; Westmoreland has seen a 50 per cent reduction; St Andrew South is down 36 per cent; and St Catherine North is 50 per cent down,” said the commissioner.

Additionally, the St Catherine South Police Division has recorded a 44 per cent reduction in murders when compared with the 38-day prior to the start of Operation Relentless II.

During the period, however, there has been a flare-up of violence in the St Ann, Kingston Eastern and Kingston Western police divisions.

“In Kingston Western particularly, it is largely a result of a conflict in the Lincoln Road, Orange Villa section of the division.

“However, this is an anomaly, because when we examine the entire police Area Four (network), which covers most of the Corporate Area, we have registered 100 fewer murders at this point in 2022, when compared with the corresponding period last year,” stated Anderson.

On the weekend, a triple murder was recorded in the Lincoln Road section of the Corporate Area.

Meanwhile, the police have also seized 91 firearms and more than 1,200 rounds of ammunition since the start of the latest crime initiative, the top cop reported.

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