South police report 33% drop in murders

The police Southern Division reported a 33 per cent reduction in murders for January 1-September 11, 2019, compared to the same period in 2018.

In 2018 the division recorded 49 homicides. There have been 33 in 2019 between the nine-month period.

In 2019 police seized 517 guns in the nine policing divisions in TT, 19 of them in the southern division. Twelve were high-powered guns.

The southern division seized 15 illegal guns in 2018.

Head of the division Snr Supt Wayne Mohammed gave those statistics at the police weekly media briefing yesterday morning at the Police Administration Building, Port of Spain.

He said the division aims to further reduce this figure through continued partnership with key stakeholders and citizens.

“What is noteworthy is that most of the homicides in the division and by extension TT were committed with the use of firearms," he said. "Therefore we must prioritise the illegal use of firearms.”

He said his division will continue to work relentlessly to seize as many guns as possible during the remaining months of the year.

“We will continue to conduct proper investigations to ensure that we secure convictions and ensure we have these persons locked away from our law-abiding citizens,” he said.

The Southern Division has also reported a five per cent reduction in serious crime.

Last year 1,231 were reported for January-September. This year there were 1,116, with a detection rate of 36 per cent.

“We intend to increase our detection rate further,” Mohammed said, “as we believe by increasing our detection rate we can restore the public confidence in our service, boost the morale of our officers, who work tirelessly towards solving crime, and send a special message to persons who intend to commit crimes, to stay away from Southern Division, because there will be consequences for their actions.”

He attributed this year's success to the 43, 573 mobile and foot patrols and 5912 roadblocks. He urged the public to remain vigilant and to invest if possible in surveillance cameras.