Murders Down 23 Per Cent in January

Commissioner of Police, Lucius Thomas has reported a 23 per cent decrease in the number of murders committed this month, when compared to January 2005.
The Police Commissioner, who was disclosing criminal statistics for 2005 to journalists at the Police Officers’ Club yesterday (Jan. 31), informed that 113 murders were committed up to the end of January as opposed to 146 for the corresponding month in 2005.
He further pointed to a four per cent reduction in major crimes including shootings, carnal abuse, rape, robberies, break-ins and acts of larceny in 2005, with 8,461 such acts committed, over 8,800 recorded for 2004.
According to Commissioner Thomas, the reduced figure was an indication that “the JCF (Jamaica Constabulary Force) must be doing something right” and pointed to new measures to continue the downward trend, including the implementation of a murder reduction action plan to reduce homicides by five per cent by the end of the year.
Turning to road fatalities, the Commissioner observed that there were 49 less road fatalities in 2005 when compared to 2004, resulting from 27 accidents.
On the matter of firearms, he also revealed that the police force had measurable success in collecting illegal firearms, with 693 guns taken off the streets in 2005 in comparison to 620 in 2004.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner announced that he had requested that a national crime survey be done through the Ministry of National Security,”The Minister (Dr. Peter Phillips) has readily welcomed the idea and has given the undertaking that he will vigorously pursue the matter,” he informed journalists.