BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Although boasting a nearly 20 percent reduction in overall crime, the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force has simultaneously recorded a more than five percent decline in its detection rate.
Recently at a press conference, the High Command of the police force informed the general public that during the period of January-June 2009 it recorded an 18 percent reduction in reported crime compared with the same period in 2008.
The law enforcement body issued comparative statistics that highlighted levels of crime over the periods January-June 2007, 2008 and 2009, which indicated a near 30 percent increase in crime in 2008 over 2007 and the stated 18 percent decrease in 2009.
The document also stated that in 2007 the detection rate stood at 33.97 percent, and increased by 1.28 percent in 2008. In 2008 however, the detection rate stood just 30.06, registering a 5.19 percent decline.
All crimes were classified into four categories: offences against the person, which includes wounding and battery; offences against morality, which includes indecency and exposing one’s person in public; offences against property, which includes house breaking and larceny; and offences against lawful authority, which includes battery against police, escaping lawful custody and refusing to give one’s name to police when lawfully required to do so.
In each section, barring that of offences against lawful authority, a decline in the detection rate was recorded.
The rate of detection in the category ‘offences against the person’ declined by 9.12 percent, while that for ‘offences against morality’ was reduced by 14.32 percent to a total of 68.18 percent.
Whereas the category of ‘offences against property’ saw a 6.53 percent decline in the recorded detection rate, a 100 percent detection rate was maintained over the documented periods for the category of ‘offences against lawful authority’.
In an effort to improve the crime situation in the Federation, the police force is hoping to devise a plan, with the assistance of the general public, to further drive incidents of reported crime downward while increasing the Federation’s overall detection rate.
