The recent bizarre shooting incident in Old Road, the attempted bank robbery of the Sandy Point Branch of the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank and the attempted robbery of the Credit Union in Nevis, during the height of the Culturama festivities, are indicators of what the security forces and locals have had to contend with in the last couple of weeks.
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Attempted Break-in at Credit Union in Nevis |
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The very nature of these crimes and the measures used to execute the actions are indicators of how desperate criminals have become as well.
Rather than to just conclude that the society to live in is a criminal society, it is probably wise to look at some statistics.
Crime is crime, but the reality of it is that there are different levels of crimes. In St. Kitts and Nevis there are scores of various types of crimes but the liberty will be taken to brand some as the “less” serious crimes and the “more” serious ones
For 2003, there 1869 “less” serious reported crimes, compared to 1645 in 2004 and 1837 in 2005. There were 2026 reported incidents in 2006 and up to the first half of 2007, there were 814 reported incidents.
Interestingly, the most common of the “less” serious crimes are larceny, malicious damage and possession of a controlled drug. Of the 2026 reported offences in 2006, 495 were for larceny, 230 were for malicious damage and a 126 were for possession of a controlled drug.
Security officers trying their best to arrest crime situation in the federation
In relation to the more serious offences, which range from murder, attempted murder to rape and attempted robbery, there are some interesting statistics.
In 2003, there were 10 murders, compared to 11 in 2004 and 8 in 2005. In 2006, there were 17 murders, a significant increase over the previous years, and already for 2007 there are 7 murders.
In 2003, there were 152 wounding incidents, compared to 129 in 2004 and 132 in 2005. In 2006, there were 143 reported cases and there are 79 cases so far for 2007.
There were 54 reported cases of robbery in 2003, compared to 52 in 2004 and 90 in 2005. In 2006, there were 74 reported cases and 40 so far for 2007.
In 2003 there were 485 reported cases of house breaking and larceny, compared to 446 in 2004 and 533 in 2005. In 2006 there were 563 cases and there have been 256 already reported for the year.
Interestingly, the figures above only represent reported crimes and creates a sense of alarm when one thinks about the number of criminal incidents that take place in our small society, of a mere 45, 000.
Who should be blamed? Fingers are pointed at politicians, at the security forces and at persons in society.
Many are of the view that the politicians should use their influential status more positively to dissuade persons from committing criminal acts.
Yet, there are others who believe that the security forces are not doing enough to arrest criminal activities. Their claims are mainly based on the premise that the security forces mean well but there are certain security officers who are criminal elements themselves.
Then some of the blame shifts to residents, who refuse to cooperate with the security forces, citing lack of trust and fear for their safety.
