BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WHILE the homicide rate so far stands at 21 and is of grave concern for the nation, the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force has reported that there has been a 29.5 percent reduction in serious crime for the year compared to the same period in 2014.
This revelation was made by Vaughan Henderson, the Assistant Commissioner with responsibility for Operations, during his report on the crime situation in the twin-island Federation at the Prime Minister’s Monthly Press Conference last week.
“The overall crime situation in St. Kitts and Nevis, comparatively speaking, in 2014 we had a total of 1167 crimes from January to August, and in 2014 we saw 796 crimes, which is a 32 percent decline over that period.
“From January to August 2015 we are seeing 561 crimes as compared to 796 in 2014, which is a 29.5 percent decrease for the same period. And those 561 crimes for the period of January to August this year, we have had 186 crimes detected. This is a 33 percent detection rate.”
Henderson told members of the media that since the High Command had introduced the Six-Point Plan of action to reduce homicides and violent crime, the police have stepped up on their efforts to combat not only crime in the Federation but also the fear of crime.
Quoting from statistics he claimed was provided to him, Henderson said: “The police are not falling short of these objectives, which are to say even though we are at 21 homicides for the year, we are still below the 24 homicides that occurred last year.
“I take no comfort that we are already at 21, but I am extremely optimistic as the statistics for 2014 shows that in the first half of 2014 there were 18 homicides and at the end of that year there were 21. It says to me that we can do it with the dedication and commitment from our Security Forces and, of course, 100 percent from the community.
Henderson said that the Force’s philosophy has always been that one homicide is one too many, and so their efforts to reduce homicides and violent crime would continue to be aggressive and upfront to put the criminals out of business and mainly into retirement.
He indicated that a part of the Six-Point Plan speaks clearly to community engagement and collaboration with the Force’s stakeholders.
“We have met on numerous occasions with members of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, we have met with our education partners, our school-leaving programme is in full effect, our town hall meetings are well on stream and the reception that we are getting from the general public is that there have been a flow towards renewed public confidence and trust in the police. And for that we are extremely grateful to the general public.”
The Operations ACP declared that prior to the introduction of the Six-Point Plan, there were 18 homicides in the first half of this year, noting one was in June and none in July. “Unfortunately, there were three homicides in August; two on St. Kitts and one on Nevis. Based on the statistics, comparatively that is, where 18 homicides in six months before the Six-Point Plan of Action as compared to a drastic reduction of about three homicides in three months.”
He continued: “The logic here is that the homicide rate was three per month for the first six months prior to the introduction of our Action Plan, compared to about one per month in the last three months since the introduction of the Six-Point Plan. This is a clear 66 percent decline rate in homicides for the second half of this year to date. As compared to last year, 2014, there were 18 homicides in the last half with 13 in the last quarter.”
Henderson explained that based on the 66 percent decline rate, the High Command is more than fortified in its optimism that the Police Force could achieve the overall objective of staying below last year’s figures.
Speaking to the detection rate of homicides for this year, he said four cases were detected and the frontline detectives are on the brink of arresting a fifth one.
“To put these figures into perspective,” he added, “seven arrests will be 33.3 percent detection rate, putting our Police Force on par with international standards.”
ACP Henderson used the occasion to thank members of the public for their cooperation with the police.
“I want to thank the general public for the trust and confidence that they have reposed in the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force since the introduction of our Six-Point Plan of Action and to let them know that we are committed to working with them to make St. Kitts and Nevis a safe place to live, to visit and to do business.”
