Top cop says crime is not ‘spiraling out of control’

While he accepts that there has been an increase in some crimes committed in the
country, Commissioner of Police Atlee Rodney is reassuring the public that crime
is not ‘spiraling out of control’ as some have suggested.
Speaking on the Browne and Browne Show last Saturday, the commissioner said
there has been a rise in some categories of crime, but overall crime is not getting
out of hand.
“What we have discovered and what we are sharing with the public is that there
have been some slight increases in certain types of crime. Those crimes we have
been saying over the years are what we describe as ‘acquisition crime’; breaking
into homes and larceny, and larceny itself. These are some of the crimes about
which we have great concern because the numbers keep climbing. We have several
reports of items being stolen from the home, from the offices from farms, etc.,” he
revealed.
Additionally, there have also been reports of home invasions where persons enter
someone’s home and steal various items. While in the category of robbery, there
have been a few. For example, the commissioner is reporting that in 2022, there
were fewer robberies than in 2021.
However, he noted that for the earlier part of this year, the police noticed that these
numbers were again climbing and they started to take certain actions to deal with
it. “For example, in 2021 there were 98 reports of robbery but in 2022 there were
87. So, if before the end of the first half of the year, you see 35 as are the numbers
now, there is reason to be concerned,” he suggested.
Under the circumstances, Commissioner Rodney said while there are reasons to be
concerned, there is no evidence of ‘escalation’ or other adjectives used to describe
the current situation regarding crime and criminal activity.
He also said many persons are reporting their cell phones going missing right at
their offices and this too is a concern. The perennial problem of praedial larceny of
farmers’ crops is another worrying trend for the police.
But serious crimes such as murders are down. So far, there is only one suspected
murder case this year and the figures for last year showed a reduction from the year
before. There were 16 murders in 2021 compared with 10 last year. However, in
eight of the ten cases, the weapon used to commit the crime has been a firearm.