NASSAU, The Bahamas — Nationally Reported Crime figures for serious crimes against the person decreased in six of the nine categories used to determine crime statistics for The Bahamas, Commissioner of Police Mr. Ellison Greenslade said Monday. Statistics also decreased by six per cent for crimes against property for the same time period. Mr. Greenslade said he expects “the downward trend” to continue due to police initiatives and ongoing cooperation from members of the public. The figures were based on numbers for the entire Bahamas for the January 1 through December 31 time period of 2012 as compared to the same time period for January 1, through December 31, 2011.
Crimes Against the Person include crimes such as murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, rape, attempted rape, unlawful sexual intercourse, armed robbery, robbery and attempted robbery. The largest decreases came in the areas of attempted rape (57 per cent), attempted robbery (28 per cent) and murder (13 per cent). There were also decreases in the number of rapes (9 per cent), unlawful sexual intercourse (6 per cent) and robbery (2 per cent). Police did report increases in attempted murder (58 per cent) and armed robbery (10 per cent). Addressing members of the media during his first media session for the 2013 year, Mr. Greenslade said he was “pleased to report” that serious crimes against persons and property decreased by five per cent overall in 2012. “This decrease was influenced by decreases in rapes which were down by nine per cent followed by unlawful sexual intercourse and attempted rape which posted decreases of six per cent and 57 per cent respectively,” Mr. Greenslade said. The Police Commissioner said crime figures are “continuing to trend downward.”
Commissioner Greenslade said that in addition to the drop in Crimes Against the Person figures, nationally reported figures for Crimes Against Property dropped in four of the six categories used to establish statistics. These include burglary, house break-ins, shop break-ins, stealing, stealing from vehicles and stolen vehicles. House break-ins decreased by 11 per cent from 3242 to 2875, while burglary decreased by nine per cent, stealing from vehicles eight per cent) and stealing by two per cent. Shop break-ins increased by three per cent from 942 in 2011 to 971 in 2012.
“This represents a marked improvement over the numbers recorded for 2011 when, overall, crime figures were up by seven per cent,” Mr Greenslade added. Mr. Greenslade said that the overall figures for crimes against property decreased by six per cent. “This was influenced by decreases in burglary, house break-ins, stealing and stealing from vehicles which posted decreases of 9, 11, 2 and 8 per cent respectively,” Commissioner Greenslade said. “Based on our investigations, we are of the firm belief that the commission of property crimes to ‘feed’ drug habits; the opportunities for jewellery to be traded quickly for cash, and the ready market in our local communities for stolen property to be cheaply sold are still some of the reasons that we are challenged by these types of property crimes,” Mr. Greenslade added.
Commissioner Greenslade said the decrease in murders (111 in 2012 as compared to 127 in 2011 for a decrease of 13 per cent) was a “testimony of the positive contributions made by officers who worked very hard to prevent the escalation of murders in 2012 by arresting prolific and serious offenders.” “The 111 murders recorded in 2012 represent a decrease of 16 murders below the figure of 127 which was recorded in 2011. Eighty-three persons were arrested and charged for murders committed in 2012. The detection rate for murders committed in 2012 now stands at 74 per cent,” Mr. Greenslade added.
Commissioner Greenslade said 17 murder cases are currently being reviewed by Detectives at the Central Detective Unit (CDU) and that further charges are pending against two adult males of New Providence who were arrested in mid-December, 2012, for questioning in connection with the murders. “Both men are presently incarcerated at Her Majesty’s Prison having already been charged for six murders which occurred in 2012. Once charges are brought in these cases that are currently under review, the detection rate will increase. “Further, we are optimistic that with continued public support, we will solve more of the murder cases from previous years,” Commissioner Greenslade added.
Caption: Police Commissioner Mr. Ellison Greenslade (at microphone) answers questions from members of the media during a lengthy media session Monday (January 7) at the Paul H. Farquharson Centre, Police Headquarters. Mr. Greenslade was joined by members of the Executive Management Team of the Royal Bahamas Police Force. Sitting to the Commissioner’s immediate right is Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr. Quinn McCartney while Assistant Commissioner of Police Mr. Hulan Hanna is at his left. (BIS Photo/
