JAMAICA recorded a 41 per cent decline in murders last month, ending the first half of the year with a total 659 homicides compared to 759 over the same period last year, according to police statistics released Friday.

SCARLETT... we are getting better support from the public

The June performance represented the fifth month of decline with the exception being April when 130 murders were recorded compared to 128 for the same month last year.
According to the police data, 85 murders were committed in June this year compared to 143 in the same month last year.

Shootings, the police data also show, dropped 27 per cent with 638 cases reported for January 1 to July 6 compared to 871 for the same period in 2005. Rapes declined 12 per cent, breakings went down 24 per cent and larceny dropped 33 per cent. However carnal abuse jumped by 38 per cent and robberies went up by a mere two per cent.

Yesterday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Charles Scarlett attributed the overall decline in major crimes to a combination of factors, among them an improvement in the relationship between the police and citizens, a more sophisticated approach to investigation and better case preparation by the police.
"There is clear evidence that we are getting better support from the public," Scarlett told the Sunday Observer. Without that we could not have made the gains."

He said that there was growing evidence that Jamaicans are recognising that they have a role to play in helping the police to solve crimes and vowed that the constabulary would "continue creating the base for confidence building".
Scarlett also said that the police had improved its methods of gathering and processing intelligence. "We now have a more structured approach to investigation and we're more effective now in ensuring that cases are properly prepared when persons are arrested," he said.

"We look at the profiles of the persons involved in crimes and there is a lot of cross-border sharing of information," Scarlett added.
The deputy commissioner also said the fact that the police were prioritising their resources in designated hot spots also had an impact on the crime levels.

Karl Angell, the constabulary's director of communications, agreed, explaining that the police force's Hot Spots Secretariat meets almost weekly to review situations in designated trouble areas and deploys resources based on the need.
Angell also said that a big contributory factor to the reduced crime figures was a lift in the morale among the ranks of the police.
"There is a renewed resolve among the members of the police force," said Angell, "resulting from a deliberate ploy by the commissioner to boost morale by visiting branches, units and divisions."

Angell also said the work of Operation Kingfish could not be discounted and heaped praise on the constabulary's special units - the Special Anti-Crime Task Force, Mobile Reserve, Flying Squad and the Organised Crime Investigation Department - which, he said, have helped to bolster resources in trouble areas.

Kingfish, the task force formed in October 2004 to dismantle gangs and take down gang bosses and drug dons, has been able to make a major dent in organised crime, arresting some of Jamaica's most wanted men and smashing at least two gangs and disrupting six others.

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