WESTERN BUREAU — A 62 per cent increase in the number of rapes in St James has the police in the parish worried.

There have been 47 cases of rape to date, compared to 29 last year, according to deputy superintendent in charge of crime for the parish, Derrick “Cowboy” Knight.

There have also been three more cases of carnal abuse compared to the eight reported cases for last year this time.

While highlighting that crime overall was down, the increasing number of rape cases are cause for concern, Knight said at a media briefing on Tuesday.

There has been one less murder, this year and 18 have been cleared up; compared to the 20 cleared cases of the 34 murders committed last year.

And robberies are down so far, with 25 less than the 103 recorded for the comparative period last year.

But despite the evidence that crimes, on a whole, are down in the parish, the police this month introduced a new crime initiative. According to Knight, there has already been a reduction in shooting, murder, robbery, rape and carnal abuse.

According to his figures, there have been two less cases of murder, this month, than the four reported in May. One of the two cases has been cleared up.

There have also been fewer robberies, with nine reported cases this month and 16 in May. The clear-up rates, respectively, were seven and two.

Shootings have also declined, by 50 per cent, with five this month (one cleared up). Only one of the 10 shootings that occurred in May was cleared up.

Other figures supplied showed:

* one case of carnal abuse in June, as compared to two the month before;

* two cases of rape this month, with one cleared up, as compared to 16 cases in May with half that number cleared up.

In addition, there were 12 break-ins this month and 41 arrests for breaches of the Dangerous Drugs Act.

Since January of this year, the police have recovered 38 firearms, compared to 19 last year and since the new crime initiative that was launched on June 9, four firearms and 21 rounds of ammunition have been recovered.