COMMISSIONER of police Erla Harewood-Christoper boasted of a ten per cent decrease in murders over the last few months, which, in effect, brought the murder rate down to 392 for the year, the same as the murder rate for the corresponding period last year.
'I can say from now the comparative homicide rate has reduced. From an increase of ten per cent, we are at an increase of zero per cent over the corresponding period,' Harewood-Christoper said at the TTPS' Independence Day toast, held at the Police Administration Building in Port of Spain, to a spattering of cheers and applause.
She said the homicide rate overall in ten policing divisions was lower than last year's, but 'marginally' higher in only five divisions. She added that the overall increase in murders being experienced in the nation was being driven by the North Central Division.
She added that police had arrested 129 people in relation to home invasions. She also said illegal firearms seizures had increased by eight per cent, shootings and wounding were reduced by 67 per cent and serious crimes reduced by 11 per cent.
'Our intelligence machine has served us well,' she said. 'I have the confidence that our strategies are working and we are making strides toward achieving our objectives. But I understand very well, that to safeguard that progress, we must continuously review and update our planning, strategising and implementation as we continue to be confronted by desperate, dynamic, resourceful and innovative criminal elements."
Last year, 605 people were murdered, 157 murders more than in 2021 which stood at 448 for the year. In 2020 the murder rate was 396.
The murder rate has become so intense that the TT Government hosted Caricom countries in a symposium to look at crime as a public health issue in April. At the end of the symposium Caricom heads of state registered a grave concern at the rate of illegal exportation of guns from the United States of America to the region and declared a war on guns.
A decrease in the increase
Political leader of the National Transformation Alliance Gary Griffith as well as MP for Naparima Rodney Charles scoffed at the dip in murders.
Griffith in a phone conversation with Newsday said the fact that Harewood-Christoper was using 'a decrease in the increase' of murders was indicative of a lack of competent leadership in the police.
'What she is doing is no less than what Martin Joseph had done when he was commissioner and crime was out of control. She is trying to cover with the stats and say that there is a decrease in the increase in crime,' he said.
'Crime continues to increase at an astronomical rate but because there is a decrease in the increasing number of murders, she sees that as a success. Her measurement is not public trust and confidence in the police service, or the public's perception of crime, or that we are on par with the highest number of murders in history.'
Griffith pointed out that in his last full year of service as commissioner of police - from August 2020 to
