THE MURDER rate has slowed.
For much of 2024, the death toll has been hurtling towards the 600-mark. However, after a high of 68 killings in August, the figures have declined, with 58 in September, 55 in October and 33 in November. That is cause for hope. On December 4, senior police officers told this newspaper that the police are motivated to end the year positively.
Yet, we take little comfort in all this.
It’s important to give Jack his jacket. When the police deliver results, such as through successful drug busts or notable drops in the statistics, that should be acknowledged.
Police officers are only human. The service is under pressure. Officer morale will worsen if there is no sense of progress. And impaired morale will only make things worse.
So, we today commend those in the Northern Division and the Central Division, in particular, who have stepped up their game in recent times.
Not only are murders abating, but reports of serious crimes have dropped, too.
Police figures show that 8,525 such reports were filed up to October. For the same period in 2023, the number was 11,108. Assuming the rate for this year holds, there could be a notable decline.
However, even if there is a nominal decline in grievous offences, even if murders do not cross the 600 milestone, even if the year-end tally does not break a record, one murder would still be one too many. To acknowledge this is not to ignore gains.
Additionally, there’s a disturbing new layer to the crime situation that might evade official statistics. Secretive extortion rackets now appear to be happening all over the country.
Two men from south Trinidad were denied bail on December 2 after appearing in court on extortion charges.
The High Court in November reinstated proceedings brought against seven police officers for the same offence.
Even Claxton Bay/Pointe-a-Pierre councillor Nadia Khan-Mohammed recently disclosed such crimes have taken root in her community.
Because crime has been so highly politicised, the population is also, rightly, weary of the use of statistics and spin. Lulls in the murder rate are par for the course and can be misleading. Spikes during holiday periods or long weekends are not unknown.
And the figures, no matter how massaged, can never capture the anxiety people feel in their homes or on the street.
For many, small statistical victories ring hollow, even if they can clearly connect increased law enforcement activities with new, commendable strategies.
Murders may have dipped, but they are still far too high. It is that feeling on the ground that must now spur officers on to even greater gains in the fight against crime.
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