With the nation recording just under 60 murders so far for 2010, this year’s count is nearly double the number of slayings recorded during the same period five years ago, according to statistics compiled by The Nassau Guardian.
As of August 15, there were 58 homicides in The Bahamas in 2010. This puts The Bahamas on pace to near 100 homicides for the year.
For the past several weeks, The Guardian attempted to obtain the most recently complied crime statistics from Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest, who then referred our news team to senior officials at the Royal Bahamas Police Force. However, depsite FNM promises of freedom of information, up to yesterday The Guardian was unable to obtain the statistics from law enforcement.
According to police statistics released earlier this year, The Bahamas set homicide records in both 2007 and 2009. The current homicide record from last year is 87.
While the homicide count has nearly doubled in half a decade, it is nearly triple where it was two decades ago, far outpacing the rate of population growth over the same period.
In 1991, the homicide count in The Bahamas was as low as 28, according to police records obtained last month.
The international homicide standard countries seek to be at or under is five murders per 100,000 people. Ideally, The Bahamas would have around 18 homicides per year if it was near this mark.
If the homicide rate continues on the same pace in the second half of 2010, The Bahamas would have a homicide rate of around 27.17 per 100,000-pushing the nation towards a homicide rate comparable with countries in the region that have serious crime problems.
