Although statistics released by the Royal Bahamas Police Force last week show that crime is down by six percent, former Minister of National Security Tommy Turnquest said yesterday the fact that crimes against the person jumped five percent is cause for concern.
“The fact that we have over 100 murders is still a lot,” said Turnquest when contacted by The Nassau Guardian.
“Now it’s less than last year, no question on that. But the story as I read it is that crimes against the person are up, which is where the real problems lie.”
Armed robberies jumped 18 percent and attempted murders rose 125 percent nationwide between January 1 and November 8, 2012 compared to the same period in 2011, according to the police statistics.
Nine hundred and fifty-one cases of armed robberies were reported this year compared to 804 last year.
Turnquest, who served as national security minister from 2007 to 2012, said the high incidence of armed robberies could be traced to crime rings and prolific offenders who are on the streets.
“It’s a result of these criminal enterprises,” he said. “The same groups that we’ve always been talking about. Until we get them under control and locked away we’re going to continue to have that problem.”
The statistics also show that murders fell 12 percent nationally, with 97 reported up to November 8 compared to the 110 murders reported the same time last year.
In total, 127 murders were recorded last year.
The murder count for 2012 stood at 100 up to press time, with the latest victim being Dario Knowles, 25.
However, murders on Grand Bahama rose 38 percent over last year, jumping from eight to 11. Murders in New Providence fell 16 percent, from 95 to 80.
There were 18 attempted murders compared to eight last year, an increase of 125 percent.
Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade said the inclusion of the attempted murder category causes the information to be interpreted incorrectly.
He said the category will not be included in national reported crimes in the future, but presented in a different format.
Turnquest said if this were done, previous crime statistics would have to be adjusted to take the change into account in order to present an accurate reflection of crime trends.
“You could present your crime statistics however you want to present your crime statistics, but crime has to be presented against a base position,” he said. “So if you take it out today you then have to go back and restate all of your crime figures previously.
“Persons are concerned about crime statistics in relation to how they feel.
“If you say that crime is down and people don’t feel as they are any safer or that crime is in fact down, you can say that until the cows come home.”
By Taneka Thompson
Guardian Senior Reporter
