The Royal Bahamas Police Force reports a decrease of 8 per cent in crime in the country over the past 12 months.
The information was revealed in a 16-page report released during Police Commissioner Anthony Ferguson’s Annual Meet the Press yesterday morning.
Mr. Ferguson said, “I am happy to report that the preliminary figures indicate an 8 per cent decrease in crimes across the entire Bahamas when compared to 2017,” said Police Commissioner, Anthony Ferguson.
In New Providence, that decrease was six per cent; in the family islands; 30 per cent.
However, crime in Grand Bahama was unchanged at two per cent.
The Commissioner said a decrease in the murder count is what led to the overall decline.
Figures showed that homicides dropped by 25 per cent from 122 in 2017 to 91 in 2018 – the first time the count has been less than 100 in nearly a decade.
“When we analyzed murder trends on a quarterly basis, we noticed some promising results,” he said.
“During the first quarter of 2018, there were 26 murders representing a decrease of 35 per cent.
“The 2nd quarter, there were 28 murders representing a decrease of 15 percent.
“The 3rd quarter, there were 16 murders representing a decrease of 48 per cent.
“However, in the 4th quarter, there were 21 murders that showed an increase of 17 per cent.”
The majority of murders occurred in New Providence.
“I wish to bring to your attention that solvency for murder was 73.63 per cent in 2018.
“Compared to 57.38 per cent for 2017, 53.15 per cent for 2016 and 46.58 percent for 2015 – a notable increase,” the Commissioner said.
There were 19 cases of attempted murder last year, compared to 13 the year before.
Meanwhile 2018 recorded no cases of manslaughter.
There were, however, 55 reported cases of rape, up from the 52 over the 2017 period.
There were also an unchanged 11 reported cases of attempted rape, 113 cases of unlawful sexual intercourse, and 474 cases of armed robbery –a reduction of 18 percent over what occurred in 2017 – 108 cases of robbery and 13 cases of attempted robbery.
