The police are reporting that there was a six per cent reduction in serious crimes for the parishes of St Mary, St Ann and Portland up to August 17, when compared to the same period in 2018.

Serious crimes are classified as murder, shooting, robbery, larceny, rape, aggravated assault and breaking.

Speaking at a press conference at the Area Two Police Division headquarters in Tower Isle, St Mary today, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Egbert W Nelson, who is in charge of the division, said there was a decrease in all categories of crimes except for robberies, which moved from 57 to 83, and aggravated assault, which increased from 37 to 43.

The murder figure for the region now stands at 48, compared to 55 last year, a 13 per cent drop.

But while murder has decreased across the region, the figure for St Ann has shown an increase for the period with 28 murders, up from 23 last year.

For Portland, the figure decreased from nine to seven, while for St Mary, the figure is 13, down from 23 the previous year.

The police are attributing the decrease in murder in St Mary partly to the introduction of the #ANicerBay initiative earlier this year. The initiative is aimed at decreasing the murder rate in Annotto Bay.

Nelson said two murders have been committed in Annotto Bay since the start of the year, as against eight last year, a 75 per cent drop.

He listed the #ANicerBay initiative among several positives for the region, which also included two recruitment drives and the inaugural women’s conference held in May.

The police also reported that 29 firearms were recovered over the period, 23 in St Ann and three in each of the other two parishes.

Regarding traffic crashes, there has been 38 crashes resulting in the demise of 44 lives.