Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson was speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday.
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Major General Antony Anderson
The Jamaica Constabulary Force is reporting a four per cent increase in murders since the start of the year when compared to the same period in 2021.
Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson says gang conflicts accounted for 70 per cent of the murders.
Fourteen per cent of the homicides were linked to intra personal conflicts, six per cent to other criminal acts and one per cent to mob attacks.
Nine per cent of the cases are still under investigation.
Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson lamented the number of killings, recalling the massacre of Kemesha Wright and her four children in Clarendon, followed just days later in the same parish by the killing of a bedridden woman at the hands of her husband.
There was also a fatal stabbing at a restaurant in St. Ann as well as another death in that parish which supposedly resulted from a family dispute.
General Anderson noted that although suspects may be charged in these incidents, "families and communities are still left to grieve".
As such, he urged citizens to "report cases of disputes before they escalate into violence". He said they could use intervention centres to do so.
Equally troubling for the commissioner is that the police are seeing a number of cases where people are killed and their bodies buried in shallow graves.
Robberies and break-ins up
Break-ins and robberies are also trending up.
According to General Anderson, there has been a 10.5 per cent increase in robberies while break-ins are up three per cent.
He said this is especially concerning as the country gets back to pre-pandemic life.
As a response, the police have made adjustments to personnel in various divisions and have acquired additional mobility resources to be deployed in coming weeks.
Additionally, another team of police quick response motorcyclists will be deployed by the end of August.
Each police division has also been asked to review their anti-robbery strategies in light of these changes.
Overall, the number of major crimes is the same as last year.
Shootings and rape continue to decline with eight per cent and 16 per cent fewer cases respectively.
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