Despite the recent unveiling of a crime plan to combat
the country's high crime rate, figures released Thursday by the Police High
Command show that the crime wave is still skyrocketing.
The police continue to pick up bodies scattered across the country.
Over the past week a number of persons have been killed by gunmen in several parishes.
According to the latest police statistics 125 persons were murdered in July.
This is eleven less than the 136 recorded in June.
However, the official crime figures show that 958 persons have been murdered between January and July.
This is 115 more murders than the same period last year.
Unofficial figures obtained by the RJR News Centre show that the year to date figure is even higher, with more than 980 persons being killed up to Wednesday.
As the number of women and children who die at the hands of criminals continues to rise, police statistics show eleven women and five children were murdered last month.
The St. Andrew South Police Division recorded the most homicides last month.
That division is followed by St. James, St. Catherine South, St. Catherine North and St. Andrew Central Police Divisions.
The crime figures also show a rise in other major crimes such as shootings, rape and robbery.
Forty illegal guns and 240 rounds of ammunition were seized by the police last month.
The gun was used in 97 of the killings.
Meanwhile, the man charged with tackling the crime wave, Deputy Commissioner, Mark Shields, says until the country addresses the social ills the crime wave will continue.
"We can continue to improve the way we police the streets, we can become intelligence led, we are developing some state of the art techniques for our investigation but the problem will always be unless we solve the underlying problems of crime the figures will remain high,"
"The work that we are doing is going to help the process in the long term because more and more criminals will be locked up but that in itself will take time,"
He added that we need to break the gun culture in Jamaica.
"What far more important is to look at our gang culture, the corner system within some of our poorest communities, try to stop the flow of firearms coming into the country, to improve the opportunities for people in the country. The government is doing what it can, the police are doing what they can but it is going to take some time before we see some significant improvement across the board," said DCP Shields.
The police continue to pick up bodies scattered across the country.
Over the past week a number of persons have been killed by gunmen in several parishes.
According to the latest police statistics 125 persons were murdered in July.
This is eleven less than the 136 recorded in June.
However, the official crime figures show that 958 persons have been murdered between January and July.
This is 115 more murders than the same period last year.
Unofficial figures obtained by the RJR News Centre show that the year to date figure is even higher, with more than 980 persons being killed up to Wednesday.
As the number of women and children who die at the hands of criminals continues to rise, police statistics show eleven women and five children were murdered last month.
The St. Andrew South Police Division recorded the most homicides last month.
That division is followed by St. James, St. Catherine South, St. Catherine North and St. Andrew Central Police Divisions.
The crime figures also show a rise in other major crimes such as shootings, rape and robbery.
Forty illegal guns and 240 rounds of ammunition were seized by the police last month.
The gun was used in 97 of the killings.
Meanwhile, the man charged with tackling the crime wave, Deputy Commissioner, Mark Shields, says until the country addresses the social ills the crime wave will continue.
"We can continue to improve the way we police the streets, we can become intelligence led, we are developing some state of the art techniques for our investigation but the problem will always be unless we solve the underlying problems of crime the figures will remain high,"
"The work that we are doing is going to help the process in the long term because more and more criminals will be locked up but that in itself will take time,"
He added that we need to break the gun culture in Jamaica.
"What far more important is to look at our gang culture, the corner system within some of our poorest communities, try to stop the flow of firearms coming into the country, to improve the opportunities for people in the country. The government is doing what it can, the police are doing what they can but it is going to take some time before we see some significant improvement across the board," said DCP Shields.
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