MURDERS IN BARBADOS are down but predatory crime is a major source of concern for police, who arrested over 200 people this year.
Calling it “a satisfactory year” that saw an overall 2.4 per cent rise in crime, Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin said the 21 murders, of which 18 were solved, were six fewer than last year as the country maintained a comparatively low per capita murder rate of eight per 100 000 people. Trinidad and Tobago’s rate is 27 per 100 000 while St Lucia’s is 24.
In a wide-ranging Press conference at police headquarters at Roebuck Street, The City, yesterday, Dottin told journalists that robberies had increased from 471 to 596 this year, while commercial burglary had risen by 55 to 382 and residential burglary by 56 to 1 497.
These included 207 people being arrested and charged for property-related or predatory crime. He added that 180 of those arrested were mainly men between ages 20 and 29, along with a number of teenagers.
“It is a matter that we have to take into account, to see how we can mitigate the effects of this type of crime and how we can turn young people away from committing predatory crime,” Dottin said, noting that the criminals’ items of choice were cellphones, jewellery and cash.
