Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter

Deputy Commissioner of Police Charles Scarlett. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer

The Police High Command says an intelligence-driven approach to crime fighting has been helping to push down the country's chronically high murder rate, with recent data showing a 26 per cent decline for the month of August compared to the same period last year.

According to the data collected by the statistical and research division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), murders for August last year totalled 124, while 92 were committed this year. Additionally, shootings are down by 20 per cent for the same period. When compared with August 2004, the number of murders last month has declined by nearly 40 per cent.

The information comes on the heels of a recent announcement by Minister of National Security Dr. Peter Phillips that, overall, murders and shootings since the start of the year showed a 25 per cent decrease.

Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of intelligence, Charles Scarlett, has attributed the reduction to a more organised approach to the management of cases and investigations as well as better information gathering.

Basis of analysis

"The main plank driving down the statistics is the coordination of the department around intelligence ... Our resources are shifted to the area on the basis of analysis, what's happening where, when and how," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

DCP Scarlett noted that the new automated palm and fingerprint identification system (APFIS) to be up and running by month-end, will add to the positive trend the country is now experiencing, as it will increase the intelligence-gathering capacity of the JCF, and add speed to the processing of suspects.

In the meantime, Opposition Spokes-man on National Security, Derrick Smith, commended the JCF on the achievement and said that the decline was a step in the right direction.

However, he was sceptical of the data, noting that the 25 per cent decline in murders and shootings since the start of the year was being compared with a record year for murders.

"We are still deep in the woods, we have not yet seen the light, we have not yet turned around the corner, we are not yet winning the battle, but we are seeing some improvement and those persons who are involved in the improvement must be commended," Mr. Smith emphasised.