| Overall crime on TCI decreased slightly in 2010 | | Print | |
| Written by Richard Green/richard@fptci.com | |||
| Thursday, 03 February 2011 12:17 | |||
 Despite a brief spike in crimes involving weapons last year, overall crime in the Turks and Caicos Islands was down slightly in 2010, police said in their annual crime report. The biggest increase came in firearms offenses, but much of that jump came from more reports of firearms from the public and good police work that resulted in arrests and recovery of weapons, said Assistant Commissioner Rodney Adams. When people are arrested for a crime involving a weapon, they may be charged with several firearms offenses, Assistant Commissioner of Police Dave Ryder explained. For example, two people recently arrested each were charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, possession of ammunition and discharging a firearm. That would be recorded as six charges for one incident. More than 50 of 123 firearms offenses were for possession of ammunition or possession imitation firearms and ammunition. There was no doubt armed robberies were up, from 112 in 2009 to 146 in 2010. Half of those were solved by arrests.  Drug offenses increased 51 percent, and Adams said more drugs were seized in 2010. He said police are involved in an ongoing trafficking investigation but would not elaborate. The department’s rate for solving crimes improved, from 21 percent in 2009 to 26 percent in 2010. Overall crime was down 5.5 percent, in part because of sharp decreases in November and December. That is when police launched a crackdown dubbed Alpha 2, increasing police patrols and using traffic stops to catch criminals. “Certainly the way things were going for the first three quarters of the year, it was very challenging for all of us,” Adams said. “We came to a point where we all agreed we needed to take some focused action in terms of seriously taking the fight to criminals.” Adams credited Police Commissioner Edward Hall for pushing for Alpha 2 against some resistance. The public also has been stepping up with cooperation, but Adams said the police can only do so much without the public’s help. “You as members of the public have to do more in terms of supporting your police force,” Adams said. “It’s got to be about a true partnership approach.” Hall said some of the decrease may be attributed to courts keeping some “prolific offenders” behind bars.
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