Cops keep focus despite murder toll

There were 33 murders within the eight-day period which ended on Monday, according to police statistics obtained by The Gleaner.

The statistics and releases from the Constabulary Communication Network, the information arm of the police force, show that 11 of those murders were committed on the holiday weekend.

This has pushed the number of murders for the month to 60, up to Monday, threatening to end the streak of four consecutive months of declining murders.

There were 97 homicides for the corresponding period last year.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Glenmore Hinds told The Gleaner that the police recognised that "some weeks ... some days are going to provide greater challenge than some".

Hinds said: "There are going to be disputes that we don't even know about. There are going to be family disputes that end up in murders. Community disputes ... all of those things we are pretty mindful of."

He added: "But it's those areas in which we can intervene ... those where you have gang conflicts that we can do some intervention, that's what we pretty much focus on."

Hinds said he had not yet seen the figures for the past week, but made it clear that even one murder was cause for concern.

"Even in the best of times we have had challenging days and we have been able to pull it back, depending on what is happening in a given area," he said.

Since the start of the year, there have been 1,142 murders, 154 fewer than the number recorded for the corresponding period last year and 167 fewer than the number recorded for the corresponding period in 2008.