Police on Nevis meet target; reduce crime by 10 percent in 2010

Head of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force – Nevis Division Inspector Hilroy Brandy (file photo)

CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (February 15, 2011) — Police on Nevis met their target to reduce crime by 10 percent in 2010 over the previous year, a success attributed to the hard and dedicated work of the officers stationed at the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force – Nevis Division. The theme for that year was “Safer Communities through Partnership”.

Head of the Division Inspector Hilroy Brandy, made the disclosure while he presented an overview of the period at the 8th annual Police Constables Appreciation Awards Ceremony 2011 on February 12. The event was hosted by the Strategic Plan Group of the Nevis Division at the Occasions Conference Centre at Pinneys.

“The successes achieved under this period could not have been realised without the hard work of the dedicated men and women in the Division. The main reason for this evening’s function is to honour the men and women who gave outstanding performance during the period under review.

“Let me admonish you awardees that the journey has just begun. It is not the duration of life but the donation you make to life that really counts,” he said.

Inspector Brandy also acknowledged the efforts of the other officers in the Division for what he said was their dedication and performance in 2010. He said though they were a small unit, they teamed up to conduct several operations among them Eagle, Rescue, Smashdown, Takedown and Takeback.

Mr. Brandy explained that reported crime had increased by 32 or 9.5 percent in 2010 over that of 2009 and so did the detection rate which rose by 45 crimes or 10 percent.

In 2008 a total of 358 crimes were reported, of which 164 or 46 percent was detected. In the following year 2009, there were a total of 334 reported crimes with 123 or 36 percent detected and in 2011 there were 366 reported crimes with a total of 168 or 46 percent detected.

He further explained that the Division had also realised decreases in certain offences in 2010 as compared to the previous year. In 2009 there were 24 Breaking with Intent crimes with 14 the following year. There were 41 Larceny offences in 2009 and 36 in 2010. House Breaking reached 73 in 2009 but was reduced to 63 in 2010. There were 63 Commercial Building Breakings in 2009 and 21 in 2010. Malicious Damage offences amounted to 31 in 2009 with 22 the following year.

However, in spite of the success there were increases in three offences for the corresponding period. Inspector Brandy listed an increase of two murder offences over 2009 with five in 2010. The number of Burglary offences increased from 17 in 2009 to 48 in 2010. Drug offences saw the greatest jump with 56 recorded in 2009 and 72 in 2010.

“While there was an increase of 32 crimes, arrests for drug possession were responsible for half the increase. In 2009 there were 56 arrests for drug possession while in 2010 there were 72 arrests. This was due to the vigilance of the men and women of the Division.

“There were 11 firearms taken off the streets of Nevis of that amount five charges were brought. In 2009 nine firearms were taken off the streets while five charges were brought,” Mr. Brandy said.

In the area of Traffic, there were 261 road accidents in 2008, 257 in 2009 and 285 in 2010. In 2008 there were 215 listed under Non Injury, 219 the following year and 248 in 2010; Slight Injury there were 30 in 2008 and 2009 and 29 in 2010. In 2008 there were 13 Serious traffic accidents listed, eight in 2009 and seven the following year. There were three fatal traffic accidents in 2008, none in 2009 and one in 2010.

“There was an increase in traffic accidents in 2010 over 2009 by 28 or 11 percent. A total of 456 tickets were issued while in 2009 a total of 550 were issued,” the Division Head noted.

Notwithstanding, Mr. Brandy acknowledged that crime fighting was the responsibility of everyone on Nevis though the Police was charged with the task of keeping the communities safe. He said they relied on community partnerships to accomplish that task.